Guidance for Navigating the Entrepreneurial Journey

Pilots need to be careful. Before a plane takes off the pilot goes through several checklists and inspections to ensure the safety of the flight. There is a checklist of the plane’s systems that is specific to that type of plane. Each system is checked. There is the ‘walk around” where the pilot physically walks around the outside of the plane looking for problems. Finally, there is a “flight plan” filed with the FAA as to where and at what elevation the plane will travel. All of these measures are designed to ensure a safe flight.

In recent M3 Weekly articles (see “Ambition Is Not A Dirty Word” and “Biblical Ambition”), we have explored the topic of ambition. As leaders of missional enterprises, perhaps we each need an “Ambition Safety Checklist” to help us navigate our entrepreneurial journeys safely.

An “Ambition Checklist” would be a series of questions and checks that help us determine if our ambitions and motives are in order and grounded on the things the Lord has for us. It would outline a review process to help us to stay on track.

As we begin to compose our checklists, we have the scriptural promise that God will lead us if we are attentive.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

We have the promise of the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the all-sufficient Word of God:

John 16:13-14 (NIV)  But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Each person’s checklist probably won’t be the same – our circumstances and our temptations are different – but it seems that the types of questions we should be asking ourselves are similar. In a Christianity Today article, pastor and author Richard Exley lists several questions he asks himself about his ambitions and motives before making a decision:

• “Have I fully surrendered this desire to the Lord?”
• “Is this truly God’s plan or just my own ambition?”
• “Am I waiting for the Lord to ‘open the door’ or am I impatiently forcing things to happen?”
• “Am I resorting to human methods in an attempt to accomplish God’s plan?”
• “Am I attempting this because God has called me to do it or because I am driven to succeed?”

Exley says that, in addition to asking himself these questions, he asks for the views and input of several close friends, associates, and advisors. We all should have a few people we trust to help us be accountable to do the right thing.

“Still, even if I satisfactorily answer these questions, I do not trust my conclusions. . . I must submit my vision to the scrutiny of godly advisers. Only if it passes muster with them can I move ahead with confidence. ‘Nothing is more dangerous,’ writes Richard Foster, ‘than leaders accountable to no one. We all need others who can laugh at our pomposity and prod us into new forms of obedience. Power is just too dangerous a thing for any of us to face alone.’”

Finally, our checklists should also have some practical questions, such as:

• If I add this commitment to my schedule what will be the impact on other priorities that I have already committed to?
• What impact will this have on my family?
• Am I willing and able to give up some other responsibility to take on this responsibility?

As we steward the leadership roles God has entrusted to us, we need to be vigilant to evaluate our ambition and reflect regularly on our motives and the decisions we are making. An “Ambition Checklist” just might help us do that.

Verse of the Week:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)

Let’s prayerfully invite God, who knows everything anyway, to search and test the thoughts of our hearts.