Integrity: Beyond Strategy
Dan's company made one thing: work boots for people who spend their days on concrete and roofs. Eleven years in, the largest retailer he sold through called with an offer. They wanted a second line, a cheaper boot made overseas, under his name. It would double his revenue in two years. The buyer meant it kindly. "You've earned this," he said. Dan's sales manager had already run the numbers, and two of his longest-serving employees stood to get the raises they had waited years for.
Nothing about the offer was dishonest. Nothing about it was foolish.
Dan asked for the weekend. On Monday he said no. The buyer was puzzled, the sales manager went quiet, and within the month one of the two employees had updated her résumé.
One night his wife asked if he was sure. He said yes. "When I started this company, I gave it to God for one purpose," he said. "Make a boot that holds up for the people who build things. That's what God handed me, and I'm not going to trade it for a bigger company." She asked what it might cost. "I don't know yet," he said.
If you lead anything, you've probably faced a Monday like Dan's: an offer that looks prosperous, from sincere people, and knowing you had to say no and that others wouldn't understand. It raises an important question: How do you know an offer isn't yours to take?
The Framework
Business has a name for what Dan did. In 1996, Michael Porter published an article in Harvard Business Review called "What Is Strategy?" and one line from it describes Dan's Monday exactly: "The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do."1
Porter argues that a company's position holds only because of what it gives up. A company that says yes to everything blurs its true contribution. And while such focus seems clear enough, the greatest threat to strategy usually comes from inside the company. The company wants to grow, and leaders are tempted to add one more product, take one more customer, expand one more service until they lose their edge. Maytag is an example. Known for its washers and dryers, it faced pressure from dealers and customers to extend its line. Its sales grew roughly fivefold, but it kept less than a penny of profit on each dollar it sold. Porter attributed that to broadening unwisely. Leaders may fail to choose because they're reluctant to disappoint valued managers or employees. Porter says the leader's job is to teach the organization its strategy, and to say no.
That is Dan's Monday. The buyer was a valued partner, the raises were for people he cared about, and he said no anyway.
I think Porter is right, and I would follow his advice. When your focus is clearly defined, that strategy works. Yet the Christian business person looks through a different lens. Christian businesspeople view their work through the lens of the assignment God has placed on their lives. Dan did not say no to protect a market share. He said no because the quality of his boots was tied to the assignment he believed God had given him. Clarity about a personal calling gives a leader a reason to say no that market share and profit cannot give.
Scripture records a moment when Jesus said no to an attractive offer because He knew it wasn't His to take. That no was integrity — integrity that went beyond strategy.
The Offer That Looked Right
The offer comes in John 6, after Jesus had miraculously fed the crowd with loaves and fish.
The crowd concluded: "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" (6:14). Then the idea moved from murmur to mob, and by the time it reached the back row, they were ready to act. They could have a kingdom where nobody ever went hungry again! So they were set on making Him king on the spot.
"Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself" (John 6:15). I like the fact that there is no negotiation from Him, no counteroffer, and no explanation. He saw it coming and withdrew.
John records no reason for the withdrawal, but hindsight helps us understand. A grateful crowd believed He was the Prophet who was to come — and He was! — so they offered Him a crown, which He rejected. It wasn't an impulsive decline, nor was it merely strategic. It came from a clear assignment. Let me explain.
The Assignment He Knew
Jesus said, "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me" (6:38). His assignment was clear. And it did include a kingdom.
Jesus would tell Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (18:36). He knew it on the hillside that day just as surely as He knew it when He was on trial. That's why a crown handed to Him by hungry, grateful people was a door He needed to shut. His crown would not come without a cross.
I marvel when I think about it. The crown was at His fingertips. And integrity personified said no. Full stop.
The Crowd Thins
The people wanted a bread-king. They had followed Him across the sea for bread (6:26). They wanted to make Him king for bread. Jesus rocked their world when He said: "The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh" (6:51).
Even today, the statement lands awkwardly. Without the context of communion, we too would be scratching our heads. But what I find most interesting is how that statement affected the crowd. "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" (6:60). It caused more than a grumble among His followers. Scripture tells us, "many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him" (6:66).
Jesus did not chase them or attempt to soften what He had said. He turned to the Twelve and asked, "Do you want to go away as well?" (6:67). Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (6:68).
A thinner crowd was not a failed assignment. The assignment was measured by what the Father had given Him to do. The Kingdom would come at a cost far higher than a thinned-out crowd.
When the right decision thins the crowd, a leader stays focused.
Your Assignment
Maybe your Monday doesn't look like Dan's, and your crowd surely doesn't look like the one in John 6. But the question is the same: how do you know an offer isn't yours to take?
Start with your assignment. God has given you a family, a life, and a job, and they all sit inside one assignment. Before an offer arrives, be clear about your calling. Jesus could say no on that mountain because He already knew what He had been sent to do (6:38). The clearer the assignment, the faster you can tell which offers are yours and which are not.
Further, recognize that clarity calls for surrender. Surrender means giving up something you want, but it also means shutting the wrong doors in order to walk through the right one. The surrender is to God, who gave you the assignment, and not to whoever happens to be making the attractive offer.
Knowing your assignment will not guarantee that the crowd stays or the business grows. It does, however, let you stay faithful either way.
Integrity reaches beyond strategy. It means surrendering to God so He can close the wrong doors and let you choose the right ones.
Notes
- Michael E. Porter, "What Is Strategy?", Harvard Business Review, November–December 1996. https://hbr.org/1996/11/what-is-strategy. The details on the growth trap, Maytag, and the leader's role in this section are from the same article.
