by Mason Rutledge, President

This last week we had our boiler release water into our basement. We put down our 15-year old family dog. And, then, we had the waterline to our house fail. No water for six days. In any small group, I had plenty to share.

While most people could relate to those issues, there were other questions to which there was no broad audience. How do I navigate discussion with business leaders around vaccine mandates? How do I encourage employees and volunteers in the long slog of a global pandemic? With so many opportunities, where do I invest our time and resources for the future?

That second paragraph is not the common questions of life. This dialogue demands knowledge and nuance. The answers require a track record of successfully experience. In this second set of questions, I needed to hear from peers. I needed the words of those that have traveled a similar road…maybe just a head of me or at least along side me in the journey.

This is the work of a C3 Forum and the reason the Brand Promise includes the C3 Check-In.

I recently had a fellow plane passenger ask about my work and the mission of C3 Leaders. She asked, “What is your IP?” I thought to myself, “Why does she need our IP Address? It’s like 702.34…” I then realized she wasn’t asking for our internet protocol but rather those intangible human creations called intellectual property or IP.

“We don’t have much,” I said, “but what we do have is powerful…it’s the C3 Check-In.”

I went on to explain the Brand Promise of the C3 Forum and the C3 Check-In, “In each session, the individual C3 members grade themselves on three aspects – Faith, Family and Factory (work). Together with peers they share how they are doing and, when requested, receive apply-that-day feedback.”

The beauty of the C3 Check-In is not the sharing but actually the listening. This process is about investing over consuming. Jesus said in Luke 6, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Investing > Consuming.

As we share among peers, we are imitators of the One who created that equation. We also learn from each other. As Paul writes in I Corinthians 11, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Every day leaders go the “second mile” (Matthew 5:38) with their employees, customers and clients. The C3 Check-In allows space for a group of committed, like-minded, proven peers to go the extra mile with each other, and, at times, on their behalf.

There a many that will jump into the issues of homes, pets, and family. Find the few that will jump into your life with you… you won’t always have that puppy.

Questions for Reflection/Journaling

1. What’s broke in your life? Nothing like starting off with a hard question. It could be a waterline. It could be your supply chain. What is not working correctly?
2. Who is helping you? Someone has to get in the mud with you to fix that pipe this time of year. Who is it?
3. Do you have a group of peers intentionally around you? Peers, not just friends. People that understand the journey you are on. If you don’t have a group, what can you do to establish yourself in one? (Note: Don’t be afraid to reach out to us at www.C3Leaders.com/starthere)
4. As a leader you are investing in others all the time. Who is investing in you? Name them. This week take a moment to thank them for their investment.