My first taste of managing employees came at a hair salon that I started with a good friend. It was, and is, a wonderful place, full of creativity and laughter and love and great hairdos. We hired young stylists who had 1. A designer’s eye re: hair, and 2. God’s love streaming out of them. We made the space boho chic and kept things simple and clean and light. It was a great time.
As I spent time with the stylists, though, I thought maybe we were missing part of the equation. Understand, this was a crew of creatives, non unlike a group of songwriters or graphic designers or video directors. They were selfless and visionary/idealistic, and not really financially motivated. So one day I got the whole team together before opening and asked them,
“What’s the #1 thing that has to, HAS TO, happen in this store today?”
I jotted down the answers, which came forth with zest:
“We have to be loving!”
“Great styles have to happen today!”
“We have to be considerate of each other!”
“We have to honor our schedule!”
God bless them. Pure hearted to a (wo)man. But, “Nope” I said. “None of these things are the #1 thing that has to happen here today. The first and most important thing that has to happen in this store today is…
We must turn a profit.
The energy in the room was sucked out. What a bummer. How crass. Of COURSE Steven, the Guy Who Only Cares About the Biz is going to say that.
“Listen!” I said, “I understand! You’re talking to a guy who dropped out of Business Math in college because I didn’t care about getting rich and maximizing profits and all that gross stuff! I wanted to talk to people and write songs and think about philosophy! I’m NOT saying that money is more important than people, or that finance trumps love! NO NO NO! What I’m talking about is practicality…”
I went on to describe a really loving, super stylish salon that customers love and to whom they give all the likes and recos and “best of the city” kudos a business could hope for. And let’s say that salon touches the lives of hundreds of people over the course of a month, and each one walks out feeling loved, heard, cared for, nurtured, and built into… but they fail to turn a profit.
What happens to that business?
It goes under and has to close its doors.
And when it closes those doors, all the great kindness and love goes with it. As well as all the jobs the stylists (and managers) had enjoyed. It all ends. Profitability is the on/off switch.
“So if we believe that we have something meaningful to offer, if we really believe that God does indeed work through us as we color, snip, and style hair [and we really did believe that], then we have to keep an eye on profits! We have to be in the black or all is lost! If we aren’t profitable, we have NO platform for all the wonderful things we feel called and assigned to accomplish here. So my friends… try to upsell shampoo and hair spray.”
Or whatever I said.
But you get the idea: profitability = viability. When a business is profitable, it owns the right to execute on all the killer stuff described in your vision and values statements. (You have those, right? You know WHY your company exists? And you know what godly good it’s meant to express in the world, right? Okay… good.) When a business is NOT profitable, then it doesn’t matter what grand Kingdom Expression of Glory the founders have dreamt of it unveiling on this side of the Jordan. It was all just hot air and cotton candy dreams.
Selah.
We’re hearing a lot of talk these days about how the making of money is evil, and that, if you really care about people you’ll be happy to take a loss, etc. In this cultural environment, many businesses are (understandably) loathe to lay off their employees. There’s no question that putting people out of work is not fun. It’s so very regrettable. Don’t we wish we could only give good news to people all the time, that all our interactions only encouraged them and made them happy, and that the only meetings we had about pay were for raises? Of course we do.
But if you want to have ANY employees in the future, if you want your business to have ANY positive contribution to the world going forward… then profitability (and the responsible management that ensures it) rules. “Bob, I’m sorry to tell you this, but in order to save this floundering company, I have to let you go” is not an evil or uncaring statement. Bob might think, “but what about saving ME?!”… and a business owner/manager would say, “If I don’t save this business, it can’t save you or anybody else.”
Business is a platform for service. As I said above, it’s not only the charged-for service that it provides, but for employees, it provides a home base for skill building and Kingdom culture expression. Business is a training program for stewardship and all that goes along with it: forecasting, negotiation, empathy (seeing things from others’ standpoints, including your clients and vendors), hope, trust, etc.
So when I say “business over people”, OF COURSE I don’t mean that we’d crush people for profits, or that we’d lie or cheat to make a deal. I mean that a business that serves hundreds of people (when you consider all the relationships and beneficiaries) shouldn’t be sacrificed for one person. When someone has to be let go for ethical reasons, even if we really love them… let them go. When the business shifts and you can no longer use a specialist you’ve been using… move on. When pay cuts have to happen for the business, even when you know your manager just bought a new house and needs all of their present income… make the pay cuts.
Our economy has contracted to the point that many, many owners and managers are being squeezed right now, and that could continue for some time. We all have hard choices to make. And I’m simply here to say that you’re not a blood-gurgling pagan or a Mammon worshipper just for cutting staff (or other things, like benefits) to save your biz. This is particularly true for small family businesses, which carry the hope of multi-generational viability with them. “Don’t let our baby biz die!” is an actual, and godly, feeling.
Your business is a life preserver for many people, and will be for as long as it’s viable.
So remember, making money is noble, and protecting your business is not immoral!
Steven Manuel, when he’s not blogging for you at Abraham’s Wallet, is raising a family in Cincinnati, Ohio and a principal at Outpost Advisors where he helps families define their vision and deploy their resources.
