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My friend Tom was asked to share three lessons he learned while starting and growing a sizable manufacturing company in Asia.  I often wonder what I would pick if asked to do something like that – which three?  Why those?  How can I remember the three most important things? However, I thought that Tom’s choice […]

Those of us who live in northern climes, eagerly look for signs of spring about the month of March or April.  Having grown up in western and northern Canada, it became a ritual to identify positive signs that winter was waning. I now live in the northwest USA, and recently I saw some of those

A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, and the expected outcomes. IBEC Ventures expresses this in terms of its purpose, its vision, and its values (see IBEC’s about page). Our statement includes the following important goals as we direct our efforts toward the most impoverished

Coaches have one composite skill – the asking of questions with resulting skillful conversation.  Bob Hancox, who co-authored the book Coaching for Engagement: Achieving Results Through Powerful Conversations.1  defines coaching as “a way of focusing and leading a conversation with the intent of facilitating learning, heightening engagement, and encouraging higher performance… the focus of the

The 5Ps of Employee Fulfillment I live across Lake Washington from Microsoft and I regularly see one of their employees’ pickup buses near my place.  Yes, Microsoft is a big player in the Seattle community, so my interest was piqued when I saw this article on LinkedIn on Dec 11, 2018.  The author is Kathleen

Daniel Lubetzky’s father survived the holocaust and he left a legacy of kindness both during the war and afterwards, something which has informed his son Daniel’s approach to business. Ever eat a KIND bar?  A billion a year are sold worldwide, and the company is valued in at billions of dollars. The podcast noted below

The month of February is the month we remember two great presidents of yesteryear.  Monday is Presidents’ Day, part way between the birth dates of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. We do not readily associate these successful political figures with business, but both were one-time businessmen.  Washington was a large landowner in the planting industry

We hear a lot about fair trade these days and indeed many of the Business as Mission (BAM) businesses that IBEC serves are members of a fair-trade association.  The whole topic can be confusing as there are many organizations that claim a fair trade standard but in reality they do not following the principles of

Mats Tunehag is a world leader in the BAM movement and has given permission to republish his important article from last year, where he describes the use of an important biblical word, Avodah.  He explains how work is ordained by God and our lives should have an integrated perspective every day of the week. Business as Mission

About the time I watched the funeral service for George H.W. Bush and listened to how his character influenced his family as well as national and international decisions during his presidency, I was reading the book, Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury.  It had been recommended by Mats Tunehag, international leader on issues related to Business