IBEC board member, Dave Kier is the owner of a sizable feed company in Iowa. He writes blogs like this for his employees five days a week. He is a wonderful example of a Kingdom business owner that keeps the Quadruple Bottom Line front and center.
This writing of a few weeks ago reminds us of the importance of keeping the big picture in mind, just as God does and just as wise business owners do.
“Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.” II Corinthians 9:10 NASB®
It seems to me that a by-product of this technological era is going to be too many “taskers”. You know what a “tasker” is don’t you? It’s the person who doesn’t see nor look beyond the task at hand. At the beginning of the industrial revolution, assembly line production began where a person was hired and taught to add one part to whatever was being made. Then Deming, Drucker, Goldratt and other teachers began teaching not only how to improve efficiency but in so doing, caused management to include the workers in thinking of the entire system. If we aren’t careful, the computer era will put us back in the box causing us to be assembly line thinkers not system thinkers. If we aren’t wise, the technological box could be deceptively stifling.
In our company, we fight the “getting feed out the door” syndrome where the person buying the ingredients thinks only of keeping inventory filled and those in maintenance think only of making a particular repair and the one in the mill thinks only of getting the feed made and the person in the truck thinks only of delivering feed and the one in the office thinks only of paying the bills and billing the customer and so on.
All are very important tasks but we must pause to understand we are blending nutrients to make a diet that is vital to not only sustain the animal but to allow it to grow as efficiently and profitably as possible for the customer. Every semi-truck that pulls out of the yard is filled with amino acids, vitamins, minerals, calories, and so on. It’s not just feed, it’s an important component of the human food chain and our components help feed the world. We are part of a system and the better we understand the food system from beginning to end, the better cog in the wheel of life we are.
God is purposeful because His entire spoken word as written for us reveals a God who was and is intent on fulfilling His purposes are grand and God is a very big picture thinker. All of scripture reveals a God who not only created with a purpose, but directs the affairs of man with a purpose and we are a very important part of His purpose. Jesus left the splendor of Heaven to live, die and rise from the tomb for a purpose – that we may have eternal life bringing glory to God as you live on this earth. You and I are part of God’s great plan because He made you and I for a purpose and He does so because He loves us.
“If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” W.E. Deming
Larry Sharp, Director of Training, IBEC Ventures
larry.sharp@ibecventures.com