Values Are Baked In

“If you want money more than anything, you’ll be bought and sold. If you have a greed for food, you’ll be a loaf of bread. This is a subtle truth: whatever you love, you are.” - Rumi

I love food, especially bread. As someone who has a gluten intolerance, that is a complicated love. At least it was until I decided to start a gluten-free, dairy-free bakery from my home in Mt. Horeb, WI. The decision to start a business represented a radical shift in my vocational life - away from full-time pastoral ministry and towards hybrid work. In my new vocational reality, I express my passion for forming people in faith as a part-time consultant with Learning Forte working mainly on our Strategic Imagination Sandbox program. The rest of my week I spend baking gluten and dairy-free bread and treats from my home.

When I was planning the launch of my business, I established three core values: Community, Sustainability, and Joy. These values guide my business at every level - from the type of packaging I choose to my baking schedule, to where I show up to sell my products, to how I pursue a work/life balance that honors my commitment to others as well as self-care and time for rest and renewal.

The values that have shaped my business are the values that also shape my work in ordained ministry as well as my personal life. These values manifest themselves differently depending on the context within which I find myself but they are a bedrock for me, a constant companion as I seek to live, minister and craft a business with my core values at the center of it all.

One of the things I love about the Strategic Imagination Sandbox is that everything we do in this 10-month leadership development journey builds on the bedrock of our values as individuals and the values of the organizations and institutions we serve. Within the Sandbox, leaders learn, collaborate, and experiment within a community of mutual care as we pursue the common good together. We explore and integrate new design concepts, communication strategies, and digital tools. We engage trusted thought leaders as we reconcile our relationship with change and collaborate within a facilitated cohort of peers seeking to better serve our hybrid world.

The pace of change is speeding up and every decision we make feels fraught with potential challenges and pitfalls. Leading from our values helps us make better decisions that reflect who we are and who we want to be in this world and helps our congregations and organizations inspire others to join with us to pursue the common good.

Having a safe and supportive environment to play, uncover, and integrate new and emerging ways of being, is key to innovative, thriving, sustainable leadership. If this values-based approach to leadership sounds intriguing to you, I hope you will join us for a FREE web event on Tuesday, July 18 at 1:00 pm Eastern as we explore The Value of a Sandbox.

I would love to see you at our special July Learning Live session on The Value of a Sandbox, and if you ever find yourself in Mt. Horeb, WI, I’ll bake you a loaf of bread! - Tisha Brown