One of my great privileges for the past few years has been to serve on the Board of the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) Foundation. The MCG Foundation (MCGF) was established in 1954 as MCG’s first philanthropic arm. Since then, the MCGF has grown its endowment to almost $400M. The Foundation manages donor funding, providing almost 400 student scholarships and 79 annual endowed chairs for the Augusta University Health Sciences Campus. In addition, the MCGF is extremely involved in the community through programs like Paceline, which brings start-up research dollars to the Georgia Cancer Center, and partnerships that resulted in the HUB for Community Innovation. I am proud to serve with the talented and committed members of the MCGF staff, led by its President, Ian Mercier, and my fellow Board members, led by its Chairman, Dr. Charlie Green.
Last week, for the second year in a row, the MCGF staff and Board held an off-site retreat to discuss the State of the Foundation, received an Augusta University update from President Russell Keen, reviewed our investment portfolio with our Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO), and addressed our plans for the coming year. Each year, a guest speaker is invited to help educate and motivate the staff and Board to better carry out our mission in supporting both the Health Sciences Campus and the Augusta community. This year’s speaker was the highlight of the retreat, and his message was so relevant to all businesses and individuals that I thought I would share some of it with you in today’s column.
Our guest speaker was Jeff Henderson, who has had an interesting career, including stints in marketing with both the Atlanta Braves and Chick-fil-A, where he led the company’s sports marketing strategy, before leaving his marketing career to become a pastor and start three churches in the Atlanta area. Jeff talked to us about the content of his 2019 book, “Know What You’re FOR: A Growth Strategy for Work, An Even Better Strategy for Life.” In his book, Jeff writes that FOR means; that is, who or what are you in favor of. In other words, whether in your business or your life, you need to know why you are doing what you are doing. That is, what or who are striving to do things for? For example, when the Atlanta Braves won the World Series in 2021, its tagline was “For the A,” meaning the who/what the Braves were playing for was the greater Atlanta area. Ultimately, Jeff indicated every business and every person needs to have a purpose to be successful. Here are some of the lessons he provided related to that message.
Lesson #1: “Purpose and Profit Travel Together”: That is, be the best organization you can be for somebody else; for the world….and your organization will prosper. You need to know:
- What do you want to be known for?
- What are you known for?
…and shrink the gap between the two.
Lesson #2: Nothing Works Better than Word of Mouth Advertising: You want to be an organization in which customers tell other customers what it is. Your customers should be both “vision carriers” and “vision casters” for your company.
Lesson #3: “You Can’t Be Known for Everything”: Focus on what you are going to be good at. You need to be known for something. If you try to be everything to everybody, you are not anything to anybody.
Lesson #4”: “Be FOR the Customer”: Be personable to your customer…” The more personable, the more remarkable” you will appear to your customer.” Jeff told us that Atlanta-based pastor, Andy Stanley once said, “Do for one what you wish you can do for everyone.”
Lesson #5: “Be FOR the Team (your employees)”: The customer is eventually treated like your team is treated, so treat your employees well. “Appreciate consistently; develop intentionally; and listen actively.”
Lesson #6: “Be FOR the Community”: Ask yourself, “What is your organization doing for its community?” Belong to your community because customers buy from those who belong. They feel purpose in their purchase because of the impact of the organization. Make life better in your community because “doing good is good for business.”
Lesson #7: “Be FOR You”: Jeff indicated that the best gift you can give your organization is a healthy, inspired you…the best version of yourself. This will allow you to do your best to deliver on the other “FORs” (Customer, Team, and Community).
I found many similarities between Jeff’s lessons and those of thought leader Simon Sinek whose most famous work is about identifying your “why” or purpose. However, I found Jeff’s delivery to be more interesting and entertaining and better focused on business/organizational success. I hope you can apply the lessons above to your business and life and if you want to learn more, consider reading his book.
