Jacobs Ladder Podcast

Powerful Symbols with Ron Kitchens-CMAW049

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What You'll Hear:
  • Ron grew up very poor.  His parents were aged 14 and 15 when they got married
  • Their landlord Mr. Countryman, farmer, invited his Mom to church, she said no but then he offered to take her kids to church
  • He took Ron to church and paid for him to go to camp and gave him a shirt for Ron's baptism
  • Someone brought a Chiquita Banana box to Ron's home with Christmas dinner including a can of mandarin oranges
  • The can has been a symbol to him of the cost of a lack of education
  • Ron runs a company called Southwest Michigan First, which helps people get jobs and get trained
  • They have a company that puts on a conference annually called Catalyst University with 3000 people
  • They have a company called Consulting Connect which is the largest economic development consulting firm in the country
  • For most companies, 30% of employees are engaged, 50% are neutral, and 20% are disengaged.  At Ron's company, they have a 95% engagement rate and they've been voted one of the best places to work, partly due to their organizational axioms
  • They encourage their employees to be a CEO of their own responsibilities
  • They have everyone on their team (30) interview candidates to make sure they're the right fit
  • Everyone has individual goals, small team goals, and corporate goals
  • They meet with a mentor every 40 days
  • Their employees are ultra accountable but also have ultra freedom to accomplish their goals
  • There's just no enjoyment in over-managing people and if you hire the right people you don't have to
  • Another axiom is Family First. Ron leaves loudly by leaving at 2pm to work out at the gym.
  • They don't hide that they're going to a family event but rather they celebrate it
  • It makes participating in their family the norm
  • If you're in a negative working environment, get out if you can
  • Bring everyone on the team in for a book club to change the culture
  • Humility was demonstrated by Christ, who chose to speak to others because He was the expert, but He spoke about His Father, not Himself
  • There's a difference between carrying the mission for the organization and self-promotion
  • Great leaders talk about "we" not about "I"
  • You were created by God to be great, but you didn't do anything to earn that, so bragging about that is damaging to God's gift and your ability to serve others
  • Ron's 70/20/10 formula helps him to have joy.  70% of his activities are things that are high energy and have a big impact.  20% are things he doesn't like but have to be done.  10% are things he enjoys.
  • The key to work life balance is to know what you want and what it takes to get there, and to take care of yourself
  • Living out your Christian faith through your work is to make your faith the center of your behaviors
  • We live a faith whose basic tenet is love and respect
  • Ron's favorite scripture is Nehemiah 6:3
  • Ron recommends the Skim Podcast, Andy Stanley, and John Maxwell and audio books
  • Go to www.RonKitchens.com
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Jacobs Ladder PodcastBy David Hilgendorf (Christian, Messianic, Jewish)
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