March 19, 2025 • 30 mins
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Mentorship isn't merely a business strategy—it's a biblical mandate with transformative power for Christian leaders. Harold Milby dives deep into why mentoring matters from a faith perspective, revealing how the practice creates lasting impact across generations.
Drawing from powerful scriptural examples—Moses guiding Joshua, Paul investing in Timothy, and Jesus mentoring his disciples—Milby establishes mentorship as a divine calling rather than an optional leadership practice. He articulates how intentional mentoring relationships foster ethical leadership continuity, practical faith integration, and effective succession planning in organizations of all sizes.
The podcast provides remarkably practical guidance for developing meaningful mentorship partnerships. From identifying potential mentees and building authentic trust relationships to setting clear goals and navigating common challenges, listeners receive a comprehensive roadmap for starting or enhancing mentoring practices. Particularly valuable are Milby's suggestions for key discussion topics ranging from strategic thinking and financial acumen to servant leadership and work-life balance—all framed within a biblical worldview.
Most compelling is Milby's vision for mentorship's broader impact. He connects individual mentoring relationships to organizational health, industry influence, and even marketplace revival. As he puts it, "Mentoring is more than an obligation—it's an opportunity" that benefits both parties while advancing God's kingdom in the business world.
Ready to begin your mentorship journey? Start by identifying that potential mentee today, and discover how the biblical principle of iron sharpening iron creates ripple effects far beyond what you might imagine. Subscribe, share this episode, and join the growing Christian Business Concepts community dedicated to finding true godly success through biblical principles.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with
your host, harold Milby.
Christian Business Concepts isdedicated to guiding companies
and business owners in becomingeffective, efficient and
successful through God's Wordand godly principles.
Now, here's your host, haroldMilby.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thanks, kelly, and welcome everyone to Christian
Business Concepts, where we tryto help Christian business
leaders and organizationalleaders and other department
leaders and at every level andin other people as well, we try
to help them find true godlysuccess through applying God's
(00:40):
word and biblical businessprinciples to their lives and to
their careers.
And I'm excited to know thatyou have a desire to grow, not
only as a leader, but as abusiness person, as a business
leader, organizational leader,I'm just really excited that you
want to grow, that you have adesire to grow, because if not,
(01:01):
you wouldn't be listening tothis podcast.
So Christian business is sovery, very important today and
that's why CBC is here, that'swhy we're here.
We're here to reach out and totry to help Christian businesses
to find that true godly successand to be a light, to be a
witness out there in the world.
(01:23):
And we have that opportunityand we have that ability.
So it's so important thatChristian business really
understand its purpose and, as aleader, you understand your
purpose.
And also it's important becausein these last days, I believe
(01:43):
that God wants to use businessesin a great revival and I think
that's very possible.
It's been done in the past.
We've seen it happen in thepast and I believe it's coming
again.
So thank you so much.
I am so humbled by the factthat you download and listen to
these podcasts each week, and Ijust thank you.
So those of you who listenregularly know that this podcast
(02:10):
represents close to 20countries 20 countries, and that
list continues to grow and sonot only does it represent the
United States, but there'salmost 20 other countries that
are also represented here, andthis week I just want to give a
big shout out to the country ofJapan for having so many
(02:34):
downloads.
Thank you so much, and today Ihope that everyone that is
listening, that you'll beencouraged, enlightened and
empowered by what you hear today.
I wanted today to kind of starta new segment each week, and
maybe it'll discuss news or itmight be information about some
(02:58):
Christian company around theworld.
So today I've got some newsitems about three companies.
Uh, one is uh Amazon.
Uh, ryan Anderson had a bookthat that kind of criticized uh
transgender ideology and Amazon.
Amazon had banned his book.
Well, after four years, I'mhappy to say that Amazon has uh,
(03:22):
uh has reversed that decisionand Ryan Anderson's book is
available on Amazon, whether youagree with his ideology or not.
It's free speech and we're soglad that Amazon has reversed
that decision.
In some other news, there was aMississippi TV weatherman during
(03:44):
some real bad deadly tornadoesand things back in 2023.
He was on air and giving theweather, talking about the
danger, talking about thetornadoes, and you know, he
actually prayed while he was onair and unfortunately, the
company not sure if it hassomething to do with that or not
(04:06):
but all of a sudden, now thatthe company has restructured,
the TV news station hasrestructured and he has been
laid off and so, according tothe TV news company, it's
because of corporaterestructuring.
So we wish him well and gladthat he stood up for his faith
(04:29):
and he prayed for people thatday.
It probably saved some lives.
Then, in September of last year, mary Kay many of you know the
company Mary Kay started by MaryKay, but she started it to
encourage women and empowerwomen.
But she just expanded thebusiness into a small country
(04:55):
and I got to say it rightKyrgyzstan, and that country is
in Central Asia.
But anyway, they are expandinginto that country because they
want to continue to furthertheir mission of beauty and
empowerment and it's a verysignificant move into that new
market, and that's according totheir own news hub.
(05:18):
But this expansion was kind ofunexpected given its established
US presence.
But they really are trying togo worldwide and that business
is still in their minds.
It's still all about gettingthe message and the gospel out
and also helping women to feelgood about themselves.
(05:39):
So we applaud them for that.
We applaud them for going intothat country and wish them well.
Now let's get into today's topic.
You know mentoring is a vitalpractice that I think is so
important.
It really fosters not onlypersonal growth but professional
(06:01):
growth and it bridges the gapbetween the experience that a
person has that's the mentor andthe potential that the mentoree
has.
So for Christian businessleaders, mentoring that next
generation, I think is really aunique opportunity to pass on
(06:23):
valuable skills and to reallykind of instill some ethical
principles and just demonstratehow faith can really shape
business practices.
You know, today I want todiscuss the importance of
mentoring from a Christianperspective and provide some
(06:43):
practical steps for businessleaders and other leaders to
effectively mentor youngprofessionals.
And you do that by investing inthem.
You invest in them and they'reworth it.
You know Christian leaders canreally ensure that values like
integrity and stewardship andfaith, that they continue on
(07:03):
after they're gone.
But that can continue on and itreally has an effect and an
influence, I think, in thebusiness community.
So let's look at what theimportance of mentoring is.
You know, mentoring holdsprofound significance, I think,
particularly for Christianbusiness leaders, who are called
(07:26):
to lead with purpose and impact.
Because you are, if you're aChristian business leader,
you're called to lead withpurpose and to lead with impact.
You know, winston Churchillsaid we make a living by what we
get, but we make a life by whatwe give.
And that's so true.
You know, steven Spielberg saidthe delicate balance of
(07:47):
mentoring someone is notcreating them in your own image,
but giving them the opportunityto create themselves.
So let's not have anymisunderstanding.
I'm not talking about trying tohave someone that is like a
mini-me, you know is just likeanother you, or somebody that
(08:12):
you want to be like you.
No, what you want is you wantthem to have your knowledge and
your wisdom and your experienceand help them to become the
person they need to be.
So here are some key reasons whymentoring matters.
First of all, there's a legacyof ethical leadership.
Mentoring really ensures thatthe next generation of leaders
(08:35):
that they really uphold thoseethical standards that are
rooted in biblical principles,which is what we're about, you
know.
And so when you guide theseyoung professionals, these young
Christian leaders, youcontribute to a future where
their business decisions willalign with that integrity.
And so that's one.
(08:56):
But another is faithintegration.
So through mentoring, leaderscan model how to integrate your
faith into everyday businesspractices.
See, if you're doing that, youcan help them, teach them and
show them how that's done.
And so it helps those peoplethat you're mentoring to
(09:17):
navigate the challenges that arein business while remaining
true to their core Christianbeliefs, and so it's just a
great approach to leadership.
Another is personal andprofessional growth.
That's why we need mentoring,because mentoring supports the
development of that person'sleadership skills, to help them
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have good decision-making skillsand to give them spiritual help
them to grow and spirituallymature.
It equips them.
It equips those youngprofessionals to succeed in
their careers while growing intheir faith.
So mentoring is not just aboutindividual advancement.
It's really about building acommunity of leaders who reflect
(10:06):
Christ's teachings in themarketplace.
So what you want to see is notonly people that you can grow up
in your business, in yourorganization but you want to
help others to maybe launch outon their own as Christian
business leaders and you'regoing to help them and equip
them for that next, that helpequip that next generation, and
(10:30):
you're going to give them thetools that they need to succeed.
Another important reason formentoring is succession planning
.
So you've got to prepare youngprofessionals for leadership
roles, so that you have apipeline, so to speak, of a lot
of capable people that's readyto step into key positions.
I've been in businesses beforewhere there's been no succession
(10:51):
plan and so that business beganto suffer when a lot of the
experienced people began toretire and they did not have a
plan to replace those people.
So it became a real detrimentto those businesses because all
the knowledge was leaving thebusiness and they didn't have
anybody that they were grooming.
So you need to groom thosepotential successors and in
(11:18):
doing that you help theorganization have a future, and
so you know you want to.
Also, another reason is tofoster a learning culture.
So you want to have a culturewithin the organization to learn
, and then there's mutual growthbecause mentoring you know you
got to look at it this wayMentoring isn't one-sided
Mentoring, you know you got tolook at it this way Mentoring
isn't one-sided.
So while the person you'rementoring gets a lot of good
(11:40):
guidance and they get to learn alot from you and learn from
your experience, remember thatit'll also help you to refine
your leadership abilities.
It'll give you some newperspectives and you'll begin to
experience that satisfactioneven of shaping and helping
(12:00):
someone in their career.
Another thing that we need toconsider is you know, when we're
talking about mentoring, whatis the biblical basis for
mentoring?
Is that biblical Well?
The Bible offers a really goodfoundation for mentoring.
That biblical Well the Bibleoffers a really good foundation
(12:21):
for mentoring.
There's a lot of examples inthe Old Testament and the New
Testament about it.
There's Paul and Timothy.
In the New Testament, paulmentored Timothy, providing
guidance on leadership andministry.
He instructed Timothy even thento pass on what he had learned.
So he was saying look, I'mmentoring you, but you need to
mentor others.
(12:41):
And when he had learned aboutthat, he created this chain of
mentorship and it was reallyemphasizing the importance of
preparing people and leaders forthe future.
Another good example is Mosesand Joshua.
You know, moses mentored Joshuaand he was equipping him to
(13:05):
lead the Israelites into thepromised land.
That's according to Deuteronomy31, 7 through 8.
And this relationship reallyhighlights how mentoring
transfers wisdom andresponsibility to that next
generation.
You know, proverbs 27, 17 saysas iron sharpens iron, so one
person sharpens another.
(13:26):
And this verse really capturesthe mutual growth that occurs in
mentoring, when both the mentorand the person you're mentoring
are refined through thismentoring relationship.
And there's many others there'sElijah and Elisha, there's Jesus
and his disciples and there'sBarnabas and Paul.
(13:47):
So Barnabas mentored Paul, paulmentored Timothy.
You know, I've always toldpeople you need to have two
people in your life, you need tohave a Paul, told people you
need to have two people in yourlife.
You need to have a Paul that'sthe person that's you know where
, or you need to have a Timothy,I'm sorry.
You need to have a Timothy anda Barnabas in your life and you
need to be a Paul to somebody.
(14:07):
So if you're a Paul, then youhave a Timothy in your life and
you also have a Barnabas in yourlife.
So you have somebody stillmentoring you and you're
mentoring others and I thinkit's important to have those
people in your life.
And these biblical examples, Ithink, really underscore
mentoring as really a divinecalling.
It's an intentional act of beinga good steward over what you
(14:32):
have and what the knowledge andexperience you have and how you
can use that to nurture anddevelop other people.
So what are some practicalsteps for mentoring other people
?
Well, you need to be able to bean active listener.
That's the first thing.
It's very important to be anactive listener.
That's a fundamental skill, andyou've got to listen to what
(14:54):
they're saying, focus on whatthey're saying, understand their
message.
You've got to respond in a verythoughtful manner, but active
listening, that's really key.
That's really important.
Another is empathy.
You need to validate theirfeelings and you can do that by
sharing relevant stories.
But it's really important thatyou have empathy.
(15:15):
You know, galatians 620 saysBear one another's burdens and
so fulfill the law of Christ.
He's talking about empathy here.
So we need to empathize withpeople and not judge them.
Then encourage independence,encourage independence.
So make sure that you encouragethe person you're mentoring to
(15:35):
take ownership of their owndevelopment and then making
their own decisions.
So what this does is it reallyhelps create confidence and
self-reliance in that personthat you're mentoring.
So how do we begin?
Well, first, what you have todo is you've got to identify
some potential people that youwould mentor.
So you've got to seek out someyoung professionals or students
(15:59):
who show promise.
They've got a willingness tolearn and a commitment to some
ethical values.
And so look within yourorganization, look within your
church or other professionalnetworks for individuals who
align with your vision and faith, and then you have to build
(16:20):
this trust relationship.
That's the next thing.
So you have to establish trustand the way that you can do that
number one is be approachableand number two, be authentic.
You know, share those personalexperiences and don't just share
the successes.
Share your failures and whatthat does.
Share the successes, share yourfailures and what that does is
(16:40):
when you share your failure withsomebody, you're showing them
and you're demonstrating yourvulnerability.
And not only that, but thenthat transcends into
relatability.
So actively listen to theirgoals and challenges and
aspirations, because what thatdoes is that helps build trust,
(17:02):
because you're fostering thismutual respect.
The next thing that you do isyou need to be honest.
You know, george Lucas saidmentors have a way of seeing
more of our faults than we wouldlike.
It's the only way we grow.
So we want to be honest withthem.
You want to be honest with themand if you see faults in them,
(17:24):
you've got to be honest withthem and share with them out of
empathy again, but you sharewith them.
The next thing that you need todo is you need to set some goals
.
You need to collaborate withthat person and work together to
define what they want toachieve through this mentoring
relationship and then set somereally clear goals.
(17:46):
Maybe it's to develop specificskills or to navigate career
challenges or establishboundaries or expectations,
whatever they may be.
But you want to set some goodgoals and you should include in
those goals how often you'regoing to meet, either in person
(18:09):
which I think you always have tomeet in person, at least some
of the time and whatever thatpreferred communication style is
either by email or by virtualmeetings, however you want to do
it, but that should be in thosegoals of how you're going to do
that.
And then you set those regularmeetings.
You put them in your calendar.
You know you make thatcommitment to have these
(18:30):
consistent check-ins, whetherit's going to be monthly,
quarterly, weekly, however youdecide that you want to do it,
and those meetings can be very,very formal.
They can be structured with alot of discussions or they can
be really informal.
They can be done over coffee,just getting together and you
(18:52):
use these opportunities toreally offer advice and give
feedback and track theirprogress towards the goals that
you've put together, and so youcan kind of look at that and see
how they're progressing.
And then you want to cover somekey topics and I'm going to
give you some more in a fewminutes but you want to focus on
(19:15):
areas that blend a professionaldevelopment with some
faith-based principles.
So you want to have a balanceand so you want to develop and
help them develop leadershipprinciples.
Teach them concepts likeservant leadership, which is
modeled after Jesus' example.
You want to talk to them aboutethical decision-making.
(19:35):
You want to talk to them aboutethical decision-making.
You want to talk to them aboutfaith integration.
So how do they live out theirChristian life in the workplace?
Make sure that you also discusswith them work-life balance.
That's so important.
So you've got to offerstrategies for managing their
priorities and at the same time,it honors their personal and
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spiritual commitments thatthey've made personally and
things like you know.
Help them to write a purposeand mission statement for their
life and make sure that'saligned with their faith and
their career goals, and thenyou're going to have to overcome
some common challenges.
You've got time constraintsbecause everybody's got busy
schedules, their faith and theircareer goals, and then you're
going to have to overcome somecommon challenges.
You've got time constraintsbecause everybody's got busy
(20:20):
schedules, but you've got tohave opportunities that you
create, whether it be throughlunch breaks, whether it be,
like I said, virtual calls, butyou've got to make it manageable
.
And there's also some generaldifferences.
So you know they're going to bedifferent than you are.
You're going to be differentthan they are.
So you've got to embrace that.
(20:41):
You've got to embrace that theyhave different perspectives and
you've got to be open tolearning from them.
You've got to be open for that,because if they don't feel like
you're there, that you can feellike you can learn from them,
then there's again there's alack of trust there.
Feel like you can learn fromthem, then there's again there's
a lack of trust there and youreally want to encourage a
(21:01):
dialogue to really bridge, Iguess, those differences or
those gaps maybe we call themand to build a really good and
strong mutual understanding,because mentoring is more than
an obligation, it's really anopportunity.
That's how I see it.
I think mentoring is anopportunity and it helps you to
build stronger people, strongerteams and to create a better
(21:24):
organization.
So here are some really goodtopics that we can talk about,
especially within the leadershipskills.
You know strategic thinkingthat's important.
You know you want to help themto understand how to think
(21:44):
strategically.
You know Proverbs 24, 3 through4 says by wisdom a house is
built and by understanding it isestablished.
By knowledge, the rooms arefilled with all precious and
pleasant riches.
So there's a lot of strategicthinking that takes place and
he's kind of sharing that here.
He's talking about wisdom andwhat it takes to build a house
(22:07):
and to prepare a house, andthat's what you're trying to
pass on.
Then you want to also maybe puton there as a goal to help them
to learn operational efficiency.
You want to cover things likehow do you streamline processes,
how do you manage resources,how do you boost productivity,
(22:32):
and you want to help them tolearn how to optimize day-to-day
operations.
I think that's important.
Daniel 6.3 says Then thisDaniel became distinguished
above all other high officialsbecause an excellent spirit was
in him and the king planned toset him over the whole kingdom.
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So Daniel was chosen to bebasically the number two man at
this time, and he had learnedoperational efficiency, and if
you read the book of Daniel,you'll find out that he did
exactly that, and so that'simportant.
That's very, very important.
Another thing that's veryimportant as a topic that you
(23:16):
share with someone you'rementoring is financial acumen.
They need to understandfinances in a business.
They need to understand howit's broken down.
They need to understand thewords that are used in
accounting.
You need to teach some basicfinancial management, how to
(23:37):
read budgets, how to readfinancial statements.
You know you want to do that,as well as teaching them how to
make good investment decisionstoo.
You know, luke 12, 15 says andhe said to them take care and be
on your guard against allcovetousness, for one's life
does not consist in theabundance of the things that he
possesses, and so we need tounderstand about finances.
(24:00):
We need to understand.
You know God does not have aproblem with people who have
wealth.
He has a problem with peoplewho has wealth that has them.
So we need to understand that.
It's important that weunderstand what it is to make
good, sound financial decisions.
(24:21):
Proverbs 21 and 20 saysprecious treasure and oil are in
a wise man's dwelling, but afoolish man devours it.
Again, we're talking aboutbeing good stewards and knowing
finances, knowing how to dothose things.
Another thing you ought to betalking to them about is
innovation.
(24:41):
So you want to encourage somecreativity with them, give them
some assignments that pull thatcreativity out of them, and you
want to help yourself, withinyour organization, to create
this culture of innovation, andyou do that even as you start
mentoring other people.
You know that helps you.
(25:01):
And then personal development.
You want to talk to them aboutpersonal development, what they
can do, what they should do,what they should take into
consideration, takeresponsibility to develop a
personal growth plan.
But they need to do that andyou need to mentor them and you
can share how that you'verallied a team together during a
(25:24):
tough time.
That'll help them to develop,maybe, some strategic thinking
as you go through that step bystep, and so you want to be able
to do that.
Uh, and you know some of theother things that you want to.
You want to be able to do isteach them how to be a good
communicator, uh, you want to touh help them uh, to uh
(25:50):
encourage, uh, or to beencouraged to be a really good
and creative problem solver.
Uh, those are very importanttoo.
Now there's a lot of things thatyou can go on.
I could go on with a big listof things, but you need to
develop that so that you'rementoring the people from a
perspective that you have ofwhat you want to accomplish and
(26:10):
work with them and make surethat those are the same things
that they want to accomplish.
But here's some additionalresources for you.
Here's a couple of books.
You can get Tony Dungy's bookcalled the Mentor Leader.
In that book he really combinesleadership insights with a
(26:30):
faith-based perspective.
Great football coach in the NFL, tony Dungy, the Mentor Leader.
Another great book is by JohnMaxwell, who is one of my
favorite of all times.
It's called Mentoring 101.
I would encourage you to getthat book because it really
offers a lot of practical adviceto mentoring effectively.
(26:54):
And then you can participate, Ithink, in leadership development
events.
Some of those are hosted bychurches or Christian
organizations, businessconferences, and that again will
help you to learn.
It's a good tool.
And there's some onlineplatforms too.
(27:14):
There's LinkedIn.
That has a lot of greatinformation on there.
That has a lot of greatinformation on there.
There's a lot ofindustry-specific networks that
kind of help connect not justthe knowledge and the
understanding, but it'llactually help you connect with
people that could possibly besomebody you would mentor, and
then they share resources too.
(27:36):
So make sure that you do that.
Make sure that that's somethingthat you do.
You know mentoring is apowerful calling for Christian
business leaders.
I truly believe that it'ssomething we all need to be
doing.
It's a chance to really investin our future, because you're
(27:58):
helping these young mentormentorees basically to shape
some ethical and faith-drivenleadership skills within them,
and I think that if you followsome of the steps that we've
talked about today, I believeyou can build some meaningful
relationships that will reallybenefit those people that you
mentor, and I believe thatyou'll grow as a person too.
(28:22):
You know the ripple effect thatyour efforts will have will
extend way beyond justindividual growth, because I
believe it'll help to create alegacy of integrity and faith in
the business world as a whole.
So take some action today.
Reach out to somebody, to ayoung professional, and begin
(28:45):
that journey of mentorship, andI believe that together, between
you, you can sharpen each otheras iron sharpens iron.
As the Bible says, for the gloryof God and for the good of our
society.
Lord, we thank you today for allthe people that you've placed
in our lives, that have mentoredus and poured into our lives,
(29:07):
and sometimes, lord, it may nothave been on purpose, but
nonetheless you used it, lord,for our advantage, and so, lord,
we thank you for that, wepraise you for it and, lord, we
pray that you help us to beserious and purposeful in
mentoring others and helpingothers, and help us to utilize
these principles today, lord,that we talked about, to mentor
(29:29):
other people and to besuccessful at it, and, lord, we
thank you for that.
In Jesus' holy name.
Amen and amen.
Well, thanks again fordownloading and listening to
today's podcast, and I hope thatyou'll reach out to some other
people and share this podcast,put it on your Facebook, put the
link on your Facebook page, onyour LinkedIn page, and help us
(29:51):
to grow the CBC community.
Well, that's all the time wehave for this week, so until
next time, remember Jesus isLord and he wants you blessed.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Thank you for tuning into this week's Christian
Business Concepts podcast.
Go toChristianBusinessConceptscom for
more information and resources.
Be sure to check out otherpodcasts that will help you take
your business and your personallife to a whole new level of
success.
Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with
your host, harold Milby.
Christian Business Concepts isdedicated to guiding companies
and business owners in becomingeffective, efficient and
successful through God's Wordand godly principles.
Now, here's your host, haroldMilby.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Thanks, kelly, and welcome everyone to Christian
Business Concepts, where we tryto help Christian business
leaders and organizationalleaders and other department
leaders and at every level andin other people as well, we try
to help them find true godlysuccess through applying God's
(00:40):
word and biblical businessprinciples to their lives and to
their careers.
And I'm excited to know thatyou have a desire to grow, not
only as a leader, but as abusiness person, as a business
leader, organizational leader,I'm just really excited that you
want to grow, that you have adesire to grow, because if not,
(01:01):
you wouldn't be listening tothis podcast.
So Christian business is sovery, very important today and
that's why CBC is here, that'swhy we're here.
We're here to reach out and totry to help Christian businesses
to find that true godly successand to be a light, to be a
witness out there in the world.
(01:23):
And we have that opportunityand we have that ability.
So it's so important thatChristian business really
understand its purpose and, as aleader, you understand your
purpose.
And also it's important becausein these last days, I believe
(01:43):
that God wants to use businessesin a great revival and I think
that's very possible.
It's been done in the past.
We've seen it happen in thepast and I believe it's coming
again.
So thank you so much.
I am so humbled by the factthat you download and listen to
these podcasts each week, and Ijust thank you.
So those of you who listenregularly know that this podcast
(02:10):
represents close to 20countries 20 countries, and that
list continues to grow and sonot only does it represent the
United States, but there'salmost 20 other countries that
are also represented here, andthis week I just want to give a
big shout out to the country ofJapan for having so many
(02:34):
downloads.
Thank you so much, and today Ihope that everyone that is
listening, that you'll beencouraged, enlightened and
empowered by what you hear today.
I wanted today to kind of starta new segment each week, and
maybe it'll discuss news or itmight be information about some
(02:58):
Christian company around theworld.
So today I've got some newsitems about three companies.
Uh, one is uh Amazon.
Uh, ryan Anderson had a bookthat that kind of criticized uh
transgender ideology and Amazon.
Amazon had banned his book.
Well, after four years, I'mhappy to say that Amazon has uh,
(03:22):
uh has reversed that decisionand Ryan Anderson's book is
available on Amazon, whether youagree with his ideology or not.
It's free speech and we're soglad that Amazon has reversed
that decision.
In some other news, there was aMississippi TV weatherman during
(03:44):
some real bad deadly tornadoesand things back in 2023.
He was on air and giving theweather, talking about the
danger, talking about thetornadoes, and you know, he
actually prayed while he was onair and unfortunately, the
company not sure if it hassomething to do with that or not
(04:06):
but all of a sudden, now thatthe company has restructured,
the TV news station hasrestructured and he has been
laid off and so, according tothe TV news company, it's
because of corporaterestructuring.
So we wish him well and gladthat he stood up for his faith
(04:29):
and he prayed for people thatday.
It probably saved some lives.
Then, in September of last year, mary Kay many of you know the
company Mary Kay started by MaryKay, but she started it to
encourage women and empowerwomen.
But she just expanded thebusiness into a small country
(04:55):
and I got to say it rightKyrgyzstan, and that country is
in Central Asia.
But anyway, they are expandinginto that country because they
want to continue to furthertheir mission of beauty and
empowerment and it's a verysignificant move into that new
market, and that's according totheir own news hub.
(05:18):
But this expansion was kind ofunexpected given its established
US presence.
But they really are trying togo worldwide and that business
is still in their minds.
It's still all about gettingthe message and the gospel out
and also helping women to feelgood about themselves.
(05:39):
So we applaud them for that.
We applaud them for going intothat country and wish them well.
Now let's get into today's topic.
You know mentoring is a vitalpractice that I think is so
important.
It really fosters not onlypersonal growth but professional
(06:01):
growth and it bridges the gapbetween the experience that a
person has that's the mentor andthe potential that the mentoree
has.
So for Christian businessleaders, mentoring that next
generation, I think is really aunique opportunity to pass on
(06:23):
valuable skills and to reallykind of instill some ethical
principles and just demonstratehow faith can really shape
business practices.
You know, today I want todiscuss the importance of
mentoring from a Christianperspective and provide some
(06:43):
practical steps for businessleaders and other leaders to
effectively mentor youngprofessionals.
And you do that by investing inthem.
You invest in them and they'reworth it.
You know Christian leaders canreally ensure that values like
integrity and stewardship andfaith, that they continue on
(07:03):
after they're gone.
But that can continue on and itreally has an effect and an
influence, I think, in thebusiness community.
So let's look at what theimportance of mentoring is.
You know, mentoring holdsprofound significance, I think,
particularly for Christianbusiness leaders, who are called
(07:26):
to lead with purpose and impact.
Because you are, if you're aChristian business leader,
you're called to lead withpurpose and to lead with impact.
You know, winston Churchillsaid we make a living by what we
get, but we make a life by whatwe give.
And that's so true.
You know, steven Spielberg saidthe delicate balance of
(07:47):
mentoring someone is notcreating them in your own image,
but giving them the opportunityto create themselves.
So let's not have anymisunderstanding.
I'm not talking about trying tohave someone that is like a
mini-me, you know is just likeanother you, or somebody that
(08:12):
you want to be like you.
No, what you want is you wantthem to have your knowledge and
your wisdom and your experienceand help them to become the
person they need to be.
So here are some key reasons whymentoring matters.
First of all, there's a legacyof ethical leadership.
Mentoring really ensures thatthe next generation of leaders
(08:35):
that they really uphold thoseethical standards that are
rooted in biblical principles,which is what we're about, you
know.
And so when you guide theseyoung professionals, these young
Christian leaders, youcontribute to a future where
their business decisions willalign with that integrity.
And so that's one.
(08:56):
But another is faithintegration.
So through mentoring, leaderscan model how to integrate your
faith into everyday businesspractices.
See, if you're doing that, youcan help them, teach them and
show them how that's done.
And so it helps those peoplethat you're mentoring to
(09:17):
navigate the challenges that arein business while remaining
true to their core Christianbeliefs, and so it's just a
great approach to leadership.
Another is personal andprofessional growth.
That's why we need mentoring,because mentoring supports the
development of that person'sleadership skills, to help them
(09:42):
have good decision-making skillsand to give them spiritual help
them to grow and spirituallymature.
It equips them.
It equips those youngprofessionals to succeed in
their careers while growing intheir faith.
So mentoring is not just aboutindividual advancement.
It's really about building acommunity of leaders who reflect
(10:06):
Christ's teachings in themarketplace.
So what you want to see is notonly people that you can grow up
in your business, in yourorganization but you want to
help others to maybe launch outon their own as Christian
business leaders and you'regoing to help them and equip
them for that next, that helpequip that next generation, and
(10:30):
you're going to give them thetools that they need to succeed.
Another important reason formentoring is succession planning
.
So you've got to prepare youngprofessionals for leadership
roles, so that you have apipeline, so to speak, of a lot
of capable people that's readyto step into key positions.
I've been in businesses beforewhere there's been no succession
(10:51):
plan and so that business beganto suffer when a lot of the
experienced people began toretire and they did not have a
plan to replace those people.
So it became a real detrimentto those businesses because all
the knowledge was leaving thebusiness and they didn't have
anybody that they were grooming.
So you need to groom thosepotential successors and in
(11:18):
doing that you help theorganization have a future, and
so you know you want to.
Also, another reason is tofoster a learning culture.
So you want to have a culturewithin the organization to learn
, and then there's mutual growthbecause mentoring you know you
got to look at it this wayMentoring isn't one-sided
Mentoring, you know you got tolook at it this way Mentoring
isn't one-sided.
So while the person you'rementoring gets a lot of good
(11:40):
guidance and they get to learn alot from you and learn from
your experience, remember thatit'll also help you to refine
your leadership abilities.
It'll give you some newperspectives and you'll begin to
experience that satisfactioneven of shaping and helping
(12:00):
someone in their career.
Another thing that we need toconsider is you know, when we're
talking about mentoring, whatis the biblical basis for
mentoring?
Is that biblical Well?
The Bible offers a really goodfoundation for mentoring.
That biblical Well the Bibleoffers a really good foundation
(12:21):
for mentoring.
There's a lot of examples inthe Old Testament and the New
Testament about it.
There's Paul and Timothy.
In the New Testament, paulmentored Timothy, providing
guidance on leadership andministry.
He instructed Timothy even thento pass on what he had learned.
So he was saying look, I'mmentoring you, but you need to
mentor others.
(12:41):
And when he had learned aboutthat, he created this chain of
mentorship and it was reallyemphasizing the importance of
preparing people and leaders forthe future.
Another good example is Mosesand Joshua.
You know, moses mentored Joshuaand he was equipping him to
(13:05):
lead the Israelites into thepromised land.
That's according to Deuteronomy31, 7 through 8.
And this relationship reallyhighlights how mentoring
transfers wisdom andresponsibility to that next
generation.
You know, proverbs 27, 17 saysas iron sharpens iron, so one
person sharpens another.
(13:26):
And this verse really capturesthe mutual growth that occurs in
mentoring, when both the mentorand the person you're mentoring
are refined through thismentoring relationship.
And there's many others there'sElijah and Elisha, there's Jesus
and his disciples and there'sBarnabas and Paul.
(13:47):
So Barnabas mentored Paul, paulmentored Timothy.
You know, I've always toldpeople you need to have two
people in your life, you need tohave a Paul, told people you
need to have two people in yourlife.
You need to have a Paul that'sthe person that's you know where
, or you need to have a Timothy,I'm sorry.
You need to have a Timothy anda Barnabas in your life and you
need to be a Paul to somebody.
(14:07):
So if you're a Paul, then youhave a Timothy in your life and
you also have a Barnabas in yourlife.
So you have somebody stillmentoring you and you're
mentoring others and I thinkit's important to have those
people in your life.
And these biblical examples, Ithink, really underscore
mentoring as really a divinecalling.
It's an intentional act of beinga good steward over what you
(14:32):
have and what the knowledge andexperience you have and how you
can use that to nurture anddevelop other people.
So what are some practicalsteps for mentoring other people
?
Well, you need to be able to bean active listener.
That's the first thing.
It's very important to be anactive listener.
That's a fundamental skill, andyou've got to listen to what
(14:54):
they're saying, focus on whatthey're saying, understand their
message.
You've got to respond in a verythoughtful manner, but active
listening, that's really key.
That's really important.
Another is empathy.
You need to validate theirfeelings and you can do that by
sharing relevant stories.
But it's really important thatyou have empathy.
(15:15):
You know, galatians 620 saysBear one another's burdens and
so fulfill the law of Christ.
He's talking about empathy here.
So we need to empathize withpeople and not judge them.
Then encourage independence,encourage independence.
So make sure that you encouragethe person you're mentoring to
(15:35):
take ownership of their owndevelopment and then making
their own decisions.
So what this does is it reallyhelps create confidence and
self-reliance in that personthat you're mentoring.
So how do we begin?
Well, first, what you have todo is you've got to identify
some potential people that youwould mentor.
So you've got to seek out someyoung professionals or students
(15:59):
who show promise.
They've got a willingness tolearn and a commitment to some
ethical values.
And so look within yourorganization, look within your
church or other professionalnetworks for individuals who
align with your vision and faith, and then you have to build
(16:20):
this trust relationship.
That's the next thing.
So you have to establish trustand the way that you can do that
number one is be approachableand number two, be authentic.
You know, share those personalexperiences and don't just share
the successes.
Share your failures and whatthat does.
Share the successes, share yourfailures and what that does is
(16:40):
when you share your failure withsomebody, you're showing them
and you're demonstrating yourvulnerability.
And not only that, but thenthat transcends into
relatability.
So actively listen to theirgoals and challenges and
aspirations, because what thatdoes is that helps build trust,
(17:02):
because you're fostering thismutual respect.
The next thing that you do isyou need to be honest.
You know, george Lucas saidmentors have a way of seeing
more of our faults than we wouldlike.
It's the only way we grow.
So we want to be honest withthem.
You want to be honest with themand if you see faults in them,
(17:24):
you've got to be honest withthem and share with them out of
empathy again, but you sharewith them.
The next thing that you need todo is you need to set some goals
.
You need to collaborate withthat person and work together to
define what they want toachieve through this mentoring
relationship and then set somereally clear goals.
(17:46):
Maybe it's to develop specificskills or to navigate career
challenges or establishboundaries or expectations,
whatever they may be.
But you want to set some goodgoals and you should include in
those goals how often you'regoing to meet, either in person
(18:09):
which I think you always have tomeet in person, at least some
of the time and whatever thatpreferred communication style is
either by email or by virtualmeetings, however you want to do
it, but that should be in thosegoals of how you're going to do
that.
And then you set those regularmeetings.
You put them in your calendar.
You know you make thatcommitment to have these
(18:30):
consistent check-ins, whetherit's going to be monthly,
quarterly, weekly, however youdecide that you want to do it,
and those meetings can be very,very formal.
They can be structured with alot of discussions or they can
be really informal.
They can be done over coffee,just getting together and you
(18:52):
use these opportunities toreally offer advice and give
feedback and track theirprogress towards the goals that
you've put together, and so youcan kind of look at that and see
how they're progressing.
And then you want to cover somekey topics and I'm going to
give you some more in a fewminutes but you want to focus on
(19:15):
areas that blend a professionaldevelopment with some
faith-based principles.
So you want to have a balanceand so you want to develop and
help them develop leadershipprinciples.
Teach them concepts likeservant leadership, which is
modeled after Jesus' example.
You want to talk to them aboutethical decision-making.
(19:35):
You want to talk to them aboutethical decision-making.
You want to talk to them aboutfaith integration.
So how do they live out theirChristian life in the workplace?
Make sure that you also discusswith them work-life balance.
That's so important.
So you've got to offerstrategies for managing their
priorities and at the same time,it honors their personal and
(19:57):
spiritual commitments thatthey've made personally and
things like you know.
Help them to write a purposeand mission statement for their
life and make sure that'saligned with their faith and
their career goals, and thenyou're going to have to overcome
some common challenges.
You've got time constraintsbecause everybody's got busy
schedules, their faith and theircareer goals, and then you're
going to have to overcome somecommon challenges.
You've got time constraintsbecause everybody's got busy
(20:20):
schedules, but you've got tohave opportunities that you
create, whether it be throughlunch breaks, whether it be,
like I said, virtual calls, butyou've got to make it manageable
.
And there's also some generaldifferences.
So you know they're going to bedifferent than you are.
You're going to be differentthan they are.
So you've got to embrace that.
(20:41):
You've got to embrace that theyhave different perspectives and
you've got to be open tolearning from them.
You've got to be open for that,because if they don't feel like
you're there, that you can feellike you can learn from them,
then there's again there's alack of trust there.
Feel like you can learn fromthem, then there's again there's
a lack of trust there and youreally want to encourage a
(21:01):
dialogue to really bridge, Iguess, those differences or
those gaps maybe we call themand to build a really good and
strong mutual understanding,because mentoring is more than
an obligation, it's really anopportunity.
That's how I see it.
I think mentoring is anopportunity and it helps you to
build stronger people, strongerteams and to create a better
(21:24):
organization.
So here are some really goodtopics that we can talk about,
especially within the leadershipskills.
You know strategic thinkingthat's important.
You know you want to help themto understand how to think
(21:44):
strategically.
You know Proverbs 24, 3 through4 says by wisdom a house is
built and by understanding it isestablished.
By knowledge, the rooms arefilled with all precious and
pleasant riches.
So there's a lot of strategicthinking that takes place and
he's kind of sharing that here.
He's talking about wisdom andwhat it takes to build a house
(22:07):
and to prepare a house, andthat's what you're trying to
pass on.
Then you want to also maybe puton there as a goal to help them
to learn operational efficiency.
You want to cover things likehow do you streamline processes,
how do you manage resources,how do you boost productivity,
(22:32):
and you want to help them tolearn how to optimize day-to-day
operations.
I think that's important.
Daniel 6.3 says Then thisDaniel became distinguished
above all other high officialsbecause an excellent spirit was
in him and the king planned toset him over the whole kingdom.
(22:53):
So Daniel was chosen to bebasically the number two man at
this time, and he had learnedoperational efficiency, and if
you read the book of Daniel,you'll find out that he did
exactly that, and so that'simportant.
That's very, very important.
Another thing that's veryimportant as a topic that you
(23:16):
share with someone you'rementoring is financial acumen.
They need to understandfinances in a business.
They need to understand howit's broken down.
They need to understand thewords that are used in
accounting.
You need to teach some basicfinancial management, how to
(23:37):
read budgets, how to readfinancial statements.
You know you want to do that,as well as teaching them how to
make good investment decisionstoo.
You know, luke 12, 15 says andhe said to them take care and be
on your guard against allcovetousness, for one's life
does not consist in theabundance of the things that he
possesses, and so we need tounderstand about finances.
(24:00):
We need to understand.
You know God does not have aproblem with people who have
wealth.
He has a problem with peoplewho has wealth that has them.
So we need to understand that.
It's important that weunderstand what it is to make
good, sound financial decisions.
(24:21):
Proverbs 21 and 20 saysprecious treasure and oil are in
a wise man's dwelling, but afoolish man devours it.
Again, we're talking aboutbeing good stewards and knowing
finances, knowing how to dothose things.
Another thing you ought to betalking to them about is
innovation.
(24:41):
So you want to encourage somecreativity with them, give them
some assignments that pull thatcreativity out of them, and you
want to help yourself, withinyour organization, to create
this culture of innovation, andyou do that even as you start
mentoring other people.
You know that helps you.
(25:01):
And then personal development.
You want to talk to them aboutpersonal development, what they
can do, what they should do,what they should take into
consideration, takeresponsibility to develop a
personal growth plan.
But they need to do that andyou need to mentor them and you
can share how that you'verallied a team together during a
(25:24):
tough time.
That'll help them to develop,maybe, some strategic thinking
as you go through that step bystep, and so you want to be able
to do that.
Uh, and you know some of theother things that you want to.
You want to be able to do isteach them how to be a good
communicator, uh, you want to touh help them uh, to uh
(25:50):
encourage, uh, or to beencouraged to be a really good
and creative problem solver.
Uh, those are very importanttoo.
Now there's a lot of things thatyou can go on.
I could go on with a big listof things, but you need to
develop that so that you'rementoring the people from a
perspective that you have ofwhat you want to accomplish and
(26:10):
work with them and make surethat those are the same things
that they want to accomplish.
But here's some additionalresources for you.
Here's a couple of books.
You can get Tony Dungy's bookcalled the Mentor Leader.
In that book he really combinesleadership insights with a
(26:30):
faith-based perspective.
Great football coach in the NFL, tony Dungy, the Mentor Leader.
Another great book is by JohnMaxwell, who is one of my
favorite of all times.
It's called Mentoring 101.
I would encourage you to getthat book because it really
offers a lot of practical adviceto mentoring effectively.
(26:54):
And then you can participate, Ithink, in leadership development
events.
Some of those are hosted bychurches or Christian
organizations, businessconferences, and that again will
help you to learn.
It's a good tool.
And there's some onlineplatforms too.
(27:14):
There's LinkedIn.
That has a lot of greatinformation on there.
That has a lot of greatinformation on there.
There's a lot ofindustry-specific networks that
kind of help connect not justthe knowledge and the
understanding, but it'llactually help you connect with
people that could possibly besomebody you would mentor, and
then they share resources too.
(27:36):
So make sure that you do that.
Make sure that that's somethingthat you do.
You know mentoring is apowerful calling for Christian
business leaders.
I truly believe that it'ssomething we all need to be
doing.
It's a chance to really investin our future, because you're
(27:58):
helping these young mentormentorees basically to shape
some ethical and faith-drivenleadership skills within them,
and I think that if you followsome of the steps that we've
talked about today, I believeyou can build some meaningful
relationships that will reallybenefit those people that you
mentor, and I believe thatyou'll grow as a person too.
(28:22):
You know the ripple effect thatyour efforts will have will
extend way beyond justindividual growth, because I
believe it'll help to create alegacy of integrity and faith in
the business world as a whole.
So take some action today.
Reach out to somebody, to ayoung professional, and begin
(28:45):
that journey of mentorship, andI believe that together, between
you, you can sharpen each otheras iron sharpens iron.
As the Bible says, for the gloryof God and for the good of our
society.
Lord, we thank you today for allthe people that you've placed
in our lives, that have mentoredus and poured into our lives,
(29:07):
and sometimes, lord, it may nothave been on purpose, but
nonetheless you used it, lord,for our advantage, and so, lord,
we thank you for that, wepraise you for it and, lord, we
pray that you help us to beserious and purposeful in
mentoring others and helpingothers, and help us to utilize
these principles today, lord,that we talked about, to mentor
(29:29):
other people and to besuccessful at it, and, lord, we
thank you for that.
In Jesus' holy name.
Amen and amen.
Well, thanks again fordownloading and listening to
today's podcast, and I hope thatyou'll reach out to some other
people and share this podcast,put it on your Facebook, put the
link on your Facebook page, onyour LinkedIn page, and help us
(29:51):
to grow the CBC community.
Well, that's all the time wehave for this week, so until
next time, remember Jesus isLord and he wants you blessed.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Thank you for tuning into this week's Christian
Business Concepts podcast.
Go toChristianBusinessConceptscom for
more information and resources.
Be sure to check out otherpodcasts that will help you take
your business and your personallife to a whole new level of
success.
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