The world evolves with regularity. Most organizations are structured to work best in their original environment.

ADAGE

Evolve or Die

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RESPONSE

The world evolves with regularity. Most organizations are structured to work best in their original environment. But environments change. Get ahead of your own curve. Customers change, competitors change, technology changes, markets change, threats change, opportunities change. Most organizations will make minor adjustments to deal with these changes. This will work up to a point, but as the environment continues to evolve, at some point the fundamental structure of the organization must change. What the organization is best designed to do no longer needs to be done, and what needs to be done is no longer what it is best designed to do. More often than not, organizations fail to reformulate their competencies, at fundamental levels, in response to fundamental changes in their environments. Be discerning. Understand that evolving your competencies could mean getting smaller. There may be times when the survival of the enterprise is contingent upon retrenching, getting smaller, and shedding unprofitable customers. Growth is fundamental to Christianity. But growth isn’t always in the cards for enterprises. Don’t conflate growing disciples with growing your bottom line.

SCRIPTURE

2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Nehemiah 4:17 (NKJV) Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon.

QUESTIONS

  1. How do the Scripture(s) apply to the business adage?

  2. When would you be willing to walk away from business?

  3. How do you discern when to evolve and when not to?

  4. Do you personally need to evolve your competencies? If so, which ones?

  5. The best evolution is transforming your secular business into an enterprise platform for the Great Commission. How would you do this?

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Adages Worksheet 19
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