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This week I went Christmas shopping at Pike Place Market on Seattle’s waterfront. I stopped at the original Starbucks ® store to listen to a dressed-up Santa singing Christmas carols (note the original logo on this storefront which dates back to 1971). As I stopped to listen, the old Santa was singing “Joy to the […]
I have lived outside my country of citizenship for most all of my adult life. I have been an alien; an immigrant! Nearly thirty of those years have been in the United States, where I now work, pay taxes and live peaceably with my American wife trying to serve the spiritually unreached and economically disadvantaged […]
On the night of November 2 forty million Americans were glued to their TV sets, watching history in the making. That night the Chicago Cubs won baseball’s World Series in dramatic fashion. It has been 108 years since they had won that trophy. All the talk of a curse, the Billy goat theory and every […]
This week I received an email from a client; the owner of a manufacturing plant in Asia. I have known the owners for more than eight years and visited them twice. I have appreciation for their business model, their commitment to the Quadruple Bottom Line and their personal values. The business has created jobs, proven […]
In the current political milieu one hears various perspectives on economic issues – how to reduce unemployment; how do address poverty and injustice; how to keep America great economically – to name a few. Business is all about wealth creation as the means of improving individual lives, communities and nations. Wealth creation can be briefly […]
We all can remember a critical time in our business when things were not going well. Maybe even the future was in question. Maybe we were ready to give up. Maybe competitors or authorities were out to get us. We were anxious and tempted to act precipitously and quickly in the time of stress. This […]
When I first met Ryan, he was entrenched in the mystical world of coding for a secret project. This secret project would supposedly change the world of media streaming. His team of software engineers worked diligently with no salary and no guarantees, only the promise of a significant payout when the project succeeded. I didn’t […]
What if you could create something with the power to stimulate a developing local economy, catalyze societal change, strengthen families, and spark spiritual transformation? That would be something, wouldn’t it? Enter the triple bottom line. That’s exactly what Business As Mission entrepreneurs are doing. When BAM entrepreneurs start socially conscious BAM businesses they’re after more […]
You might think of the 1969 Western True Grit or the more recent 2010 remake of the John Wayne classic. Or you might think of grit in your teeth. This funny word, “grit” is getting new press lately with recent research and publication. When a TED talk on “Grit” gets over 8 million views, we […]
As we celebrate IBEC’s 10th anniversary, we share this reflection by Larry Sharp and Gary Willett, reprinted from Business As Mission Review, July 11, 2016: IBEC Ventures was incorporated in 2006 as a consulting group to provide consulting services primarily to Business as Missionstartups in areas where there is high unemployment, great injustice and where […]