Collaboration vs. Competition? ~ DFW Christian Business Leaders

Compete or Collaborate? Entire industries have shifted toward collaborative models, enabling developments like universal standards for generations of USB devices, air travel protocols, dramatic aerospace advancements and more. Our dynamic marketplace's competitive environment forces all of us do our best, if our business or organization is to survive and prosper. There are times when our customers are best served when we laser focus on things we are best at and acknowledge that someone else's business may be better at delivering a product or service that is tangential to our best.

Unforgettable illustration--My first visit to a Nordstrom store was on Oct 3, 1997 in Washington, DC. It seems like yesterday. A good friend (Paul) and I walked over from the Pentagon to purchase an item his wife had seen there on a previous trip. A Nordstrom associate informed us the product was no longer offered at Nordstrom; but he thought he could locate it at a competitor's store. He proceeded to locate the store, confirm it was in stock and wrote down the address & name of the sales person he had spoken with on the phone. Upon discovering we were leaving DC early the next day and could not make it across town by close of business, the associate asked for Paul's credit card so he could purchase it for him and have it shipped to his home. Nordstrom lost a $20 sale; but gained four lifetime customers! {Another story for another day how The Golden Rule inspired the company sanctioned actions of that employee}

Why would intentional Christian business leaders deliver any less? Jesus taught that all of the law hangs on two thoughts, God first, others second [implicitly, our own interests last]. Christians should be connected by: common purpose, eternally focused vision and other-focused missions. Why not collaborate when possible, especially if it best serves our customers' interests? This is a call-out for Christians to collaborate as never before to make an exponential difference, a virtual moonshot for such a time as this.

Come and see... https://vimeo.com/bizmin/2019leadershipshipcollabdfw