For many of us, the happiest future is one that's just like the past-except a little better. We enjoy nostalgia, reliving those sweet stories of yesteryear, and we'd love to do it all over again-but alas, we can't.

Instead of just repeating the past however, suppose you had the chance to remake your company by making a wish, what would you wish for? Would it be as simple as changing the paint color in your office or store? Would you relocate? How about changing the way you engage potential customers in your community?

To survive, we need to reinvent ourselves, but we also need to cling to the simple values and truths that are the hallmarks of our ministry and business. Consider talking to all of your employees and your customers to find some radically different direction that they would like you to go.

No matter how large or small your organization, it would be good to have a person or a team assigned to business development. Have you outlined future programs building customer loyalty, ministry outreach and revenue? Does your new business line up with your core values? And can you delegate to the next generation of thinkers and allow them to take some risks pushing your business to new levels of connectivity with believers and seekers?

I encourage you to make the transition from worker bee to leader. Learn the principle of micro-interest vs. micromanaging. In other words, know the details, but don't tell your people exactly how to do their jobs.

Another tip is learn what you really need to make your business plan work. Understand what your success hinges on-hiring the right person, inventing the best product or linking up with the broadest audience possible-and focus on getting that part of the equation right.

Let's learn the lessons of the past. One classic example is when the New York Times was offered a deal with Amazon.com in the 1990s. In time, owning Amazon would have transformed the economics of the paper and delivered billions of dollars in revenue. But the paper didn't want to upset one of its largest advertisers, Amazon rival Barnes & Noble. For that reason and perhaps because the paper was just used to simple, steady annual increases, its owners didn't choose to take the plunge.

Can you see this same scenario in our own book publishing industry? We love our industry, our products and the glory God receives through the content of those books, but will new technology undermine our current vision?

In the same way, are your future strategies dismissed because of simple nostalgia? Is our memory so short that we forget about Polaroid, Kodak and the Big 8 accounting firms, which are now the Final Four?

As you build, remember that success in ministry and business may involve inventing your next future-falling in love with it, living with it, but then moving off the strategy at a moment's notice.

Rick Tocquigny
CEO
Artbeat of America
Host of the national radio show "Life Lessons"
www.blogtalkradio.com/search/rick-tocquigny-life-lessons/

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