God’s Balance Sheets
In every meeting with clients, I ask:
“What are your greatest challenges?”
“What is your greatest asset?”
The answer is almost always the same:
“People!”
“How do you view your people?” I asked a prominent manufacturing company leader after he gave the answer above.
“What do you mean?” He replied.
“If people are your greatest asset, do you view them on the Balance Sheet or on the P&L?” I clarified.
He attempted to answer the question, and then I let him off the hook, saying, “It is a rhetorical question because accounting standards do not permit people to be on the Balance Sheet, only the P&L – more specifically on the Expense side.”
We then spent the next 3 hours dissecting my rhetorical question.
Expenses are often viewed as problems to be solved.
Manage expenses.
Control expenses.
Reduce or eliminate expenses.
Shake your fist at increased expenses!
Assets are often viewed as opportunities to leverage.
You know what they are.
You know their condition.
You know when to add, remove, or invest in them.
You know the value and contribution they make to your organization.
So, how do you view your people?
On the Balance Sheet, as Assets to be optimized that are valuable and contribute value?
Or,
On the Expense side of the P&L, as problems to be solved?
The Bottom Line: How you view your people has a direct impact, positive or negative, on your culture!
Want to know something else?
This applies to more than just organizational culture. It applies to all of life!
How do you view your spouse? Your kids? Your parents? Your friends? How about God?
Want to improve relationships and the culture of your organization? Change your perspective!
Want to improve relationships and culture at home? Change your perspective!
Want to be transformed by your relationship with God? Change your perspective!
One of the most significant learnings on my journey over the past several years has been changing my perspective…on many things, but in my relationship with God in particular.
Realizing that God’s economy is very different from our human economy has been a huge “Aha!” for me.
Investing personal, tangible assets to build God’s Kingdom makes little sense from a human economy perspective. But it makes all the sense in the world from a God and Kingdom perspective.
Jesus takes a holistic approach and cares about the whole person. If that is His perspective, I should have the same. Coming to the place of praying and meaning, “Not my will, but Yours be done”–truly praying for indifference to my will and being fully surrendered to His–is difficult work and I am not there yet; however, this is God’s work, God’s work in me, and is what God calls us to do. The rest is just details that God works out in His way and in ways that only He can do! The freedom, peace, meaning, and fulfillment that comes with it is indescribable.
I spent the first half (probably over halfway now!) of my life focusing on building my personal balance sheet; I am now focusing, by the help and grace of God, on building my Kingdom balance sheet.
It isn’t easy, and I want to quit this journey many days, but then I remember the sacrifices that Jesus made; my sacrifices pale in comparison to His.
Life is precious, short, and wild.
May we all change our perspective and view our relationships–family, friends, colleagues, God–as valuable assets that contribute value…not as problems to solve or as distractions that get in the way of building our personal balance sheet.