Weekly Impact is written for leaders by our Executive Director, Garth Jestley, who has decades of experience in senior leadership roles in the financial services sector. Each week he will share insights on life, leadership and faith.
The unique mission of LeaderImpact is “helping marketplace leaders explore the relevance of faith in God in their professional and personal lives.” One of the principal reasons I accepted the Executive Director role was my passion for LeaderImpact’s purpose as expressed in this mission statement.
From the perspective of the search committee, one major reason for offering me this position was my decades in senior executive and entrepreneurial roles. As a result, I can relate to the needs and specific challenges of fellow marketplace leaders. Having now been in this role for almost four years, I have yet to encounter any other organization with a similar mandate. LeaderImpact is unique, not only in Canada but around the world.
For this reason, I have decided to spend the next few blog posts unpacking various aspects of our mission statement. My hope is that this series will help readers, both those currently involved with LeaderImpact and those considering involvement, to better understand how we can help them fulfill God’s purpose for their lives.
Let’s start with the group we serve. A simple definition of a marketplace leader is someone with followers in the marketplace. The primary focus of LeaderImpact is business leaders. That said, we also have participants across Canada from the various service professions such as law, medicine and accountancy and a smaller number from the public and not-for-profit sectors. LeaderImpact is international in scope and the participant mix varies from country to country.
Faith in God is relevant to everyone regardless of their current beliefs about the spiritual.
However, whether their “followers” are employees or the clients they serve, these marketplace leaders are in positions of significant influence. Given their impact not only on their organizations and professions but also on society as a whole, this cohort has an outsized influence on the direction of our country and the nations of the world.
It is important to note that we serve not only marketplace leaders who are professing Christians but also marketplace leaders for whom faith is not part of their lives. LeaderImpact was founded on the cornerstone belief that faith in God is relevant to everyone regardless of their current beliefs about the spiritual.
We recognize that not everyone sees faith in God as important. One reason is they do not see it as relevant in the 21st century. This common attitude notwithstanding, God wants to be in relationship with everyone. As recorded in the Bible, the apostle Paul wrote the following to Timothy, his student: “He [God] wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned.” (1 Timothy 2:4, The Message)
LeaderImpact was also founded to address the reality that many Christian marketplace leaders would like to share their faith but lack the training and tools to do so. In addition, they often fear sharing their beliefs, particularly in the current environment in which free speech is under attack. However, the Bible exhorts all believers to actively share their faith. There is no special exemption for marketplace leaders!
Next week I will expand upon how LeaderImpact helps marketplace leaders share and explore the relevance of faith in God.
Garth Jestley is a husband, father, grandfather, leader and business executive. Most importantly, he is a follower of Jesus Christ.