The importance of “being” rather than “doing”

This short paper is the second of three about the critical elements of being under covenant with the Lord.  It is about individuals, but I want to start with organizational behaviour to make a point that hopefully everyone will understand!

Organisations do way too much planning.  There, I’ve said it.  I have a feeling this will not go down well, but hear me out…

I am not saying that organisations shouldn’t plan.  And there are some industries where planning is critical, such as where a factory needs to be constructed, or you are manufacturing heavy equipment or machinery to forward orders.  But there is also an aspect of many businesses that cannot and shouldn’t be “planned” because you can’t.

For example:

-        You can’t plan for the unexpected crisis you will face

-        You can’t plan for your competitor’s response

-        You can’t plan for the incredible new piece of intellectual property that one of your people is going to come up with that will change your business forever (for the positive).

I used to be the CEO of a financial services business.  In my experience, we never once planned for the great new idea that emerged during the year that became a business line.  We certainly did try to plan for where the revenue was going to come from, but mostly we got it wrong.  Often it is better just to hustle more – stay close to clients, understand what they want, try to build it, see if it works and repeat. 

Microsoft Windows is a classic story of this.  As the story goes, Microsoft were getting close to shutting down Windows, until sales started to rise.  Once it became clear that Windows was taking off, Microsoft smartly shifted resources to growing it faster. 

I have a version of this kind of story.  The business for which I was CEO is probably best known for starting something called Fiduciary Management in the UK, in 2003.  Whether we were first in the World or the Netherland were will be a debate that continues, but it is certainly the case they both began independently.  Within the UK, it was really only from 2010 that as a broader proposition it took off within the industry.  It is now globally big business, all the largest asset management firms do it and it has changed the way pension assets in particular are managed.

From the outside looking in, history makes us look strategically prescient for having done this.  The truth is very far from that and is closer to a comedy of errors.  What actually happened is this…

In 2002, a very smart client of mine asked me to meet him.  He said to me that he wanted to change the way his pension fund was run, and have me behave as if I were CEO of the pension fund’s assets.  “Come and solicit support from the Board for something you want to do, and then the Board will approve it,” he said.  I thought this was really interesting and no-one had asked the question before.  We did it, and in doing so created a new service alongside our consultancy model, which we called DIAS (Direct Investment Advisory Service).

Now, the sales theory goes that you don’t ever want to be selling two choices.  You want to sell three and the clients chooses the one in the middle.  So we thought, if people are going to buy DIAS, we need to offer something even more extreme on the right hand side.  We came up with what became Fiduciary Management (and called it TIGS, another acronym).  The funny part of this is we actually said to ourselves “there’s way anyone’s going to buy this..!”.  This is still 2002.  Most of our new business pitching was being done by Robbie Bowker and me, so we went to work pitching these three models. 

The first three pitches we did all bought TIGS.  Ultimately, the client that originally asked for DIAS also bought TIGS.  Only one other client in our history bought DIAS (they ultimately switched too) and over 100 went the Fiduciary Management route. The point I’m making is that what appears to the outside world like strategic prescience was really an accident, a lot of hustle, and a willingness to adapt in the face of different client demand.  No planning at all.  This business was sold to Schroder in January 2022 for over $300m.

If I look at all the products we came up with, I do see a sort of analogy with how great musicians describe the hits on their albums.  Mostly they say they have no idea what is going to be the hit.  Some admit to getting it perennially wrong.  I would say that’s been my experience too – you can guess, but you never really know what’s going to resonate until you try.  The key is to respond to what the clients are buying.

So I would generally say to organisations - don’t overestimate the importance of planning.  Your business success will be far more influenced by staying close to clients and being prepared to adapt.

How does this apply to our faith?

As interesting as this may be, on first blush the faith applications may not be obvious.  But they are there.

Why do organisations behave this way?  I think we all have a desire for certainty and planning is a way in which we believe we can make it happen.  Notwithstanding that the facts argue for the opposite, we therefore want planning to make sense.  More than that, our business schools and management theory condition us to believe that this is the right way to approach business.  Surely control is better than not control?  Even though life doesn’t seem to work this way, and nor does business success.

This belief in “control” spills over into our individual lives.  Many analytical people want to understand “where they are going” when it applies to their faith.  Perhaps following a long conversation around their gifting.  Having understood their gifts, they now want to be launched into the application of said gifts.  But more than that, they want to see the direction they’re going and to get on with it.  I repeat – this is not a surprise or a criticism, it’s simply a function of how we are conditioned.  But the truth is different.

Proverbs 3 tells us that “The Lord will make your paths straight”.  Romans 8:28 says “God works all things for the good of those who love Him, according to His purposes”.  And Isaiah 48:10 says “I have refined you but not as silver, I have tested you in the furnace of affliction”.

I put these three verses together for a reason.  Together they tell us:

-        God determines our direction

-        In doing so He will work all things for our good

-        And where appropriate he will put us through the furnace of affliction, for our good. 

Now, if we are all honest with ourselves, our greatest periods of growth tend to be in the furnace of affliction.  But if we are equally honest, how many of us would choose to put ourselves through said furnace?  None, I would humbly suggest.

So if God wants us to grow, he can’t have us choosing our direction because that direction would always be furnace avoiding.  And sometimes we need it. 

Hence, from a faith perspective it stands to reason that we should never be setting our direction – and more importantly the Bible confirms this and explains why.  As a result, a conversation I’ve had with a number of people has gone along the lines of this discussion above, with the resulting conclusion.  It is not about what you are “doing” – meaning your direction – but what you are intended to “be”.

The consequence of this is that you are shaped in a way that help others relationally.  God will find ways to put you in the relevant “rooms” with other people, and your responsibility is to “be” who you were designed to be, for the good of the Kingdom.  What you don’t need to do is plot the path.

Conceptually, this is relatively straightforward.  The problem is our years of conditioning.  Letting go of the responsibility for the planning that is really for the Lord to do is tough, but it is necessary.  Working with Him to become what you were designed to be is more important.

I have seen others feel challenged by this on the grounds that it seems too simple and doesn’t involve getting enough done.  This is partly because we don’t appreciate how far from being fully formed we really are, and how much doing is involved in our improving.  But also, we will never really be able to see all that we accomplish, because our actions are for God to use.  Therefore we can often diminish the effect of the things we achieve when we are simply “being”.  But God doesn’t. 

I do believe that a critical part of successfully fulfilling your covenant with the Lord is appreciating and applying this truth.  Not doing so will simply hold you back.  He has designed you to be, both for the Kingdom and in relationship with Him.  He has all the resources, and they will work with how you are designed for His purposes. If you are genuinely committed to following Him, that should be enough.