In Part 4, Dan Wooldridge suggested steps for pursuing biblical best practices. In this final post, he challenges us to go beyond best practices and develop the next practices. Part 5 in particular connects with Brett Johnson’s video on the higher purpose of best practices.

Today, I’m making a simple and sharp challenge to all of us in business who follow Christ. And it is that we can do better and that we must do better in our calling as business people.

Admiral Bill Owens, in Lifting the Fog of War, observes how the submarine service of the Navy had gone from being an innovative leader to a place where initiative was considered a character defect. Owens reflects that the state of the submarine service seems to mirror the arc of the career of the legendary Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the “father” of the nuclear navy. A close observer of Rickover noted that he was “yesterday’s visionary, who is today’s conservative, and tomorrow’s reactionary.”

This statement struck me as a personal challenge to finish my life and career well, to not play it safe or to run from risk. It challenged me to press on in trying to create and innovate and raise the bar.

The statement also raised a flag of concern for me. I’ve seen far too many businesses, businesses led by followers of Christ, reacting to the world around them rather than innovating in a visionary way. Our calling demands that we take initiative in seeing and developing better ways of serving the world around us. This means better methods of running our organizations and better reasons and ways of engaging with the world around us. We have been placed in unique places at a unique time in history, not to react, but to act in ways that demonstrate the character and purposes of God. So where are the innovations inspired and informed by faith that are creating breathtaking new business models, practices and endeavors … innovations that stir people to amazement?

In the realm of business practices, I see three groups of companies. The first group of company is chasing common practices. They are just trying to get the basics right, and many (most?) never do. A second group is chasing best practices. These are doing a worthy thing by trying to improve and raise their standard of excellence. They are learners, but they are also laggards. The very fact that they are trying to imitate the excellence of others shows that, at least in the practices they imitate, they are following some other’s lead. The third, much smaller group, are the leaders, the pace-setters. They are creating the next practices. They are advancing our understanding of what can and should be done. They are not settling for how others do it, but are seeking to do business in ways that are uniquely valuable. I’m very thankful for these organizations.

My contention is that those who are followers of Christ should be numerous in the ranks of those who are developing the next practices. Historically the arts, sciences, and even business have advanced because there were such people. Think Bach or Newton. We need them more today than ever.

When we talk among ourselves do we hear things like “we’re good enough” or “we’re just as good as XYZ Corp”? Or do we long to be businesses that are setting the pace, leading the way in all dimensions of business. Do we long for a day when we are not looking exclusively to our secular counterparts for best practices? What about a day when we are the best practice that everyone would seek to imitate? But I’m afraid that for now the influence seems to flow more from our secular friends and counterparts back to us than the other way around.

So where can we begin in order to set the pace in developing next practices? I see innovation happening along three axes. It can happen along any one axis, but most powerfully when it takes into account all three.

The first axis is operational excellence. Most business thinking about best practices is along this axis. We can get better, become more effective within our organizations and toward our customers in what we do. There is certainly room to innovate here, but this seems to be the most obvious area.

The second axis is human excellence. This has to do with how we value and treat people inside and outside our organizations. We live in a time of massive organizational failure. Our organizations and institutions – business, religious, governmental, educational – have a long way to go in reforming how people are served, employed, developed, and deployed. As people who understand the infinite value of people in God’s eyes, imagine the innovations that could occur in creating organizations and practices that actually treat people as though they were made in the image of God.

The third axis is noble moral purpose. I believe that just as individual people have a God-given purpose — and function best when aligned with that purpose — organizations can also have a clear and noble moral purpose. Businesses must be seen as instruments of noble moral purpose to make a difference in this world. Research by people such as Jim Collins demonstrates that companies that have enduring success have clarity of purpose that is bigger than making a buck. Organizations without noble moral purpose will become self-centered and damaging to people and society, and threaten their own survival in the long run.

We need to pursue all three axes at once in order to generate the most powerful innovations. There are organizations that have pursued operational excellence, but have been human and moral failures. Nazi Germany comes to mind. There are organizations that have human and noble moral purpose, but lack operational excellence. I’ve observed many not-for-profits in this camp. I’m sure you can think of examples of other combinations.

Companies that begin with moral purpose will look at the world through a different set of lenses when thinking about opportunity. They see the needs and challenges we face at global and local levels as a call to serve. We must rise up to meet those challenges, not just “deal with them” or buffer ourselves against their effects. And as we set out to meet those challenges, we must care for people in fresh ways, to put some of the human touch back into a business world that seems to be squeezing all the humanity out of its heart. Then add to that an ability to do all this in an excellent way…and now we can begin to set new standards for excellence and innovation.

Imagine the next practices of businesses that nobly serve to meet the challenges of our world, while enhancing the dignity, value and care of people, all accomplished with unparalleled effectiveness. Sound idealistic or naive? I don’t think innovation ever came from cynics or those who felt things were good enough. I think followers of Christ, fueled with a love for God and others, buoyed by an enduring hope, and passionate about serving to make a difference, should have all the motivation they need to be the next business thought leaders and practice builders.