April 12, 2022

Leadership Lessons: Clarify Vision & Tell Authentic Stories

An essential part of a leader’s job is setting a grand vision for the organization and imbuing its people with a shared purpose. That goes for any organization, whether it be a church or a higher ed institution.

Dr. Mark Jobe, President at Moody Bible Institute, has experience leading both.

In this episode, he shares what he's learned about leadership over the course of his career, including why clarifying vision and purpose is so important.

We discuss:

- How Dr. Jobe frames leadership in terms of growth and impact

- The importance of proactively telling authentic stories

- The Vision Script Initiative

Mentioned during the podcast:

- Bold Steps

- PastorMarkJobe.com

- Solving For the Right Things in the Right Way: IU Strategies to Retain Students w/ Eleanor Berman

- How To Win The Loyalty of Your Students w/ Exceptional University Offerings w/ Ethan Braden

To hear more interviews like this one, subscribe to Higher Ed Marketer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.

Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Higher Ed Marketer in your favorite podcast player.

The Higher Ed Marketer podcast is brought to you by Caylor Solutions, an Education Marketing, and Branding Agency.

    

 

Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.280 I want a double portion of your spirit. It's a challenge you prayer to 2 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:10.400 pray a double portion, and so we started to ask ourselves what would a 3 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:18.760 double portion of impact that Moody Bible was it to look like. You're listening 4 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:23.640 to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals in higher education. 5 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:28.160 This show will tackle all sorts of questions related to student recruitment, don't 6 00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:32.439 a relations, marketing, trends, new technologies and so much more. If 7 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:36.719 you are looking for conversations centered around where the industry is going, this podcast 8 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:44.240 is for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to the High Ed 9 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:48.600 Marketer podcast. My name is troy singer and I'm here with my cohost and 10 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:54.719 honorary super bowl referee, Bar Taylor, where each week our quest is the 11 00:00:54.759 --> 00:01:00.359 seek out higher ed marketers and executives and gain from them, to their stories 12 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:06.519 and through their advice, tangible things that you can take back and implement right 13 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:12.159 away. Today we are graced by Dr Mark Joe. He is with Moody 14 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:19.640 Bible Institute and we're going to talk to Dr Job about leadership lessons for major 15 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:25.760 impact in growth. He gave us a semester of leadership lessons within forty minutes. 16 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.079 Yeah, I think it was a really great conversation and I'm really excited 17 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:32.439 to share this with everyone. And again, you know, mark has a 18 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:38.560 tremendous amount of of leadership experience as well as what he's doing today at the 19 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:42.560 Moody Bible Institute. It's a hundred and thirty five year old institution, massive 20 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:45.719 in the size. I mean many of you might think about it's just that 21 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:49.400 Little Bible College in Chicago. They've got, you know, a massive radio 22 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:53.959 network, they've got a print publishing division. All that falls under the leadership 23 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:56.799 team that Marcus put together, and so I think that it's a it's a 24 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:01.120 great conversation about leadership. It's also a great conversation about authentic storytelling and how 25 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:06.239 to do that in different environments that were in today. And so, you 26 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:10.199 know, regardless of your type of institution, I think that this episode would 27 00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:15.639 be really, really pragmatic and beneficial for you. Yes, here's our conversation 28 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:22.479 with Dr Job. It's our pleasure to have Dr Mark Job, president of 29 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:27.199 Moody Bible Institute, here on the hired market a podcast and before we go 30 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:31.479 into our conversation with him about the leadership lessons for a massive impact and growth. 31 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:36.400 Would like to know, mark, if you could give us overview of 32 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:42.719 the Moody Bible Institute and what all comes under your authority. Yes, thank 33 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:46.120 you, troy, and are great to be with you today. Moody Bible 34 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:53.560 is stitute probably, like many organizations of higher institution, is complex. We 35 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:59.719 are in the hot part of Chicago. We have been around for a hundred 36 00:03:00.199 --> 00:03:07.000 thirty six years, started by a high powered evangelist by the name of D 37 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:13.639 L Moody who was quite a force to be reckoned with. And so currently 38 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:19.840 moody is a both a school. We have an Undergrad school with students living 39 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:23.919 on campus downtown, about fourteen hundred students that live on campus. We have 40 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:30.840 a total about threezero students. We have a seminary, seminary in Michigan. 41 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:36.599 We have an aviation school in Spokane, Washington, and that's education. Of 42 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:43.360 course, online education as well. But we also have a publishing arm that 43 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:52.199 sells about three point five million books the year in the religious Christian nitch area. 44 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:57.680 And then we also have a broadcasting network. So we have one point 45 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:03.439 five million listeners listen every month and that goes throughout all the country. We 46 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:09.479 own various stations and that works. So it's all under one umbrella called the 47 00:04:09.479 --> 00:04:15.720 Moody Bible Institute, but it has three full stool we like to call it. 48 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:20.680 That literally impacts tens of millions of people every year. That's great. 49 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:25.360 Thank you for that that introduction there, marking, really appreciate having you on 50 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:30.560 the show and it's it's fascinating to me. I mean that's obviously a lot, 51 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:33.000 a lot of under your purview and your team's purview, but the same 52 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:36.759 time, I think you know, being being a new president at Moody in 53 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:42.519 the last few years, I understand that there's there's some ways that you kind 54 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:45.959 of look at it from a leadership standpoint. That really kind of helps with 55 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.639 that idea of how to massively grow, how to, you know, provide 56 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:54.800 massive impact for the mission. Once you tell me a little bit about how 57 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:59.839 you frame that and and how that works from from your experience. Yeah, 58 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:03.800 so first of all let me say that I do not come from higher education 59 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:10.399 background. I do have a doctorate degree. I come from the ministry background. 60 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:16.439 Pastor in Chicago for thirty five years, urban setting started a non for 61 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:24.519 profits so that's been my world and so when Moody First asked me to come 62 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:29.360 and consider, I was reluctant because I thought I love Moody. But you 63 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:31.720 know, that's not the world that I live in. But what I've come 64 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:39.240 to realize is that every ministry, every organization, whether it's Tire Institution, 65 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:45.120 higher at institution or whether it's a church, the principles are very similar. 66 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:53.519 Leadership is leadership in whatever fields you're at. And so when I started at 67 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:57.759 Moody, I thought what would I like to see, what would we like 68 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:01.160 to see as a team in the next decade? And so I'm a terrible 69 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:06.240 maintainer, but I get very fired up when there's a challenge that I think 70 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:14.040 that's worth investing in. And so we started to envision and pray of bold 71 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:18.800 prayer, and our bold prayer was that of a lie shaw the profit when 72 00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:25.319 there was a transition between a senior profit to the next guy. He said 73 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:30.839 I want a double portion of your spirit. It's a challenging prayer to pray 74 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:35.560 a double portion, and so we started to ask ourselves what would a double 75 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:41.680 portion of impact at Moody Bible is it to look like? And so, 76 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:45.519 for us. It look like doubling the number of the students that were in 77 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:50.439 pacting. It meant double the number of listeners that we have via radio and 78 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:57.680 digital, doubling the number of books and readers that we have, which seemed 79 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:02.560 like a very, very challenging prayer to pray, vision to have, but 80 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:06.600 we felt like that's what we want to do. So from thirty seven months 81 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:12.040 ago, when I started, we have been focused on that. What does 82 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:16.879 it mean, not just numerically to double our impact, but spiritually, impact 83 00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:23.720 of students, impact on leaders, leaders, and so that's what we've been 84 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:30.040 going for and it has been a has been a great challenge and the team 85 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:34.199 has bought into it. We're on the same page. Someone told me you 86 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:39.680 must be doing something right because I heard a janitor talking to someone else and 87 00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:43.079 we said, well, this is about doubling the impact, and so the 88 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:47.839 janitors are talking about doubling the effect. You know that it's seat down the 89 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:54.680 ranks into the mass of employers. We have a great team working on that 90 00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:57.759 way now. I think that's great and I love the fact too, that 91 00:07:58.199 --> 00:08:01.639 I think you just pointed out there with that story of the janitor even talking 92 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:05.120 about it. I think sometimes I mean the leadership, whether we're the president 93 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:09.480 of an institution or whether we are, you know, a director of communications 94 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:13.639 or a project manager, there's still leadership that's involved in that and I think 95 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:18.040 that kind of what you're saying is having some clarity of that and and making 96 00:08:18.040 --> 00:08:22.279 sure that you can kind of help guide those that are that are a part 97 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:26.519 of the team. It's not this and it's also, like you said, 98 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:30.879 bold visionable prayers, but I think that we, you know, sometimes I 99 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.360 think we get kind of confused that, well, I'm the leader, I'm 100 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.320 supposed to know everything and it's supposed to be on my shoulders to make that 101 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.039 happen, even even if I'm a leader within my small department on Campus and 102 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:45.440 we're talking to hire ad marketers. They're still this idea, though, that 103 00:08:45.639 --> 00:08:48.600 as leaders, it's our responsibility to know where we start and stop with what 104 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:52.200 we know. Is that true? Yeah, you know, I look at 105 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:58.559 leadership. I have a limited responsibility. Sometimes people look at what I'm doing 106 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.519 and they say, how do you do so much? How can you keep 107 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:05.480 track? But good leader has to narrow down, I think, what are 108 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:13.440 their primary responsibilities? And so I view my primary responsibilities as number one. 109 00:09:13.720 --> 00:09:20.960 Number one clarifying vision. Where are we going and what is our mission? 110 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:24.879 And so vision and mission are a little bit different. Mission is the purpose 111 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:31.919 why we exist. Vision is in a timely fashion. Where are we going? 112 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:35.120 Vision can be five years out, ten years out. How are we 113 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:39.000 implementing that mission? So I think it's a it's the responsibility of a leader 114 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:43.679 to say this is where we're going. Max Dupre, who taught a out 115 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:50.200 a leadership, said the first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. 116 00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:54.600 If you don't define reality, if you don't define our current state, where 117 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:58.000 we're going, someone else will define it for you. So we started to 118 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.039 define this is who we are. Let's be clear about who we are and 119 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:07.159 who were not, and let's be clear about what we want to accomplish in 120 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:11.720 the next ten years. The second responsibility, I believe, of a leader, 121 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:16.080 at least in my case, is to gather the team, the right 122 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:24.840 team of competent leaders to be able to implement a strategy move things forward. 123 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:28.840 And that's not always easy to do, but that was part of the response 124 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:33.600 ability when I stepped into Moody. And then, I think, finally, 125 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:41.159 part of the responsibility of a good leader is then to embrace a strategy. 126 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:45.519 Once you have the vision, you have the team, you articulate a strategy 127 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:48.759 together. I believe that's formed together, and then metrics to say how are 128 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:54.879 we progressing towards that? So those are my three pime primary responsibilities. Now 129 00:10:54.879 --> 00:11:00.799 I may do a lot of other things in subcategories, like do podcasts for 130 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:09.759 Barton Troy, but my primary responsibilities fly in those three areas. That's great. 131 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:15.320 I also know from a previous conversation that you take pride in knowing what 132 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:18.600 you don't know and you use the story of how, when you first took 133 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:24.039 over the leadership role for Moody, that there were a recruiter to that was 134 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:30.440 crucial to your success as you set out on the journey. Could you share 135 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:33.919 those stories with us? Yeah, absolutely. I think that comes under the 136 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:41.480 category of bringing together the right team. When I started at Moody, Moody 137 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:46.360 had just well, there was several people that had transition out of their office. 138 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:52.240 The three top roles really the president, the COO and this and the 139 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:58.960 provos. So those are very important in a higher edge education setting and all 140 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:03.000 three of those had trend asitioned out around the same time, and so I 141 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:09.600 stepped in and I looked over Moody and I realized, okay, I come 142 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:13.360 from a pastor background, a leadership background. I believe in the mission. 143 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:18.679 I can articulate that I can inspire people to train men and women to live 144 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:24.120 on purpose, on mission for the cause of Christ. I understand that. 145 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:30.200 But this is a big business operation as well. There's organizational dynamics, there's 146 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:35.399 strategies, it's there's quite a few employees, were multi campus, were scattered 147 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:41.159 around the country. I need someone that really understands business. And so there 148 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:46.679 was a gentleman on the board by the name of Mark Wagner and he had 149 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:52.799 been the president of all dreams and obviously he had worked his way from way 150 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:56.679 down in the mail room all the way up to the presidency and I thought 151 00:12:56.799 --> 00:13:03.320 he would be a great cooo. I talked to some of the other board 152 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:07.919 members about it and he had stepped into some volunteer responsibilities and I said, 153 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:11.879 hey, you think he would consider it? They laughed at me and said 154 00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:16.720 he's not going to take on that responsibility. But I sat down my wife 155 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:20.919 and I sat down with him and his wife in October. I started in 156 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:28.159 January and I said, mark, I'm stepping into this role and I know 157 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:31.559 that you have the decisions to make. I had heard that he wanted to 158 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:39.480 transition maybe into retirement, and I need someone like you, with your skills 159 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:46.759 and your understanding, to come help help me make an impact for the kingdom. 160 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:50.720 You've helped walbreves make a lot of money and but come help make a 161 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:56.320 spiritual impact with me. And we talked for quite a while that would look 162 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:00.799 like and he said I'll pray about it. Five days later he called me 163 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.360 up and said I can't get away from the idea of making an impact, 164 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:07.639 so I'm going to say yes. And so I told him, Hey, 165 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:09.159 mark, I don't even know if I can hire you because I'm not eat. 166 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:13.000 I haven't even started yet, but I think we can work out those 167 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:18.000 details. And so mark, who's never worked at a non for profit, 168 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:22.559 never worked in higher education, he's worked in the business sector, the pharmaceutical 169 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:30.720 sector, he was just a great guy to bring a balance to my gifting 170 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:35.799 that I did not have. And so and then we needed someone to head 171 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:41.120 up education. Neither mark nor I were experts in education, and Moody, 172 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:48.200 you know, as primarily an educational institution. And so we were able to 173 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:52.840 recruit and hire someone that was seasoned and education by the name of Dr Dwight 174 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:58.000 Perry. That was his field, he understood it, and so those are 175 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:03.519 some of the top lead leaders. But it was my responsibility to say who 176 00:15:03.559 --> 00:15:07.200 needs to form this team, and they're just doing an outstanding job. It's 177 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:11.240 hard to go places if you don't have the team to help take you there. 178 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:16.000 That's great. Love that story and love how that, how that I'll 179 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:20.440 plays out in place together. I think that's so, so important and again 180 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:24.159 I think it can apply to so many different ways and I think that you 181 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:26.360 know, just kind of also tell me a little bit about you know, 182 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:31.600 over the course of the last thirty, six, thirty seven months, you 183 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:35.519 know there's obviously some challenges that all of us is faced with with the pandemic 184 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:39.559 and and with, you know, the the economic issues around that and even 185 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:45.279 you know, whether whether it's retail sales or whether it's people coming into into 186 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:48.440 higher education, everyone's had a challenge. But tell me a little bit about 187 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:54.320 how you and your team kind of work through those physical challenges. Yeah, 188 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.159 well, I have to echo everybody else to saying this has been one of 189 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:08.159 the most disruptive challenging times for institutions, organizations and leaders to navigate through. 190 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:11.360 And, by the way, if you're leading something right now, I want 191 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:17.480 to just commend you. It won't always be this way. It hasn't always 192 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:22.240 been this way. I had to remind my twenty eight year old son that 193 00:16:22.519 --> 00:16:29.120 stepped into pastor and recently. Hey, these last three years have been in 194 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:36.679 intense crash course on leadership. That probably puts you ahead ten years into the 195 00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:45.600 leadership curve because you had to deal with challenges and political polarization and racial issues 196 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:52.200 and economic issues and virus issues and well, when we stepped in, obviously 197 00:16:52.320 --> 00:16:57.919 I didn't know that a year after we had begun to announce and pray for 198 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:03.559 a double of the impact, that we would be hit by a massive global 199 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:10.799 pandemic that would seek to almost shut everything down. But we actually viewed it 200 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:15.519 a bit as an accelerator. It's been disruptive, but I also see it 201 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:23.720 as the great accelerator. It has thrust US forward a decade. Technology has 202 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:30.119 sped forward some of the trends that were happening, even off site or remote 203 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:34.480 working. I think that was coming anyways. I think the virus has just 204 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:40.480 kind of accelerated it. For so we've been in this capsule of time that 205 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:45.160 has compressed the speed of change. Leaders have felt that, you know, 206 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:49.440 in the midst of this. A couple of things I would say. One, 207 00:17:49.799 --> 00:17:56.920 I think Mark Wagon Arcoo. He had the foresight to believe the created 208 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:00.920 task force to handle this disruption and in the beginning of the Task Force made 209 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:04.240 of about twenty thirty people met every single day. Every single day they were 210 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:11.039 meeting overcommunicating. That was just some good experience. That said, we need 211 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:18.200 to overcommunicate during this time, as we got into this volatile season, we 212 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:22.519 also discovered that it was a time where there was a lot of very strong 213 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:27.559 opinions about a lot of different things and it was a time where people were 214 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:33.480 people were expressing their opinions, often times in a very strong way, towards 215 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:37.039 the leadership and what we were doing. And for a little season I felt 216 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:45.599 like we just were responding to negative social media post to negative comments, to 217 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:52.440 negative stories, and it felt like for a while we were just on the 218 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.720 defense and I had a long conversation with our head of marketing and I said, 219 00:18:56.839 --> 00:19:02.440 you know, I feel like we're just not saying much, but just 220 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:08.160 waiting to have to respond to the next critical, negative reaction. We need 221 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:14.279 to be much more proactive in telling what is going well, telling our stories 222 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:18.599 of our graduates and the impact that's happening. And so we did. We 223 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:22.519 determined we're not just going to wait around for the next negative story to pop 224 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:26.119 up, that we're going to start telling these great stories that we have to 225 00:19:26.119 --> 00:19:30.640 tell. We told the story of one of our graduates who, during the 226 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:36.319 pandemic in the city of Chicago, was able to roll up his sleeves with 227 00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:41.359 a bunch of volunteers and feed, at one time, thirtyzero people a week. 228 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:48.039 Over the last twenty months, fed two million people. A Moody Graduate 229 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:52.519 of rolling up his sleeves engaging in the community. Many of this in immigrant 230 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:56.319 communities, and well, we realize is we have so many good stories to 231 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:02.599 tell and we need to be proactive in telling those stories and compelling ways, 232 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:07.240 rather than just saying back and trying to play the defensive. I love that 233 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:12.440 idea because I think that, especially in today's environment, it's very easy. 234 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:18.079 It's so there's just so much polarization of everything and I think that if we 235 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:22.880 can be proactive and telling the stories of our institution of the mission that we 236 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:26.839 represent what we're doing. I think that's going to be so much more impactful 237 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:32.759 for those constituents that we have, whether they are already constituents or they might 238 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:37.200 be willing to become a prospective student or family, those types of things. 239 00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:40.160 So are you what kind of ways are you telling those stories? I mean, 240 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:42.079 I guess this gets into a little bit more of the pragmatic and practical 241 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:45.559 ways because, I mean, you have those stories. From a practical standpoint, 242 00:20:45.559 --> 00:20:49.079 how are you getting those stories out? About About Moody Bibal Institute? 243 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:52.200 Well, you know, you have the traditional ways of telling stories, with 244 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:59.759 alumni magazines and so forth, and so they've been that's been happening a little 245 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:04.079 bit more aggressively, but we've also sought to tell the stories a little bit 246 00:21:04.119 --> 00:21:12.279 more visually and video being able to capture the images, I think is crucial 247 00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:21.000 for institutions nowadays. Most higher education institutions, I don't think, are probably 248 00:21:21.079 --> 00:21:26.359 that good at that. I just had a talk just this morning with our 249 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:33.480 it people and I was responding to some improvements that we could make and the 250 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:37.759 head of it, Johnson, say that he told me this. He said 251 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:41.559 I get it. He said. What I realized is that we have to 252 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:51.079 operate much more as a production company than an audio visual support team. And 253 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:55.960 I said, you know, John, you got it, because nowadays are 254 00:21:56.119 --> 00:22:00.640 streaming, like we for example, we live stream our chapels. We have 255 00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:06.920 events on campus that become the windows to the world. Not only are we 256 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:12.599 disseminating a message outwardly, but we are also giving people a peek into the 257 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:18.720 institute, into our world. And so our team, and he told me, 258 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:21.559 Hey, we've been playing a lot of catch up, but our team 259 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:27.920 has become much more, much more adept at telling stories with students creatively through 260 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:36.559 visual content and through our different online platforms, are social media platforms. That 261 00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:40.039 has become much more the way that we're telling stories. Now. Now you 262 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:47.119 have an older, older constituent that maybe aren't as versatile and adept to social 263 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:48.920 media, so you don't want to disengage them. There still going to be 264 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:53.119 the printed exactly. So people that are, you know, in their S 265 00:22:55.160 --> 00:23:00.799 S S, they may not be as adept to social media, so I 266 00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:04.720 think print is still important for them. I told our marketing guy, hey, 267 00:23:04.759 --> 00:23:11.119 I'd like to I'd like to have a video videographer right in the car 268 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:15.279 with me my first day at Moody and just capture some of my thoughts as 269 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:18.039 I'm starting on campus, what it looks like. So he wrote around in 270 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.279 the car with me and I'm driving to the institute. Try Not to get 271 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:27.920 to distracted. Don't want any car accident and he just traveled with me in 272 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:32.519 the car and I'm talking to him about to start. This is my first 273 00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:34.880 day. I'm excited about it. This is why I took this position. 274 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:41.640 Parked the car followed me out and I'm walking into the institute, go into 275 00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:44.559 the office, I'm saying hi to people. You know, I think there 276 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:51.200 was a there was a time when the stories that were told were very clean 277 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:56.720 cut, formalized, very produced right, and that was what people expect. 278 00:23:56.759 --> 00:24:00.279 That I think the greatest stories nowaday, are authentic, the raw a they're 279 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:04.480 less produced, the real, their unedited and people have a sense of I 280 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:08.079 can I get who these people are, and so I believe that we need 281 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:18.680 to be telling more raw, authentic stories, especially the our video platforms. 282 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:23.319 That's great. I must admit that I find you inspirational and you are a 283 00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:30.880 wonderful storyteller. So I'm sure if that's permeating through your organization that you are 284 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:36.200 very effective of getting those stories acrossed. Earlier you had talked to joy. 285 00:24:36.599 --> 00:24:42.279 You're welcome. Earlier you had mentioned the give me double and I would like 286 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:48.599 to go to what I believe is titled The Vision Script Initiative, where you've 287 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.720 taken that concept and then you utilize that and kind of formalize that with your 288 00:24:52.759 --> 00:24:59.200 team for massive impact and growth in the organization. Could you explain to the 289 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:04.759 listeners the Vision Script Initiative? Yeah, again, I think that it's a 290 00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:12.880 responsibility of the leader to try to paint a clear picture of the future and 291 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:18.559 typically we set goals that are numeric, which I think they should be. 292 00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:22.759 We have to measure our progress and so we had, almost from day one 293 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:26.960 numeric goals. What does it mean to double publishing? What does it mean 294 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:33.119 to double education? What does it mean to double broadcasting, listeners, readers 295 00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:37.759 and students? But most people, to be honest with you, are not 296 00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:48.680 inspired by numbers per se. Most people are inspired by the three dimensional picture 297 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:53.480 of what that means. And so I started to realize as people dug in 298 00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:59.279 a little bit more and say Hey, what does the doubling impact really mean? 299 00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:03.640 I realized I need to do a better job at painting the picture, 300 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.640 and so I believe I first heard of this concept through Michael Hyatt, who 301 00:26:07.640 --> 00:26:15.240 does some coaching and so forth, and this was much more for personal development, 302 00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:22.519 but I thought it would be great for organizational development. I was in 303 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:29.160 Mexico with my wife and I was thinking about our marriage and our children and 304 00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:34.279 our family and I was inspired through some of the reading about that to paint 305 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:38.240 a picture of what it would look like over the next ten years for us. 306 00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:45.519 So I did a vision marriage script for us, like I want to 307 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:49.119 laugh more than ever before. I want to have some adventures. When I 308 00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:52.759 look around, this is what I want to see. This is the kind 309 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:56.799 of relationship I want to have with my children, this is how I want 310 00:26:56.880 --> 00:27:02.200 us to be experiencing our life in Taine years from now. And it was 311 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:07.079 a and then we read it together. It was a very compelling, powerful 312 00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:11.119 description of the future that I thought it was helpful for us in our marriage 313 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:15.400 and our family. But I was inspired by that actually to say, you 314 00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:19.519 know, this is the same thing that I need to do for Moody, 315 00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:26.519 and so I got away, set down and I wrote out if I were 316 00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:32.039 to step into the year two thousand and twenty six. I did a little 317 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:36.480 bit shorter because two thousand and twenty six is our hundred year aniversary of our 318 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:41.480 first broadcast, it's our hundred and forty anniversary of existing as an institution, 319 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:48.559 as a school, and so I sort of went forward into the future. 320 00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:51.200 I said, if I were to look around in two thousand and twenty six, 321 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:55.559 what would I want the culture to look like? What would I want 322 00:27:55.599 --> 00:28:02.039 our team to be celebrating? What would I want the students to look like? 323 00:28:02.119 --> 00:28:08.680 The atmosphere on the school are finances, our engagement with our society? 324 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:15.200 What are we celebrating? What are people coming to learn from us? What 325 00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:22.200 are we highlighting? And about a two page paper I include education, broadcasting, 326 00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:33.160 publishing, culture, dynamics, finances, spiritual health and atmosphere on our 327 00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:38.799 campus, impact and then I read it to our executive team, I've read 328 00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:45.960 it to our board and I've read it to our staff as well, and 329 00:28:47.480 --> 00:28:49.559 I've had so many people come up to me after it and say now I 330 00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:56.119 get it, now I get it, and you know we're wired that way. 331 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:00.079 Troy, if you're listening to a story, there's a lot of stats, 332 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:06.920 a lot of good information. You can disengage, but your mind is 333 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:11.839 wired to engage as soon as you hear a story of picture is painted and 334 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:17.599 I believe that many of us, as we go forward into the future, 335 00:29:17.640 --> 00:29:22.119 we need a clear picture. It needs to connect with our emotions, it 336 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:25.599 needs to we need to be able to see it more clearly as we move 337 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:30.200 forward and I think that's part of the responsibility and job of the leader to 338 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:33.839 do so. And so now we have a clear picture of the challenges and 339 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:37.759 people refer to that. Hey, in the vision script you mentioned this like 340 00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:41.440 one of the things we want to do is honor people better on their way 341 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:48.880 out, that retire or transition, and we just had a phenomenal honoring of 342 00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:52.440 a couple that's been around for forty years and I just thought this is part 343 00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:57.559 of our vision script. We want to honor people well as they transition into 344 00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:03.000 this next season. That's great. It's very inspiring and Dr Joe, we 345 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:08.079 end every episode by asking our guests if there is a quick piece of advice 346 00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:12.759 that they could offer that could be implemented by a listener right away. What 347 00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:18.519 would that be? If you're the leader of a team, I would challenge 348 00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:27.799 you to clarify, clarify, clarify where you're going and what your mission is. 349 00:30:29.720 --> 00:30:36.119 I believe that there's a lot of vague fuzziness, lack of clarity, 350 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:41.000 and it makes teams not function at their best, and so if you're a 351 00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:45.359 part of the team where there's lack of clarity, then I would encourage you 352 00:30:45.400 --> 00:30:51.799 to set down with wherever's leading the team and maybe give a little nudge and 353 00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:56.000 say, you know, I'd like to I really believe in this place, 354 00:30:56.039 --> 00:31:00.200 but I feel like we need to be more clear about who we are, 355 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:04.319 what we're trying to accomplish and what does it mean to win in our setting. 356 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:11.480 Wonderful, well said and again very inspiring. For our listeners that would 357 00:31:11.559 --> 00:31:15.079 like to find out more about you or maybe even reach out to connect with 358 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:18.519 you, what would be the best way for them to do so? Yeah, 359 00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:21.960 well, there's a lot of ways of following me. If you would 360 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:27.000 like to. I'll mention a couple of them. I have a instagram account. 361 00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:30.599 I have, of course, of FACEBOOK, AC out. I'm on 362 00:31:30.759 --> 00:31:37.079 Linkedin. I also do a daily radio program called both steps. There's a 363 00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:41.400 lot of information message that you can get there, and they can even go 364 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:48.039 to pastor mark jobcom and I have a website there as well, and all 365 00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:51.319 things movie. By the way, of course, you can just Google Moody 366 00:31:51.319 --> 00:31:53.880 Bible Institute and there's a lot of stuff that's there. Thank you, Dr 367 00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:01.480 Job. I've sincerely enjoyed our conversation and listening to your leadership advice. Bart 368 00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:05.920 do you add any final thoughts or words that you would like to share? 369 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:07.079 Yeah, just a couple things I wanted to kind of pull out of our 370 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:12.599 conversation just as our final points. Really appreciate what Dr Job talked about with 371 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:15.640 authentic storytelling. I think that that's something that you know, just you might 372 00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:19.839 go back and listen a little bit more about that, about especially how, 373 00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:23.680 if we can be authentic in our storytelling, and especially storytelling that is visual 374 00:32:23.720 --> 00:32:29.480 and and creates emotion and we'll really allows people to kind of Peek into your 375 00:32:29.480 --> 00:32:32.400 institution. I think that's going to be so critical and really a nice pragmatic 376 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:36.680 point to take away. And I also really liked a lot of what he 377 00:32:36.720 --> 00:32:38.680 talked about with leadership. And again, if you'RE A if you're president of 378 00:32:38.680 --> 00:32:43.400 a college or if you're a leader of a marketing team, I think that 379 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:46.119 clarity of vision and the way he articulated that was so important. It's what 380 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:50.000 we've heard from so many of our other guests, whether it was Elin or 381 00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:53.920 Bierman from Indiana University. She's marketing off stree talked about the clarity of vision 382 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:59.839 is what keeps the silos at bay and their institution. We've talked to you 383 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.079 and brightened a couple times at perdue and he's often talking about the idea that, 384 00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:07.599 you know, having that vision being the drivers of the marketing in the 385 00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:13.240 brand on campus rather than just the driven to make something look prettier by Monday. 386 00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:15.680 It all comes back to that clarity of vision, whether you're receiving it, 387 00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:19.599 whether you're giving it. I think that the more clear that we can 388 00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:22.759 be with each other, the better off effective that we're going to be in 389 00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:25.279 our jobs, and so really appreciate that and really appreciate the time today. 390 00:33:25.319 --> 00:33:30.000 Thank you, Dr Job. That brings us to the end of another episode 391 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.799 of the High Ed Marketer podcast. Our show is sponsored by Taylor solutions and 392 00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:40.960 education marketing and branding agency and by thing patented, a marketing execution company combining 393 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:47.599 personalization and customization for engagement success. My name is troy singer. On behalf 394 00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:54.519 of my cohost, Bart Taylor. Thank you for joining us. You've been 395 00:33:54.519 --> 00:33:59.839 listening to the Higher Ed Marketer. To ensure that you never miss an episode, 396 00:33:59.839 --> 00:34:04.160 subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. If you're listening with 397 00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:07.119 apple PODCASTS, we'd love for you to leave a quick rating of the show. 398 00:34:07.239 --> 00:34:12.440 Simply tap the number of stars you think the podcast deserves. Until next 399 00:34:12.480 --> time,