Born and raised in Iran, he immigrated to the United States when he was 19 years old to study economics at the University of Oklahoma. Mr. Taher went on to earn an MBA, but part of his remarkable journey included a stint sleeping on a park bench and time working as a dishwasher to support himself. That dishwasher position in the back of a restaurant led him to pursue a career in hospitality, becoming the founder and CEO of this very successful company.

As an outsider looking in, I was challenged by the way Mr. Taher addressed the leaders on his large team, and he did something unique that caught my attention:

He gave his employees permission to make courageous decisions.

Now that might not sound that special, but he encouraged them to do what was right, even (and especially) when that decision was not the best thing for their bottom line. Here are two main takeaways from his address:

1. Hire 10% more.

Specifically, he told them to hire more people than they need. As with any organization, they are trying to be operationally efficient and maximize profit. However, their founder realized that by running lean (having the exact number of people they need to operate), it puts the team in a bind when they lose a team member, and it adds a mountain of stress to the people who remain.

Mr. Taher challenged the leaders to hire 10 percent more staff than they need to create some margin when someone leaves, provide a better work experience, and foster a healthier culture in the long run.

2. Don’t worry about the Kool-Aid.

Many of Taher’s customers are K-12 schools. In the day-to-day of the school world, oftentimes a leader in the school will approach some of the Taher team, asking for some Kool-Aid for a function or get-together at the school (in other words, his employees knew this challenge all too well).

Bruce Taher said, “when someone asks you for the Kool-Aid, your first concern should not be the budget category it would fall under. Just give them the Kool-Aid!” At this point in his talk, he grinned and looked over at his Chief Financial Officer, apologized, and added, “If you’ll do the right things, the budget will take care of itself.” In other words, make a decision that’s right for the business even if it seems counterintuitive. Your first thought should always be how to serve people well, and your second thought should be how to steward the money wisely.

Make a decision that’s right for the business even if it seems counterintuitive. Your first thought should always be how to serve people well, and your second thought should be how to steward the money wisely.

Taher, Inc.’s 77-year-old founder used his role to give permission in a way that only he could. What are ways you can leverage your role to give permission? As the leader of a team, how can you give permission for someone to do what’s right for the customer even when it costs the company some money? As a parent, how can you give your children permission to try something new—and fail? As a spouse, how can you give your husband or wife the permission to stop waiting on the perfect job opportunity and to start the small business? As a teacher, how can you give your students permission to ask good questions in your classroom?

As a pastor, how can you give your congregation permission to be authentic and share their struggles with one another?

Each one of us has roles where we can use our position and our words to give permission. Consider how you might do that this week.

When I say mission, I’m emphasizing the fact that we need to know why we do what we do. A sense of purpose (read: mission) is crucial to the success of our organizations. But every once in a while, I encounter a cynic. They will usually wrap their comments in kindness, but the feedback follows a familiar formula. After I give my talk, someone will come up and say, “Can’t we just make this simple? We pay people. They should do the work. We all win. You provide work, the business provides a paycheck, and we don’t need any of this extra stuff.”

Here’s my response to the critics: In short, no, that’s not enough.

Some context: We’ve talked about this before in a previous blog, but today, I want to focus on the danger of elevating money above mission. In theory, it seems like money alone would be enough motivation to perform work with excellence. However, there’s a glaring problem: when the exchange between employer and employee is all about money, we turn our employees into mercenaries who’d quickly sell their services to the highest bidder.

When the exchange between employer and employee is all about money, we turn our employees into mercenaries who’d quickly sell their services to the highest bidder.

Said another way, if it’s only about money, we would have no loyalty and quickly work for the business down the street if they offer an extra quarter an hour.

Think about this. If you signed up to serve in the US military, there is financial compensation. But, there are many jobs with higher pay and better benefits. If you are signing up to serve in the military, it’s because you have a desire to serve your country and fight for the people in it. And without a doubt, if an enemy military offered you more money to fight for them, you wouldn’t think about doing it. Why not? Ultimately, your work is about the mission.

Similarly, if someone feels called to serve on the mission field, it’s unlikely that a company offering them more money to do a different job would persuade them to stay. They are motivated by the mission, not by the money.

As leaders in the business world, or even education, we’ve got to connect people to our mission, not just the money. The word mercenary means a hand for hire who will always go to work for the highest bidder. If the only thing we’re doing to fight for talent is to offer them more money, we are playing a risky game that we will probably lose.

Some people will say focusing on mission (or purpose, or vision) is fluffy and superfluous. Let me be clear: If your talent strategy is only about money, you will struggle to retain talent.

Mission isn’t just a feel-good thing. It’s also not a manipulation tactic—it must be authentic. When done correctly, mission creates employee engagement and loyalty over the long haul.

Money definitely matters, but mission matters more than money.

Spend some time this week reminding folks in your organization why you do what you do.

But somehow I have “liked” something, or followed someone, along the way that has affected the algorithm and filled my feed with architecture posts. It’s random, but occasionally, I’ll stop and take a closer look at a thread that catches my attention. One recently was titled, “The Danger of Minimalist Design.”

The post contained a string of pictures comparing minimalist telephone booths, benches, and fences, to those with more color and detail. The point was clear. If all design elements adopt the minimalist movement, we’ll lose what makes structures unique and fun to look at!

Isn’t that true, even beyond architecture?

The things that stand out have identifiable features that make them special and different.

One of our core values of ADDO is: Wow. We say:

If it’s not WOW, it’s not worth doing.

In other words, if we aren’t willing to challenge the status quo and approach problems from a new perspective, we don’t have a unique purpose, and we probably won’t make a lasting impact on the world around us.

But this is easier said than done. In modern culture, we’re constantly pressed to blend in, be more realistic, and for the sake of everyone’s feelings, to not rock the boat. We’re encouraged, more than anything else, to be “normal.”

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, wrote a final letter to his shareholders in February of 2021. In it, he challenges them saying, “In what ways does the world pull at you in an attempt to make you normal? How much work does it take to maintain your distinctiveness? You have to pay a price for your distinctiveness… don’t expect it to be easy or free.” Entrepreneur and author Seth Godin similarly said, “If you’re remarkable, it’s likely some people won’t like you.”

Doing things differently comes at a cost. It’s difficult to be different. We have a goal at ADDO to equip 10 million counter-cultural change makers. You know what? We will never build leaders that are counter-cultural if we aren’t counter-cultural ourselves!

It’s difficult to be different.

In what ways are you or your organization pressed to be normal, rather than uniquely better? The things worthwhile are often unique and different. If you’re looking for permission to be different, permission granted. To be sure, when you do something that stands out, the world will try to bring you back to the mean. You may be discouraged, or even discredited, when you do something differently. Keep being different anyway. Be uniquely better.

It launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16th, 1969, carrying three astronauts. My bet is that you’ve heard of two of them: Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. Aldrin was Eagle pilot of the Lunar Module on the mission, and Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. He famously said,

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

But there was a third man on this mission: Michael Collins. Have you ever heard of him? I hadn’t. And I don’t know about you, but if I’m being honest, I would hate being Michael Collins. It’s kind of like being a member of NSYNC, but not being Justin Timberlake! No one has heard of Collins, but he was one of three astronauts on this important mission. His job was to pilot the Apollo 11 command module and fly around the moon while Aldrin and Armstrong walked on its surface. When prompted to comment on his role on the mission, he explained what an honor it was to have one of the three seats available on Apollo 11 and to help put the first man on the moon. Though he never stepped on the moon’s surface and didn’t gain the same level of fame as the other two men on his mission, he knew the importance of his role.

There is something life-giving for each of us when we understand that our role matters.

The person at the church who is making the snacks for VBS . . .The person in the business keeping the books . . .The person in the restaurant grilling the burgers . . .The person in the school mopping the floor . . .The person in the stadium picking up the trash in the stands . . .The person editing footage behind the scenes . . .The person making the phone calls to every client to make sure they feel cared for . . .MATTERS. They matter and their role matters. In each situation, what they are doing helps the whole organization move closer to its desired goal.

Your role matters too. When you understand that your role is essential to the success of your organization, you better understand that the things you’re doing day-in and day-out matter too.

I believe the same is true for you. It doesn’t matter if you are the CEO of a company, the team leader of a project, or the volunteer coordinator of a non-profit, any leader in any organization wants every person working for them to be inspired. People who are inspired are more motivated to do good work and to live productive lives.

But here’s a challenge: What can I do to inspire people? The prospect seems daunting, perhaps even overwhelming.

‍ADDO is the Latin word for “Inspire”, and though we’re always working to grow in this area, we’ve had concrete success, from inspiring high school students through Chick-fil-A Leader Academy to helping our clients inspire their own teams to achieve their goals. Here’s a secret: it’s more simple than you might think!

Let me suggest a two-step process.

‍Step 1: Find inspired people.

I know. This doesn’t really answer the question about how to inspire people, but it’s actually an important first step. Lou Holtz is a famous former football coach who said, “It's not my job to motivate players. They bring extraordinary motivation to our program. It's my job not to de-motivate them.” If you’re a leader, find talented people who are also inspired by the vision and mission of the work you are doing.

Your job as a leader is not to manufacture inspiration out of thin air; it’s to find the fire of inspiration behind each individual you lead and fuel that fire.

‍Step 2: Unlock the things that inspire them.

Once you find a team of inspired individuals (or at least mostly inspired individuals), it’s important to unlock what exactly inspires each one. Everyone is different, so this takes intentionality. I have three C’s you can remember as you seek to inspire your team:

‍1. Care.

Understand what is important to the people you lead by asking good questions and truly listening to discover what matters to them at their core. Remember: What is important to someone is not always what they say is important. This is why you need to know what is going on in their life to know what they care about. When you care about people, it’s easy to learn what they care about.

‍2. Consistency.

Inspiration is cultivated and maintained through small, consistent moments over time. Culture is created in the small moments and memorialized in the big ones. If you are banking on your one retreat each year to provide enough inspiration to motivate your team until your next retreat, you’ll be disappointed, and your team will be less than inspired.

Culture is created in the small moments and memorialized in the big ones.

The best kind of inspiring culture is established through one on one conversations, celebrating daily wins, and continually reminding your team of the why behind what they are doing. So when the big moment comes, your team will be genuinely inspired and grateful to be a part of your team.

‍3. Connect what’s important.

In other words, connect the mundane to the meaningful. Connect activity to accomplishment. Connect your work to the greater mission. If you are seeking to inspire a new team member, you need to understand who she is and what drives her. You need to be consistent in your intentionality, and you need to connect her daily tasks to her purpose or to the greater goals of your organization. My purpose and our purpose here at ADDO is to inspire people today to impact tomorrow. So this blog is as much a challenge to me as it is to you. If our own team isn't inspired, we will never fulfill our mission to inspire others!

Work this week to intentionally inspire the individuals on your team in the little moments, so the big moments will make an even greater impact on your culture and productivity.

Here are just five titles of the dozens of articles that have been published about it in the last two weeks alone:

“The Great Resignation is not over: A fifth of workers plan to quit in 2022”

“The Great Resignation Stems from a Great Exploration”

“Five Ways to Compete for Talent During the Great Resignation”

“Cities Stung by Great Resignation Hike Wages, Just as Recession Looms”

“CEOs are Quitting and Joining and Great Resignation—Here’s Why”

If you haven’t heard much about The Great Resignation, you can probably figure out what it’s about from its name: “In America alone, 47.8 million people called it quits in 2021” (Ederick Stander, Forbes). And in 2022, people are continuing to leave their jobs at unprecedented rates.

But even if you haven’t read much about The Great Resignation, chances are you’ve felt the effects of it as a consumer. You’ve waited on your food longer than normal only to notice the sign posted in the window, pleading for qualified candidates to apply. Or maybe you purchased a new pair of shoes online and had to wait an extra week for them to be delivered. When you inquired, the company replied with an email explaining they are short-staffed and taking longer to process orders. Your flight was delayed, or even canceled, as short-staffed airlines struggle to keep up.

It’s true that more people are leaving their jobs than ever before.

However, the real problem is the disconnect between why employers think their employees are leaving and the real reasons for their departure.

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Last year, McKinsey & Company conducted a study to identify why employees say they are leaving their jobs versus why employers think they are leaving. The results were fascinating. Employers think these are the top reasons their employees are leaving their businesses:

1. A better job offer

2. More money

3. More flexibility

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However, when studied, employees state they are leaving because they want:

1. A company who cares about them

2. A manager who cares about them

3. To feel a sense of belonging at work

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Don’t misunderstand me. Better jobs, more money, and greater flexibility are all reasons why employees leave… they just aren’t the top reasons for them leaving.

One key reason businesses are struggling right now: they understand the problem of keeping employees, but they misunderstand what’s causing it. They understand they are struggling with retention, but they are misdiagnosing why.

One key reason businesses are struggling right now: they understand the problem of keeping employees, but they misunderstand what’s causing it.

The Great Resignation is, in large part, caused by this great disconnect. When employers miss what people want, they spend time, energy, and effort on the wrong solutions. Paying someone more or giving them more flexibility may extend the amount of time a person is willing to stay, but it won’t keep them around for the long haul.

All of these things listed are important, but the top three reasons employees are leaving can be summed up in one word: Care. Employees want to feel and experience a work community that cares for them. The bigger the company, the harder this is to cultivate.

Oftentimes well-intentioned organizations struggle to show they care. While the solutions aren’t always easy, they are more simple than you’d expect. Investing in training leaders and providing individuals opportunity to grow can go a long way. My challenge to you this week: audit how you and your company (or school or church or non-profit) as a whole are caring for members of your team. Focusing on a culture of care will help you win the war for talent and weather the storm of the The Great Resignation.

I deserve the best.

It doesn’t matter my path as long as I enjoy it.

There are a lot of social media philosophers these days. I struggle with a lot of these messages. In fact, when I stop to think about them, I’ve started to ask myself, “Does this just sound good, or is it actually true?”

I think a healthy dose of skepticism can be a good thing. We should examine quotations or hashtags, especially about faith, family, and friendship. Not everything that sounds good is always honest, or even helpful.

On the other hand, sometimes we can dig deeper and find the opposite is true. Sometimes a statement that, on the surface, seems too good to be true, actually contains deep, applicable wisdom.

One of these quotes is from Zig Ziglar:

“You will never consistently perform in a manner that’s inconsistent with the way you see yourself.”

It feels fluffy and self-centered, doesn’t it?

‍“You just need to see yourself better, so you’ll act better.” “You can’t be different until you see different.”

‍But if you dig deeper, you’ll find that Zig Ziglar was right. His simple statement is even backed up by deeper truth found in the Bible. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7, KJV).

In other words, how you think in your heart determines who you become.

Life change really does start with a change in our minds. If we want to be different, we need to start thinking about things differently.  

If we want to be different, we need to start thinking about things differently.

I will not be able to consistently perform well if I don’t see myself correctly.

If I don’t believe my actions have an impact on my children, I won’t be intentional in my parenting.

If I don’t see money and possessions in the right perspective, I won’t be generous.

If I don’t see myself as a leader, I won’t lead others well.

If my co-workers aren’t important to me, I won’t show them that they are valuable.

If I am not convinced my faith will transform others’ lives, I won’t consistently share it with my neighbors.

If I don’t see myself as someone created in the image of God, I will allow my worth to be dictated by the opinion of others.

The way we see ourselves and think about ourselves matters. As I’ve said many times, how we view things really does change how we do things.

So this week, think about your thoughts.

Make a conscious effort to be aware of what’s on your mind. If you can change your thinking, you will most certainly change your life.

There are some days where I feel like every. single. word. that comes out of my mouth is a correction for my son. Don’t throw that ball in the house. Stop hitting your sister. Sit down. Stop running in the kitchen. Now, to be clear, I think discipline and correction is good and important. Children need boundaries and thrive under parents who lovingly show them the right way to live. However, I don’t think it’s good when my son receives more words of correction than words of encouragement from me.

Stephen Covey talks about how our children have emotional bank accounts. It’s important that we make regular deposits by reminding them that they are loved and by encouraging the good we see in them. This way, when we need to make a deposit, a correction or criticism, our children are confident it’s coming from a place of deep care.

I’m learning that finding the right ratio of encouragement and correction is vitally important to successful parenting.

Ok, you didn’t come here for parenting advice, (and even if you did, I’m not sure I’m most qualified to give it!).

But here’s a business application: Finding the right ratio applies to more than just our kids’ emotional bank accounts. When applied, this communication concept can greatly impact organizational health.

At ADDO, there have been seasons where we needed to focus more on profit. We are a business, and we can’t survive without profit. The more money we make, the more lives we can inspire today to impact tomorrow. Profit fuels purpose. But if we spend more time talking about money than our mission, we are sending a message that making money is the primary goal. And not surprisingly, people feel less inspired and less happy with the actual work they are doing. The work becomes a means to a paycheck, instead of an important part of the purpose. We need to find the balance of preaching about profit and emphasizing our purpose.

The right ratio leads to the right results.

Here’s another example: If the pastor of a church is asking for volunteers, he should remind his congregation of the purpose behind what they are doing. Those who serve in the children’s ministry are planting seeds in little hearts, while those serving on the hospitality team are making visitors and members feel more comfortable. If he is only focused on communicating the number of volunteers they need, it will feel more like a burden to serve than an opportunity to join the church’s mission.

Or if the president of the PTA  is looking for volunteers for Teacher Appreciation Week, they should remind the parents of why it’s important to encourage their child’s teachers. The teachers need to be filled up with encouragement and reminded that their work matters and has a huge impact on the children they serve. If the PTA president only focuses on what they need to accomplish to make it through the week, the parents involved will feel stressed, and the teachers won’t feel as appreciated as they should!

When we don’t have our ratios right, our communication is unbalanced and falls flat.

If we only focus on correcting our kids, they might be well-behaved, but they won’t feel very loved.

When we only focus on profit, our businesses may make a lot of money, but our teams won’t be engaged.

If we only focus on the number of volunteers we need, they might miss the joy of being a part of the mission.

Evaluate your ratios this week. If you find yourself focusing too much in one area, use language to intentionally bring balance.

The book contains 511 observations about how to live a “happy and rewarding life.” Not surprisingly, the book became a huge success and is still a staple gift for high school and college graduates across the country. Here are a few famous pieces of advice from his book:

"Compliment three people every day."

"Never forget your anniversary."

"Smile a lot."

"Every person that you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them."

"Call your mother."

"Overpay good babysitters."

"When you go to borrow money, dress as if you have plenty of it."

"Buy a used car with the same caution a naked man uses to climb a barbed-wire fence."

"Say something positive as early as possible every day."

"When loved ones drive away, watch until you can no longer see the car."

"Carry a small Swiss Army knife on your keychain." But this one in particular caught my eye:

"When there’s a piano to be moved, don’t reach for the stool."

He’s telling his son that there are far too many people ready to carry the stool when there’s a piano to be moved! Son, you carry the piano. Do the hard work.

This week, I am wrapping up a three-part series about pursuing an honorable ambition. Remember, an honorable ambition is a strong desire to do something good. In this blog series, I have used 1 Thessalonians 4:11 as my template for pursuing an honorable ambition, and in this verse, Paul lists three ways to do so:

1) lead a quiet life

2) mind your own business‍

3) work with your hands

At the time Paul was writing, this challenge to work with your hands was really a challenge to do real work. Hard work. In our day and age, physical labor might be involved in hard work, but it doesn’t always have to be. The emphasis here is pursuing work that requires effort and leaves no room for laziness. Just like Brown encouraged his son, it should be our ambition to move the piano—it should be our ambition to work hard at whatever we do.

Working hard not only helps us find satisfaction in our daily tasks, but it also helps us live out the two other honorable ambitions we’ve already unpacked: leading a quiet life and minding your own business. Think about it. When you are working hard, you don’t have time to be infatuated by the noise of entertainment, news, and social media. You have to stay focused on the task at hand. And when you’re working hard, you also don’t have time to be a meddler or a gossip—you have to mind your own business to get your work done!

This is going to sound overly simplified, but I think it’s important to say:

Hard work is hard. Hard work is satisfying, but it’s still hard.

I talked about this in my very first post. Proverbs 14:4 says, “Where there are no oxen the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.” In other words, the mess you are facing is evidence that you have been given a blessing—good work to do! We can be sure we will face obstacles in our work, but they are not indicators that we need to give up or get another job. This is a mistake I see so many young people make today.

Hard work is hard.

News flash: It doesn’t matter how many leadership books you read, if you aren’t willing to do the hard work, you won’t ever be a good leader.

One final note about honorable ambition: it’s easy for us to base the success of our work on the expectations or opinions of others. Though it’s good to get the feedback of people you trust, you need to remember that the measure of your success is your actual work—not another person’s opinion. So my challenge to you this week is to ask yourself a simple question: Am I doing the hard work?

Find space for the quiet.

Mind your own business.

Do the hard work.

Make these your ambition.