Better Before Bigger

This past summer I went through a change in the way I think about my career.

For my entire adult life, and honestly much of my childhood, I dreamed of ways to expand my influence—to get bigger. I created an entertainment company as a 12 year old in 1995. (Note: my dad feels that without filing the proper documents it wasn’t a real company. But I know better.) I created a GeoCities site a few years later, when getting listed on Yahoo! was still a big deal. Decisions about majors and schools and career paths always depended on what doors they would open or close. I thought if I could just get the right title, the right credential, the right connection, then everything would open up and I could make a real difference in the world.

But in the years since I left my PhD program, I began pursuing something else. Rather than being this or that, my prayer was to become a man of wisdom and character—to get better instead of bigger.

At first I didn’t think of it in these terms of bigger vs. better. I was just tired of plotting and pushing when I knew all was not right in my heart. But over time this principle of “better before bigger” grew from being a better human being to becoming a better worker.

This first began sinking in as I listened to one of my favorite stories on The Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast. Truett Cathy, late founder of Chick-Fil-A, is at a meeting where the top brass is discussing how to stay competitive with a new rival. After discussing one strategy after another for becoming bigger, Cathy pounds his fist on the table and says, (and I’m paraphrasing here), “Gentlemen, I’m sick and tired of hearing you all talk about getting bigger. We need to be better. If we get better, our customers will demand that we get bigger.”

I love it! “Better before bigger” is Stanley’s way of putting it. Both he and Cathy applied this principle to organizations, and I think that’s absolutely right. But over time I’ve come to see it applies to individuals as well. The better you are at what you do, the more eager people will be to invite you to do it.

While this should be obvious, consider the way ministry often happens: there’s a need and the closest warm body gets invited (or worse) to fill it. To succeed in this system, you just have to keep showing up and holding it together. Sad to say, but quality is sometimes an afterthought.

And if we’re not careful, this can become the norm in Christian businesses as well. We often give credit for good intentions and try not to judge because that would be unloving.

As a result, if I want to devote my life to ministry, I may be tempted to expect that my good intentions should open doors for me. If not my good intentions, then a special calling from God. (Do you want to stand in God’s way? I didn’t think so.) If not my calling, then my credentials.

But the more I listen to leaders inside and outside of the church, the more I’m convinced that there’s a better way. Get better first, then let the doors worry about themselves.

I’ve heard this principle illustrated a number of ways in the podcasts and articles I’ve consumed lately, but one example will suffice. Filmmaker Brian Koppelman has shared on his podcast the advice he gives people who ask him how to find an agent: don’t. Don’t go looking for an agent. Instead, work hard at your craft, give your work away if you have to, and when it’s good enough an agent will come looking for you. I believe this applies just as much to Christians working to write, lead, teach, or serve in other capacities.

Or as Jesus Himself says, he who is faithful with little will be entrusted with much. Note how it doesn’t begin with the grasping for more like James and John asking for preferential seating in glory. It begins with faithfulness, with service, with diligence.

I don’t write this to call out Christian culture in any way. I’m calling out myself. I have in the past thought being willing was enough, being called was enough, being credentialed was enough, being nice was enough. What I really need is to get better. Not to earn God’s favor—that’s a conversation for another day. I need to get better at what I do because the work is worth doing, because the people are worth serving, and above all because God deserves my best.