Episode 1386: Interview with Chris Meroff About Creating Fulfillment at Work

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining us on episode 1386 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Chris Meroff: I'm Chrieroffrok. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to be known, heard, and valued and create an environment where others are known, heard, and valued is key.

[00:00:28] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer. I

[00:00:44] hate what I do, or I hate who I do it with, and I just thought, man, what a terrible scenario for most people to walk into, when this is really where you're spending most of your waking hours. The opposite of fulfillment to me is [00:01:00] regret.

[00:01:01] Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:06] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:39] In today's podcast episode, I interview Chris Miroff. I asked Chris about his book Align and what brought him to write this message. I also asked Chris about how we can create engagement and success at work. And Chris also shares his faith journey and how that influenced the message he shares. I've got a new book coming out [00:02:00] called Inspired Living.

[00:02:01] Assembling the puzzle of your call by mastering your time, your talent, and your treasures. You can find out more about it and sign up for getting more information over at InspiredStewardship. com Inspired Living. That's InspiredStewardship. com Inspired Living. Chris grew up in the Northeast and began working for his parents at a very young age.

[00:02:25] He has always been a risk taker with a passion to employ his community. Today, he currently owns a variety of small businesses based out of Austin, Texas and Machiasport, Maine. With over 25 years of experience owning and operating businesses, he has dealt with a diverse group of people from clients to employees to competition.

[00:02:45] All this experience has taught him that relationships matter. People matter. Guilt and shame are the chains that bind us to bad behavior and lead to isolation. Chris believes that when we walk in vulnerability and empathy, we can find our way [00:03:00] towards a relationship. The beauty of culture when people gather together should be celebrated and cultivated, not ignored.

[00:03:06] Chris believes we all have intrinsic value and need to leverage that value towards creating better cultures around us. Chris is devoting his personal and professional life to ensure that people feel known, heard, and valued for who they are and not just what they do. He believes we are enough as we are, but we shouldn't stay that way.

[00:03:26] The pangs of guilt and shame can be destroyed through the power of vulnerability and empathy. Chris wants people to experience true community that leads to a better you and a better culture around you. Welcome to the show, Chris.

[00:03:40] Chris Meroff: Thanks for

[00:03:41] Scott Maderer: having me. Absolutely. I talked a little bit in the intro and shared some of your journey and some, a little bit about your book, Align.

[00:03:52] I always tell people intros are kinda like the Instagram pictures of our life. We always make sure we frame it where the dirty laundry's not in the background . [00:04:00] That's right. Talk a little bit more about the real journey and what brought you to the point that you're trying to put this message out into the

[00:04:08] Chris Meroff: world.

[00:04:09] Absolutely. So for me really started in 2010. I'll start there. 2010. By that point I had been working with my parents. Up in New England getting a business up off the ground for about 15 years. When my dad called me, I was in Arizona doing some consulting, he called me and said, Hey, when you get back to town, I would love to get breakfast with you.

[00:04:35] In my entire life, and by this point, Let's see. I'm like my late thirties. I've never been asked to go to breakfast with my dad. So I knew something was up and get back have breakfast in which he basically offers to sell me some, a few contracts and a market. for the business that we were in, which is a consulting market to the, to K 12.

[00:04:59] And [00:05:00] at the time I was like in that moment, I'm like, man, this is awesome. Like I get to go out and do my own thing and run my own company. It wasn't long after that though, that I realized, man I pretty much feel like I'm getting kicked out of my family business. Because I was still on a growth cycle in my journey.

[00:05:19] And my parents were getting closer to retirement. And so it created a lot of conflict. So when I moved to Austin in 2011 to start my own business, I was determined to not do that to any employees. I was determined to really keep everyone aligned, everyone on the same exact page so that we knew exactly where we were going.

[00:05:44] And why the problem is I really fumbled that ball. As I think a lot of people do. And so I would say the first four years of that journey created a lot of success for the business, but unfortunately, I feel like I sold my soul to do it. [00:06:00] And that's really the point of of low real low point in my life, a point of depression, of paranoia I had again created a company that was successful, but unfortunately I had.

[00:06:15] sold my the ability to relate to the employees that I had. And so that was my real low point and really the driver of writing the book Align is I really wanted to figure out, cause I thought I knew, I thought I had learned the hard lessons with my parents. Unfortunately my efforts were really into creating a client centric company.

[00:06:40] And I had to learn the very hard way that I needed an employee centric company.

[00:06:47] Scott Maderer: Yeah. Let's talk a little bit more about that. What obviously most businesses will talk about their customers the customer's always right. Yeah. You're all these sorts of things. Exactly. And I agree with you.

[00:06:59] I [00:07:00] think sometimes we lose sight of the employee. I've been in the corporate environment and I can say I always love it when they say something like we're a family and then they proceed to treat everyone like they're not family. It's wait a minute. So what do you mean by an employee centric business and why

[00:07:14] Chris Meroff: do you think that's important?

[00:07:16] Yeah. I got to the point of recognizing that the clients, although again my heart I think was in the right place. My mind was in the right place that if I make the clients happy, my business will grow and it did. Unfortunately, I was at a place professionally where again hit or past every metric of success I could think of.

[00:07:42] And yet I'm feeling so lonely and so isolated. So we had grown from three employees to about 70 employees in four years, and we had our company Christmas party at the end of 2014. And we're looking around and one of the buddies of mine who helped me [00:08:00] start the business, we're just glowing and there's over 100 people at this Christmas party with our employees and there's others.

[00:08:08] So we're just like saying, man, this is amazing. Look at what we've done. And the very next morning he puts in his two week his two week notice. And so I really as a head scratcher, and we talked for a bit, come to find out he had been looking for the last nine months. And the, and it wasn't anything to do with the business or me.

[00:08:29] It, he was being called back into he was in ministry when I recruited him. So we went back to ministry, his vocation. But why didn't he take me on that journey? That was my biggest head scratcher and the point of real. I think desperation to figure out what was going on that we didn't connect in a way that he felt safe enough to bring me along on that journey.

[00:08:53] And that really sent me spiraling for about 12 months to figure out. And I remember, Driving home [00:09:00] one day, I had been meeting with a guy and on this journey of really trying to show up better, honestly, as a husband for my wife in this area of empathy. But I remember driving home from one of those sessions with him and he had asked me this question.

[00:09:12] He said, Hey, is there anybody on the planet you would share your deepest fears? And of course like maybe most dudes, I'm like, absolutely. I've got my wife. I've got my friends. I could share anything. When I knew absolutely there's no way I'm going to let somebody see me be weak or needy messy.

[00:09:34] That's not what leadership is. It is showing up strong and confident. This amazing critical thinker, problem solver. And that was my definition of leadership. And so it really precluded me from practicing any kind of vulnerability. And so it was in that car ride home. I realized I was in a prison of my own making.

[00:09:54] And really from that moment on the determination was, I am not [00:10:00] going to do this to myself. I hate the feeling of being so lonely, so isolated. And I'm going to do everything in my. In my power to reverse this course, of course, the very next moment I pull up to my house, dry up my tears because I don't cry in front of people, walked into my house and proceeded to be the same guy and really, again, really struggled for the next 12 months to figure out.

[00:10:24] What was this going to look like? But for me that the reality of no vulnerability the reality of me being the glass ceiling in my own organization because I needed to be the one that did everything for everyone Because I was the will my it was my will the strength of my willpower that drove the company to where it was and so that's why Kind of focusing back on my employees and unleashing their greatness, trading my power for their greatness.

[00:10:55] That was a quest that I started. And when I did that, The company [00:11:00] just exploded. So we went from about 7 million a year at the end of 2015 to about 21 million a year at the end of 2018. And in that time, my employment did not triple. I went from 70 employees to about 100 employees. And what I found by aligning the organization, focusing on my employees and unleashing their greatness and I call greatness, soft skills, those human skills that bind us together.

[00:11:28] So kindness, compassion, loyalty, hard work, patience, all those things. I unleashed them in ways that they had not been at work before. And yeah, it, we absolutely crushed it beyond any amount of hope or planning. And at the same time, I didn't sell my soul to do it. In fact, I gained my soul. It was a community of people that were determined to do this together.

[00:11:52] And so as we would cross these finish lines, I could look around finally and see all these other people that were cheering [00:12:00] with me and for me. And it was quite the journey. But I'm so thankful that I've been on that journey and I'm still struggling to this day to figure out how to be as vulnerable as I need to be, but it's one that I'm determined to be on.

[00:12:14] Scott Maderer: So let's talk a little bit about your faith journey and how that has intersected with this business journey and the work that you do as well how do those things play together?

[00:12:27] Chris Meroff: So it was really my earlier faith journey that helped set this up for me. So I'd been meeting with a discipleship pastor for about.

[00:12:35] Three years prior to Jason my, my best friend leaving the organization. And so we had been, I had been on this journey of empathy. My poor wife for most of our marriage, she would tell me how she was feeling and I would explain to her why she didn't need to feel that way.

[00:12:54] Here's how you fix it. And so didn't understand[00:13:00] the concept of empathy. Didn't grow up in a home where it was modeled for me. Love my parents. They raised me with incredible value. I truly believe I have parent privilege. I just didn't have empathy modeled for me. And so not understanding the power of empathy, the power of vanquishing or eliminating loneliness and isolation.

[00:13:22] In the moment of high emotion. I just didn't understand it. And so it was through these weekly meetings with this discipleship pastor that I would walk in, he would come to my office and I'd walk in from busy day and take the time to talk with him. And I'd walk in, he'd say, Hey, how are you feeling?

[00:13:39] I remember thinking to myself. What a weird question to start with since I literally don't feel anything other than happy, sad, mad. And even in that, I try not to, like I move away from emotion as, as fast as I can. And so it took me, I would say a good year before I would [00:14:00] really contemplate, okay what's keeping me from empathizing?

[00:14:05] And I realized it was really more of a condescending, I would look down on people who were so emotional and needy. And I would just think, man, why would you put your mess on someone else? And it was this one discipleship pastor that said, finally, he's what do you do with a verse? Mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice.

[00:14:25] And it was the first time that light dawned on me that. Maybe this is just an act of obedience. Maybe I just need to step into this empathy mindset out of obedience. And that's really where it started for me.

[00:14:45] In

[00:14:45] Scott Maderer: the book, you the full title, the subtitle of the book is about four simple steps for leaders to create employee fulfillment through alignment. And we were talking earlier about having a, an employee centered kind of [00:15:00] business and most employees nowadays talk about if you ask them about work, I don't think fulfilled is a word that's going to come up very often yeah, that are they about talking to my son, talking to my adopted daughter the people that are doing the out there in that daily grind and fulfilled, not on the list now.

[00:15:21] No, what do you mean by being fulfilled at work and why why is that such a why does everyone laugh and go? Oh, yeah, fulfilled at work. Yeah, that's not gonna happen kind of thing.

[00:15:34] Chris Meroff: Exactly. It started for me when my adult kids started to enter the workforce. And I remember looking around thinking, man, this this really sucks for them that they've got to thread this needle of being responsible.

[00:15:50] Being in the workforce providing for themselves, their families in the future, and so on, and thinking the options to do that are pretty terrible. [00:16:00] I remember once being told of a stat, and it's stuck with me to this day, and this was about 10 years ago now, and it's actually gotten worse, so we're actually doing some research right now to update this statistic, but 72 percent of the people on the planet hate what they do.

[00:16:15] Or do, or who they do it with. And the word was hate, like it wasn't dislike. It wasn't don't prefer. It was like high emotion of I hate what I do or I hate who I do it with. And I just thought, man, what a terrible scenario for most people to walk into. When you, when this is really where you're spending most of your waking hours.

[00:16:40] The opposite of fulfillment to me is regret. And so I just think, okay that means that at the end of every day or week or month or year. or certainly a career, you're going to have to live in this world of regret. Man, I regret being away from my friends or my family or my my church or [00:17:00] my community because man, I had to work and I'm sitting here reading this stat and I'm thinking to myself, man, I haven't felt like I've had to work a day in my life.

[00:17:09] So the two polar opposites for people, for me, it was like, man, work was a joy work was something I could sink my teeth into. And I loved it. I lived out fulfillment. And yet for all these employees, it just felt not just like it wasn't worth it or neutral. It was like I hate it.

[00:17:31] And I have all this regret. So that was really. the impetus for me. And it was at the time too when I wrote the book where a lot of conversation was around engagement and it was such shallow conversations around engagement. Like how do you engage with your employees? You stock your break room or you have a ping pong table or you, it was just so shallow.

[00:17:52] Scott Maderer: Yeah. And by the way, I did all those things. So it's not like I was above it. I did all those and yeah, it was just [00:18:00] so shallow. And so that's why the book is really focused on this deeper feeling of fulfillment. A deep satisfaction that what I did, it could be hard, it could be terrible, but it was fulfilling.

[00:18:13] Chris Meroff: So

[00:18:13] Scott Maderer: what's your definition of

[00:18:14] Chris Meroff: fulfillment? I, yeah, I would I use that concept of real deep satisfaction that when think of it this way, like when you are I don't know if you've ever been on a fast, but, or in a situation where you haven't had food in the moment that you want it, that's what I call a fast.

[00:18:34] But when I've gone and not had access to the food, and then I take that first bite, there's a deep satisfaction. There's a deep satiation that takes place. It's oh, this is what I, this is what I need. And that's really what fulfillment, the concept of fulfillment is. For really aligned, fulfilled aligned work.

[00:18:57] It's really this idea that, man, okay, this [00:19:00] is, I know where we're going. And I know how we're going to get there. And when we arrive, it feels so good. And that can be from a task all the way to a year end review. So it's this idea that I did what I set out to do and we did it well.

[00:19:19] So if we

[00:19:20] Scott Maderer: If you talk about that surface level stuff, the pizza party on Friday you've got better break rooms, put up a ping pong table how your employees want to be at work because they've got all this fun stuff, versus what you're talking about.

[00:19:35] What are some of the things that. Employers, you have leaders, business people should be doing or should be looking at that, that helps create that environment. That's not just the place a party on Friday

[00:19:48] Chris Meroff: Moment. I think it starts with a real transparency around.

[00:19:55] Like where we're going. And so we talk a lot about purpose. What's [00:20:00] the purpose of the company? What's the purpose of the department? What's the purpose of the role all the way down to creating a task that has purpose. And so if we can do that it creates such a sense of psychological ownership.

[00:20:19] So I'll give you an example. I had my 20 year old son and my 19 year old nephew helped me plant 500 strawberry plants up in Maine two years ago. And I had some equipment, I had a guy offer me some equipment, And yet it was our first time planting and I'm like, I don't know.

[00:20:40] I feel like I want to hand plant these plants. And the reason we did that is, is it was on a weird hill that I couldn't picture the machinery getting in there and doing it well. And I had read a bunch of articles about The best way to plant these strawberry plants was by hand. I set these two guys up and I [00:21:00] said, Okay, here's what we're gonna do.

[00:21:01] We're gonna plant these things. 500's a lot. I know it may not seem like it out of the gate for two young, strong guys who feel like they can do anything, but I'm telling you, we're gonna hate this. About halfway through hand digging and hand planting all these plants. So we get about halfway through, we get done with a row, and we look back, and there's some real satisfaction of looking at all these plants that we had planted.

[00:21:28] And then of course our eyes drift over to the other half, and this enormous sense of depression oh my gosh, we gotta do all of that again. That was a ton of work. And I'll never forget the two guys as they... We're sweaty and muddy and gross and looking at each other and basically giving each other kind of this head nod of we got this.

[00:21:51] We still talk about it today with such pride as to what we did and the fact that we did it together. See, to me, if you can [00:22:00] paint the picture of why we're planting and I took the time to cast a vision on, this is why we're going to hand plant because we don't want to. Put these things in the ground, have them all die, like we want to be able to harvest strawberries.

[00:22:11] And so the only way that, that I know that we can guarantee that is if we hand plant these things. And when there's this real sense of ownership and purpose and a real destination of where we're going, it can be the crappiest work. Like I, I've even referred to this idea of digging a ditch.

[00:22:28] Nobody wants to dig a ditch. However, if I know why we're digging the ditch and I resonate with that reason why. In other words, I'm still saying, yes, I, I love the idea of why we're doing this, then even in the midst of it, it can be a powerful motivator. And really when you're done, a huge sense of fulfillment.

[00:22:50] And that's really what we try to do with this idea of purpose. Give people a direction.

[00:22:56] Scott Maderer: And I think a lot of times for employees. [00:23:00] We look at the employee and we were like, okay, we've hired them because they have this skillset or they have these they can check on these boxes.

[00:23:08] This is what it says on their resume. They know how to use Excel. And then basically that's what we tell them to go do. It's we hired you to make a spreadsheet. Make a spreadsheet but they don't have any clue how making that spreadsheet fits into the bigger picture or the bigger delivery or what they're doing.

[00:23:29] And I think you see this employer, it's not that, it's not like this is new in terms of nobody knew this before, but yet we don't do it what's the missing link? Why? If. Because I think if you ask leaders, they would say it's an important concept to, to teach their employees the bigger picture, but yet it doesn't actually happen.

[00:23:52] What's the missing link?

[00:23:54] Chris Meroff: Yeah the constant pull for me away from purpose[00:24:00] as a, as an owner, as an operator is really the busyness of business. And so what happens is you get crisis or you get deadlines or you get. Even excited around sales or growth and then all of a sudden this idea of okay I gotta basically be a cheerleader for purpose Goes out the window so quickly the addiction to Problem solving and crisis management.

[00:24:28] It pulls most leaders away from vision casting towards purpose And so this idea of being a leader that vision cast well and the fact that you can develop that skill and hone that skill, it's not really talked about as much as things like critical thinking, problem solving and crisis management.

[00:24:50] It's just not the sexy part of work. And so we just don't spend enough time allocated towards investing into [00:25:00] our people in this way. Do you think

[00:25:03] Scott Maderer: some of it too, is that as leaders, a lot of times it's you were talking earlier about coming home to your wife and telling her you just don't need to feel this way.

[00:25:13] Here's the way to solve the problem. A lot of times too, I think as leaders, we think everybody has the information that we have I can see the big picture. Why can't kind of thing. So how do you help the employees? Beyond just as the leader being the cheerleader and casting vision are there ways that we can help the employees help themselves and help each other to catch that purpose and feedback within each other to to be each other's cheerleaders as well.

[00:25:50] Chris Meroff: Yeah, you actually nailed it. So the reality is we talk about this all the time, casting vision in and of itself. Doesn't yield anything until the vision's been caught, [00:26:00] and then we define what that means. And if you're out there talking a big talk and you're getting people riled up and excited, but all they're riled up and excited to go do is to carry out your vision of the future you've really failed.

[00:26:17] The goal is that the picture of the future that you're painting when you're vision casting, they need to make it their own. And so we do a lot of it may seem elementary, but we do a lot of conversation around vision, and then we have them recast the vision back to us. And so what we...

[00:26:37] What we know by doing that is that they are telling us what version of the vision they've caught as of that day, like what's clouding their ability to see the full vision. And then how do I spend my time wisely to cast it in different light? It's like going out fishing and you're casting out your lure in the exact same spot every [00:27:00] single time and catching no fish, but being really upset the fish aren't biting.

[00:27:04] It's dude, try to cast it in a different way, at a different speed. Why don't you

[00:27:09] Scott Maderer: cast it in the water this

[00:27:11] Chris Meroff: time? Yeah, exactly. It's you're so upset because you're doing all this work to cast it, but nobody's catching it. And so we say, okay it's your job as a vision caster to ensure it's been caught.

[00:27:22] And the only way that I know to do that. It's to get them to help me understand their version of my vision. And so what happens over time that we have seen is that they, it's like the movie Inception. It's like over time I'm planting an idea inside their mind that all of a sudden becomes theirs.

[00:27:41] And once I've turned them loose in that way, they have such psychological ownership of where we're going and the vision. And oftentimes they actually paint a better version than I have because they might be in the trenches as it relates to the vision in their department or role or responsibilities.

[00:27:58] And so turning people [00:28:00] loose in that way, it really does call for leaders to hone this skill of vision casting in its fullness. And so it's not just that idea of, quote, casting the vision or telling people, but you've also got to ask questions and listen and do that and get the feedback or else you

[00:28:18] get that feedback.

[00:28:19] Yeah. Where are you in that? Cause a picture's worth a thousand words, but my vision's worth probably 3 million. There's a study that was done that said, okay, in order for somebody to catch the fullness of the vision that's inside your head, your mind's eye is incredibly detailed. And so the vision of the future that you have inside your head, it'll take at least 17 times for someone to catch about 20 percent of that vision.

[00:28:44] So like you said before a lot of the problems that we run into is that we think they have a better vision, a better idea of the information than they actually have. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:58] Scott Maderer: Cause you fully understand [00:29:00] it, or at least think you do. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. May not always, but we at least think we do.

[00:29:06] And so therefore I've explained it once. Yeah. Yeah I had an hour meeting and I told you what we're doing and why, how do you, how are you struggling? To deliver what we talked about. And that was the mentality. That's what I mean by like employee centric or being client centric.

[00:29:25] Chris Meroff: It's I was so determined to meet the needs of my clients that I would schedule these hour long sessions of vision casting. And it's an hour how long I've been thinking about that? Like in my mind, I have been up nights. I have been mulling this over for months. And yet I give somebody one hour to be able to catch this massive vision.

[00:29:49] inside my mind. It's absolutely unfair. And again,

[00:29:54] you

[00:29:54] Scott Maderer: probably spent most of that hour. telling them the vision, not asking any [00:30:00] questions or listening to their

[00:30:01] Chris Meroff: input. That's exactly right.

[00:30:05] Scott Maderer: Yeah. And like I said, we're mad they didn't catch

[00:30:07] Chris Meroff: it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Being the chief pro In fact, I would tell people there's as I started to transition out of this thinking and invite.

[00:30:16] Again, like you said, their input to the vision, I would say there's no bulletin board in the sky where it's like a list of all the problems I've solved. Nobody in front of me in that meeting cares. All they want to do is they want to join together with me to figure out how we're going to solve this going forward.

[00:30:32] And the only way they're going to be able to do that really is if they have a similar vision that I have, that we work together to create.

[00:30:43] Scott Maderer: Yes, Chris, I've got a few questions that I like to ask all of my guests, but before I ask those what else from the book or from the work or the learning that you've had, do you think it's really important for the listeners to hear?

[00:30:56] Chris Meroff: Yeah, we talked about purpose. The other aspects of [00:31:00] culture that we talked about are cultivating your culture is this idea of guiding principles. And these are soft skills. A lot of people might refer to them as human skills. I actually, because of my faith call them God skills. So these are the things that we were created with.

[00:31:14] in his image and they are his character traits. And so what we do is we say, okay, we're going to have a set of these guiding principles or core values. And then we, and we expect that we'll hold each other accountable to these things. This is, these are the ways, these are the two bosses that exist in all of my businesses.

[00:31:34] The purpose and the guiding principles make all the hiring. all the firing decisions. They tell me exactly what tasks to work on when and that's really important. And it gives your employees a real chance to not have to worry about a moving target when they show up at work.

[00:31:52] Success is elusive for people, especially at work, especially when we're talking about fulfillment. And so I try to [00:32:00] alleviate all the other uncertainty that exists, at least at work, that I possibly can by leaning on purpose. and guiding principles.

[00:32:10] Scott Maderer: So my brand in one of my guiding principles is this idea of stewardship, and I run things through that lens, and yet what we were talking about, I've learned over time that's a word that it means certain things to me, but it means very different things to other people.

[00:32:27] So when you hear the word stewardship, what does the word stewardship mean

[00:32:31] Chris Meroff: to you? So stewardship really plays a big part actually in my venture fund in that. We understand it's not mine and that the reality is I'm to be someone who is taking care of what I've been so blessed with in a way that creates some sustainability and impact.

[00:32:54] And so that's really what stewardship means to me.

[00:32:58] Scott Maderer: So this is my favorite question that I [00:33:00] like to ask everybody. Imagine for a minute that I invented this magic machine and with the power of the machine, I could pluck you from where you are today and transport you into the future. Maybe 150, maybe 250 years, but through the power of this machine, you were able to look back and see your entire life.

[00:33:18] And see all of the ripples, all of the connections, all of the impacts that you've left behind. What impact do you hope

[00:33:24] Chris Meroff: you've left in the world? I hope that I have been somebody who reflected Jesus to And I'm not going to say as many people as possible. I say to the twelve to the people that are around me that are that care about me the most and that I had a chance to show them who Jesus is.

[00:33:49] That's my number one is to be a steward of the person I was created to be so that I can reflect Jesus to those that are in my sphere of influence.[00:34:00] As

[00:34:02] Scott Maderer: we kick off 2024, what's coming next on you as you continue on this journey?

[00:34:08] Chris Meroff: So we are really doubling down on the book align and the concepts of alignment leadership.

[00:34:14] And so we're excited to roll out. We're doing a video series, a masterclass in organizational alignment. We're also opening it up, not just from an online version and a video, but we are hosting some in person. We're calling them like two day intensives. So that teams can come learn about organizational alignment and then be able to walk away with an actual plan for their organization, for their team for their company.

[00:34:45] We're super excited to be able to work with teams more in a tangible way, something hands on in a workshop. So we're really excited to roll those things out in 2024. [00:35:00]

[00:35:00] Scott Maderer: And you can find out more about Chris and the work he does and his book over at chrismeroff. com, that's spelled C H R I S M E R O F F.

[00:35:12] com. Of course, I'll have links to that over in the show notes as well. Chris, is there anything else you'd like to share with the listener?

[00:35:20] Chris Meroff: I think that the ideas of alignment really come from, again, my understanding of what Christ's ministry was really all about, which is unity and this idea that we're stronger together as we reflect back toward each other through authentic community.

[00:35:38] And whether again, this is at home or at work or in your community or church really seek out ways that you can find unity and alignment with those that are around you.

[00:35:55] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. [00:36:00] As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode please do us a favor. Go over to inspiredstewardship.

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