Years ago, a friend and mentor named Martin West, whose passion was to help organizations be more effective at executing their plans and strategies, walked us through a process called “The Company I See.” I recently had the privilege of interviewing my father and D+C Founder, Rick Dunham, about what this exercise looked like and how it came about.
Trent: Martin encouraged you, as the leader of Dunham+Company, to develop a framework for casting a vision and helping others understand why we exist as a company. Talk about the exercise itself and what Martin asked you to do.
Rick: During one of his workshops, Martin pulled me aside and said, “I keep hearing you talk about this company in ways that I don’t see written down anywhere… your passion and vision.”
He said, “I want you to sit down and write out the company you see. What do you see in terms of its vision and where it’s going?”
So I did exactly that. It’s been through probably four or five revisions as we’ve refined it. I think we’ve honed it down now to truly capture the heartbeat of Dunham+Company.
Trent: Let’s say I’m a new employee or client of yours and I want to understand what drives this organization. Share with us “The Company I See” you wrote for Dunham+Company
Rick: The company I see is a potent force being used by God to empower Christian ministries around the world to grow their impact for the kingdom. The organizations we serve view us as trusted advisors. They look to us to help them develop and execute comprehensive marketing strategies to impact more lives as well as fundraising strategies that will inspire more of God’s people to fund their work so they can do more to create a greater impact, with the result that more lives are transformed for eternity.
The Company I See is relentless in its pursuit to be the best at not-for-profit marketing and fundraising, and it’s recognized as a thought leader in our industry. We are a company made up of people who are passionately committed to our mission and characterized by unswerving faith, godly wisdom, unending perseverance, and selflessness. The Company I See is completely abandoned to Jesus, fully empowered by Him to do the work that, through the organizations we serve, will see His kingdom come.
Trent: What drove you to use the words “potent” and “empowering” to talk about our work as it relates to our clients?
Rick: I’ve always had a passion to see our clients feel more fully empowered to do what God’s called them to do. But it goes beyond marketing and fundraising. It goes to ‘trusted advisors.’ We want to be a resource organizations can lean into in order to accomplish what God’s called them to do.
I use the words “potent force” very specifically because I wholeheartedly believe what Scripture says about the spiritual battle that we’re in. It’s going to take God’s power working through us, which is highly potent, to be able to actually empower other ministries.
God can use us in a very powerful way to help others accomplish a greater impact for the kingdom. Knowing we played a part in various organizations that today have a widespread, global impact is one of my greatest joys.
To learn more about how you can cast a vision and help others understand what drives your organization, check out The Dunham Podcast episode “The Company I See”.
More Insights from Dunham+Company: “Creating a Healthy (and Fun) Culture, Part Two“