Authors Note:  This is the third in a series of 12 articles I’m writing to share my experience, often “what not to do”, from building our foundation over the last 14 years.

About two years after selling my for-profit business and turning my primary focus to serving those who serve the poor through this foundation, I was a nervous wreck.  Daily I wrestled with the complex organization I’d created using my winnings from business. 

One day my financial manager looked at me and said, “Wasn’t this supposed to be fun?”

Now and then I take our work very seriously.  But his question made me realize I’d forgotten a very important lesson I’d learned in business.  That is, that any work can be accomplished more effectively and more joyfully as [more] a game.

In building a business over 20 years, much of our success was in the game of:

·       Keeping score

·       Celebrating wins

·       Brooding together over losses

·       Playing and dining together often

Every month, for example, our company would have a “food for thought” meeting.  We’d first read the scoreboard (monthly financial results) then we’d hear a report from each department, welcoming suggestions for how to do our work better.   

Then we’d have a competition or play a game together.  I remember building kites and flying them; building bird houses and putting them out in the trees around our HQ; doing scavenger hunts or making costumes for charity.  One time I remember someone bringing in a local exotic animal expedition – snakes, alligators, tarantulas…… the whole thing.

All this, I suppose to remind ourselves that while the game was important, it wasn’t everything. 

And then always, after the reports and games, we’d eat together.

A company needs clear goals to achieve (so we can score wins and losses) and a sense of camaraderie and humor to get us through the toughest times together. 

It’s a culture thing.

So, why didn’t I apply that to our non-profit work at first?

I don’t know.  Maybe, like so many of our non-profit partners, I took the work of serving the poor too seriously.  It’s about overcoming poverty in our abundant world, so we have to be somber, right?

Wrong.

Just as in business, I’m learning (again) that we’ll serve the poor more effectively if we have fun playing the game.

The Business of Good measures its impact on the attainment of specific annual and monthly goals.  Our director, Bill Leamon, and I meet each week to note progress and losses on each of these goals.  We also tend to share some family stories, some humor and something to eat.

The overall object of our game is very clear: by 2015 we intend to scale our service to more than 15 agencies who serve the poor by piloting ideas that break through their traditional models of revenue generation.  We’d like to think that one or more of these innovations may even become national.  Those are some pretty serious goals.

It’s also important to play to win small victories too.  That is, since it’s not entirely clear how we’ll reach our overall goal (scaling - folks a lot smarter than us have been trying for years), we have to make sure our goals are incremental. My experience says small wins lead to big ones.  

And losses are just as important to learning as wins are, perhaps more so.  We measure how many folks our partners are serving effectively (that’s a puzzle and its own goal) and we test ideas that will make us and them more effective.

Last Saturday, I was judging a business competition among 25 entrepreneurs who have no capital.  The winners were competing for money to start their businesses. 

And so, it was intense.  And yet, I noticed that the sponsor, a great new incubator in Cleveland called “Shaker LaunchHouse” provided a great venue, free food, beverages and live music.   In this competitive, yet creative atmosphere, people from the various booths were still razzing each other.

Now, consider this:  over half of the contestants were unemployed and struggling financially.  And the dream of becoming independent business people to solve their financial problems was pretty darn serious. 

Being a part of the event reminded me that serious goals and hard work do not require bad humor.  Quite the reverse, we do better and we have a better chance to succeed if we:

Set the goals.

Play the game.

Keep score.

Have some fun.

Peace,

Tim McCarthy