Discovering The Other Side Of The Budget
Discovering the Other Side of the Budget
Earlier this month I was talking with a colleague from my first real leadership assignment. We were on staff together at a church in Omaha, running the student ministry department. We got to laughing about how we operated back then.
We joked that we were like the defense department. Every budget season we marched to the elder board, made our case for resources, and walked away with what we needed to blow things up. We were excellent at inspiring the board to allocate resources. We were also excellent at spending it. Passionate about it, even. However, what we never thought about was where the money was coming from.
Then I became the lead pastor of a new church plant in Arizona. Time to build my first budget and present it to the elder board. No problem. I had done this many times and was basically an expert by now. I did what any resourceful leader does. I found the old budget templates from my previous church, changed the name at the top, and got to work.
That is when I noticed something.
The Best Leadership Decision I’ve Ever Made
Today is my 32nd wedding anniversary.
Christie and I got married when we were young. I was 21 years old and she was old enough to vote, but not able to legally have champagne at the wedding. A gentleman never reveals his wife's age or weight. Of course I thought I knew what I needed in a spouse back then. I was confident and resolute in my choice. However, after thirty-two years I can tell you with certainty I was as green as they come.
That said, marrying her is the best leadership decision I have ever made. This might sound like an odd way to put it. But I mean it exactly that way.
One of the biggest leadership decisions you will ever make is who you marry.
Not the job you take. Not the org you build. Not the degree you earn or the mentor you find. Who you come home to every single night will shape your leadership more than any of those things combined. I have watched this play out in the lives of friends and peers for three decades. The ones who married well lead better. Not always. But more often than not.
Here is why it matters so much.