Take whatever sort of example in institutional culture. Maybe it's a culture of excellence, or continuous improvement, or disciplined execution. Maybe it's a culture of gratitude, or hard work, or competence. Whatever it is, why is it in the lifeblood of some institutions, and can't seem to get any traction in others?

The Value-Growth mindset is focused on the person for whom I'm providing value. In order for a business owner to be successful in his purpose of delivering value to a customer, he must care about that customer, and care about him as a customer - meaning, as a person who is the recipient of the value.

What that means, is that although all businesses are in the game to deliver value to people in general, the value that businesses are to deliver is particular to their customer.

What if you're a competent, hungry, and disciplined individual, who would love to be a business owner, but can't seem to get traction in starting or owning a business? Starting a business isn't for you, and buying one isn't either. How can you enter into business ownership?

It's possible to create systems and standards that enable your business to profit and grow, no matter how much custom variation you're dealing with, or no matter how you're wired.

If you want to scale your business, you need to build systems. And if you can't do that, you need to find somebody who can help you. Either way, growth requires systems. That's how to scale your business.

Not all problems are created equal. When having to solve a problem, we must consider what sort of problem we're dealing with. On the scale of priorities, we weigh the consequences and rewards of not doing anything (that is, dragging out the problem) versus doing the wrong thing (that is, implementing a hasty solution). Sometimes letting the problem burn is the right thing. You can always make things worse. But other times, putting on a band-aid to give you the time to address the root issue could be right.

It's work to create and improve your value-offering. It's emotional work. It's mental work. It's physical work. And all of that demands your committed effort to see the thing through. It's a decision and choice that you must make and hold to until the work is done.

Typically our problems are not unique to us. There have been people who have gone before us to identify why these kinds of things happen and what can be done about it. There are solutions that we can work at to reduce and eliminate the frustration and stress that we experience at work. Most of these solutions, however, require nerve, focus, patience, and an unwavering tenacity to keep moving forward. It's difficult to accept the fact that you are responsible for your own lack of agency.

The Lord once told a story where a man, upon doing a good job with what he was given, heard it said to him, “You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.” Whether we're the owner, manager, or a line employee, if we want to carry the organization, we must first kneel down to put the weight on our backs. We can only move up by moving down.

Instead of concerning yourself with Top-Down vs Bottom-Up hierarchy arguments, ask a much more basic question: Who are your customers and what do they want? That's what it's about, not management versus employees.