Synergize! Differences Create The Greatest Glory!
Synergize! Differences Create The Greatest Glory!
Synergize! Differences Create The Greatest Glory!
Synergize! Differences Create The Greatest Glory!
We were born to produce synergistic creativity in life and in work with people who are different from us. The best work involves the joining of differences — synergies of different people's gifts, ideas, backgrounds and experiences — to create something new that benefits the world.
Nothing is more beautiful than two very different people coming together to create new life.
Marriage between a man and a woman is the greatest, most fundamental, and most frequent example of exactly how differences between people come together — to synergize — to create something far more magnificent and meaningful than either party could create by themselves. Nothing done by humans has created more lasting life and legacy, beauty and bounty, ingenuity and intimacy, new life and new ideas.
Tim Keller gave a talk on marriage at Google, and said, “The Christian view of marriage is between a man and a woman because the genders mesh and clash. This may not be the view that prevails in our culture, but, in the Christian view, one of the ways marriage builds character is it brings two people of two diametrically different genders together. It’s one of the purposes of marriage — to bring them together. Much of what marriage is supposed to do couldn’t happen between people of the same sex.”
The world is literally built on God’s design for humans to create, subdue, rule, and produce fruit (Genesis 1:26-28 & John 15:16). God made us to be fruitful and multiply — to get married and have children!
God created everything from nothing. However, God calls us to create with what He made for the purposes for which He made it. And to create something, whether in marriage or business, requires synergy between people and principles that sometimes may start in misunderstanding and misalignment.
We were born to produce synergistic creativity in life and in work with people who are different from us. The best work involves the joining of differences — synergies of different people's gifts, ideas, backgrounds and experiences — to create something new that benefits the world.
Synergy Is Leadership
Habit #6, Synergize, in Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, is the culmination of the previous 5 habits. Covey writes,
“Synergy is the essence of principle-centered leadership. It is the essence of principle-centered parenting. It catalyzes, unifies, and unleashes the greatest powers within people. All the habits we have covered prepare us to create the miracle of synergy.
What is synergy? Simply defined, it means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It means that the relationship that the parts have to each other is a part in and of itself. It is not only a part, but the most catalytic, the most empowering, the most unifying, and the most exciting part.
The creative process is also the most terrifying part because you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen or where it is going to lead. You don’t know what new dangers and challenges you’ll find. It takes an enormous amount of internal security to begin with the spirit of adventure, the spirit of discovery, the spirit of creativity. Without doubt, you have to leave the comfort zone of base camp and confront an entirely new and unknown wilderness. You become a trailblazer, a pathfinder. You open new possibilities, new territories, new continents, so that others can follow.”
Creativity Starts Communication
“Creativity happens when we're being open. When we're saying is, ‘that what is now, is not as good as what might be in a moment,’ we're actually opening ourselves to God. Openness to what God is doing is obeying the first commandment which says to have no other God's.” – Randall Wallace, screenwriter, movie director and producer.
Covey explains, “Respectful communication works in independent situations and even in interdependent situations, but the creative possibilities are not opened up. In interdependent situations compromise is the position usually taken.
Compromise means that 1 + 1 = 1. Both give and take. The communication isn’t defensive or protective or angry or manipulative; it is honest and genuine and respectful. But it isn’t creative or synergistic. It produces a low form of Win/Win.
Synergy means that 1 + 1 may equal 8, 16, or even 1,600. The synergistic position of high trust produces solutions better than any originally proposed, and all parties know it.”
Openness Leads To More
We have all seen this play out in life, in leadership, and constantly in our work. Seeking First to Understand leads to new perspectives, perspectives lead to openness in the way to solve a common objective, and openness leads to new ideas.
I had the joy of experiencing this early in my career when I worked in banking. I was the new idea guy charged with increasing loan revenue and profitability. I brought bold new ideas in technology and marketing to the table. “More loans for less cost, done faster,” I said.
My esteemed partner, the Senior Vice President of Risk Management, was charged with making sure all loans fit our policies and did not expose the bank to long or short term risk. She too was charged with profitability. She brought experience, wisdom, and prudence to the table. “Not so fast!” she would often say.
Our shared goal was profitability. At first our approaches were so different we could barely communicate, but as respect grew so did trust and cooperation. With trust and cooperation we began to communicate well — listening and understanding each other.
Our teams followed suit and interdepartmental collaboration and innovation started happening. We learned that it was possible to combine the marketing algorithms with the credit risk policy to a model that increased sales and reduced risk. The model proved to be more effective, producing long term quality assets for the bank, less friction and better service for clients, and more internal efficiency / productivity for the sales and processing staff.
The solution benefited the institution, customers, and employees — a true Win/Win/Win!
Synergize Everything!
Synergy between God and man is God’s desire for our lives (John 17:23). The way God commissions us to do this is to first seek God and to understand His will (Matthew 7:7-8), next to work for the good of others as we do for ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4), and then to use our gifts to the best of our abilities to create the best possible solution for all.
As we seek God's will and follow His commands, our differences become clear assets for us to utilize for the purposes of new life and glory. This is true in every facet of our lives including…
- In marriage: Our command for marriage is to join with the opposite gender (Genesis 2:24) and to be fruitful (Genesis 1:18), producing a vast population of new life.
- In friendships: Our command is to honor differences in every way — personality, approach, background, and ideas — as Jesus did (John 13:34) and to join together to renew the world (Matthew 28:18-20).
- In communities: Our command is to embrace differences in ethnicity, as well as in economic and educational background (Colossians 3:11); thus creating lasting relationships like a beautiful mosaic — not a melting pot — of culture pointing to heaven (Revelation 7:9).
- In government and politics: Our command is to seek to understand the needs of the world, listen to others before speaking (Proverbs 18:13), discern what is good (James 3:13) for those we serve (Matthew 20:28) beyond personal preferences and position to create systems and laws that help all people flourish (Isaiah 1:17).
- In work: Our command is to surrender our gifts for the glory of God (Romans 11:36) and for the needs of others — utilizing our gifts and collaborate with all of those we work with (1 Corinthians 12:4-6) — to create opportunities that lead to better solutions and outcomes for all people.
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.” – 1 Corinthians 12:3-6
We’ve all been given incredible gifts, and, as we use them well, we see that they are given to us for the express purpose of loving others. That’s why the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write the following verse at the intersection of his most detailed writing on diverse gifts and the fullest description of love.
“Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. [Love] And yet I will show you the most excellent way.” – 1 Corinthians 12:31
Resources
Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Graphic: Aligning With Life Purpose
Article: Gain Influence By Seeking To Be Influenced
Article: Relationship Victory – Thinking Win/Win – Requires Consideration and Courage
Article: Choose Opportunity – Choose Relationships First
Article: Where Do You Want To Go?
Article: Proactivity Is Response Ability
Video: The Meaning of Marriage | Timothy Keller | Talks at Google
Video: Courage and Creativity with Randall Wallace | Dream Big with Bob Goff & Friends
Nothing is more beautiful than two very different people coming together to create new life.
Marriage between a man and a woman is the greatest, most fundamental, and most frequent example of exactly how differences between people come together — to synergize — to create something far more magnificent and meaningful than either party could create by themselves. Nothing done by humans has created more lasting life and legacy, beauty and bounty, ingenuity and intimacy, new life and new ideas.
Tim Keller gave a talk on marriage at Google, and said, “The Christian view of marriage is between a man and a woman because the genders mesh and clash. This may not be the view that prevails in our culture, but, in the Christian view, one of the ways marriage builds character is it brings two people of two diametrically different genders together. It’s one of the purposes of marriage — to bring them together. Much of what marriage is supposed to do couldn’t happen between people of the same sex.”
The world is literally built on God’s design for humans to create, subdue, rule, and produce fruit (Genesis 1:26-28 & John 15:16). God made us to be fruitful and multiply — to get married and have children!
God created everything from nothing. However, God calls us to create with what He made for the purposes for which He made it. And to create something, whether in marriage or business, requires synergy between people and principles that sometimes may start in misunderstanding and misalignment.
We were born to produce synergistic creativity in life and in work with people who are different from us. The best work involves the joining of differences — synergies of different people's gifts, ideas, backgrounds and experiences — to create something new that benefits the world.
Synergy Is Leadership
Habit #6, Synergize, in Stephen Covey’s book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, is the culmination of the previous 5 habits. Covey writes,
“Synergy is the essence of principle-centered leadership. It is the essence of principle-centered parenting. It catalyzes, unifies, and unleashes the greatest powers within people. All the habits we have covered prepare us to create the miracle of synergy.
What is synergy? Simply defined, it means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It means that the relationship that the parts have to each other is a part in and of itself. It is not only a part, but the most catalytic, the most empowering, the most unifying, and the most exciting part.
The creative process is also the most terrifying part because you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen or where it is going to lead. You don’t know what new dangers and challenges you’ll find. It takes an enormous amount of internal security to begin with the spirit of adventure, the spirit of discovery, the spirit of creativity. Without doubt, you have to leave the comfort zone of base camp and confront an entirely new and unknown wilderness. You become a trailblazer, a pathfinder. You open new possibilities, new territories, new continents, so that others can follow.”
Creativity Starts Communication
“Creativity happens when we're being open. When we're saying is, ‘that what is now, is not as good as what might be in a moment,’ we're actually opening ourselves to God. Openness to what God is doing is obeying the first commandment which says to have no other God's.” – Randall Wallace, screenwriter, movie director and producer.
Covey explains, “Respectful communication works in independent situations and even in interdependent situations, but the creative possibilities are not opened up. In interdependent situations compromise is the position usually taken.
Compromise means that 1 + 1 = 1. Both give and take. The communication isn’t defensive or protective or angry or manipulative; it is honest and genuine and respectful. But it isn’t creative or synergistic. It produces a low form of Win/Win.
Synergy means that 1 + 1 may equal 8, 16, or even 1,600. The synergistic position of high trust produces solutions better than any originally proposed, and all parties know it.”
Openness Leads To More
We have all seen this play out in life, in leadership, and constantly in our work. Seeking First to Understand leads to new perspectives, perspectives lead to openness in the way to solve a common objective, and openness leads to new ideas.
I had the joy of experiencing this early in my career when I worked in banking. I was the new idea guy charged with increasing loan revenue and profitability. I brought bold new ideas in technology and marketing to the table. “More loans for less cost, done faster,” I said.
My esteemed partner, the Senior Vice President of Risk Management, was charged with making sure all loans fit our policies and did not expose the bank to long or short term risk. She too was charged with profitability. She brought experience, wisdom, and prudence to the table. “Not so fast!” she would often say.
Our shared goal was profitability. At first our approaches were so different we could barely communicate, but as respect grew so did trust and cooperation. With trust and cooperation we began to communicate well — listening and understanding each other.
Our teams followed suit and interdepartmental collaboration and innovation started happening. We learned that it was possible to combine the marketing algorithms with the credit risk policy to a model that increased sales and reduced risk. The model proved to be more effective, producing long term quality assets for the bank, less friction and better service for clients, and more internal efficiency / productivity for the sales and processing staff.
The solution benefited the institution, customers, and employees — a true Win/Win/Win!
Synergize Everything!
Synergy between God and man is God’s desire for our lives (John 17:23). The way God commissions us to do this is to first seek God and to understand His will (Matthew 7:7-8), next to work for the good of others as we do for ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4), and then to use our gifts to the best of our abilities to create the best possible solution for all.
As we seek God's will and follow His commands, our differences become clear assets for us to utilize for the purposes of new life and glory. This is true in every facet of our lives including…
- In marriage: Our command for marriage is to join with the opposite gender (Genesis 2:24) and to be fruitful (Genesis 1:18), producing a vast population of new life.
- In friendships: Our command is to honor differences in every way — personality, approach, background, and ideas — as Jesus did (John 13:34) and to join together to renew the world (Matthew 28:18-20).
- In communities: Our command is to embrace differences in ethnicity, as well as in economic and educational background (Colossians 3:11); thus creating lasting relationships like a beautiful mosaic — not a melting pot — of culture pointing to heaven (Revelation 7:9).
- In government and politics: Our command is to seek to understand the needs of the world, listen to others before speaking (Proverbs 18:13), discern what is good (James 3:13) for those we serve (Matthew 20:28) beyond personal preferences and position to create systems and laws that help all people flourish (Isaiah 1:17).
- In work: Our command is to surrender our gifts for the glory of God (Romans 11:36) and for the needs of others — utilizing our gifts and collaborate with all of those we work with (1 Corinthians 12:4-6) — to create opportunities that lead to better solutions and outcomes for all people.
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.” – 1 Corinthians 12:3-6
We’ve all been given incredible gifts, and, as we use them well, we see that they are given to us for the express purpose of loving others. That’s why the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write the following verse at the intersection of his most detailed writing on diverse gifts and the fullest description of love.
“Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. [Love] And yet I will show you the most excellent way.” – 1 Corinthians 12:31
Resources
Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Graphic: Aligning With Life Purpose
Article: Gain Influence By Seeking To Be Influenced
Article: Relationship Victory – Thinking Win/Win – Requires Consideration and Courage
Article: Choose Opportunity – Choose Relationships First
Article: Where Do You Want To Go?
Article: Proactivity Is Response Ability
Video: The Meaning of Marriage | Timothy Keller | Talks at Google
Video: Courage and Creativity with Randall Wallace | Dream Big with Bob Goff & Friends