Extreme Exposure

One of my former clients had a lovely office, a big desk and a high-backed throne to sit on. He was always well dressed and you could comb your hair in the reflection of his highly polished shoes. But he was an ogre. On one famous occasion, he took one of our beautifully produced, much considered recommendation documents, dramatically suspended it high above the waste paper basket, paused, and then let it drop ... Later, one of his employees told me how lovely he was with his children.

So, probably, was Attila.

Most people don't know how their friends, their spouses, their parents behave at work. And if they did, maybe their friends, their spouses and their parents would behave a mite differently. People watch people at work - and they make judgements about us, about our performance, our character, and our values. If you're a boss, your decisions affect more people, and you're under greater scrutiny. But usually, unless it's a very big company indeed, not many of the people we socialise with or go to church with have any idea about what kind of person we are at work. We're safe. At least from human scrutiny.

But when you run a fairly large business in a fairly small city, and that business happens to exist to serve the Christian community in Britain, then pretty much any social event or any church community you go to will have people there that you employ, or who are related to people you employ. Keith Danby runs STL, which is a fairly large business with 600 employees. It's located in Carlisle, a city that's surprisingly small - with just 80,000 people. STL publishes Christian books and resources under the Paternoster and Authentic imprints, owns the Wesley Owen chain of Christian bookshops and a large distribution centre that services the Christian book trade. So when Keith walks into his church, always well dressed, with highly polished shoes, there are a large number of people there who are either employed by him or related to someone who is. He works and lives in a goldfish bowl.

Hand in Custom-Tailored Glove

But he's hugely enthusiastic about what he does. "I'm doing this because it's what God has called me to do. And I'm passionate about it because what we do makes a difference in eternity - we're selling Christian resources which we believe will have a spiritual impact. I felt called into specifically Christian work back in 1973 but it wasn't until 1987 that I joined STL. Everyday I went into work before then I went in not only to do the job I had then but with the conscious intention of equipping myself for the work that God had for me in the future. When I arrived at STL, it was like putting my hand in a custom-tailored glove - it was the fulfilment of God's calling and equipping."

This sense of calling certainly sustains him under pressure, but it doesn't relieve him from it. The decisions he makes affect his brothers and sisters in Christ and, inevitably, his brothers and sisters in Christ don't always think that they are 'Christian' decisions. So a while back, a pastor asks him to lunch, and challenges him: "I don't like the un-Christian way you are making people redundant." The pastor may never have run a business, but it is certainly no bad thing that he is concerned for his people, and for Keith, and that he has the courage to do something about it. Keith pauses, takes out his Bible and says, "You would do me a great service if you could show me from this book how to make someone redundant. Because," he says, "I've done it all kinds of ways, in an attempt to preserve the person's dignity and minimise the pain - and there just isn't an easy way to do it." In reality, he has made relatively few people redundant in 16 years, particularly when you consider that the publishing industry has seen massive consolidations and widespread redundancies, even in the Christian sector. "I take making people redundant as the ultimate failure," Keith says, "because it means we haven't been able to retain their skills or retrain them for another role."

Firing your Brother

But it happens. On one occasion, Keith had to make a leader in his own church redundant. It was one of the most difficult decisions in his life. The leader had made a significant contribution to the business over many years, and was not far from retirement. Could Keith get round it in some other way? Might it not have been more 'Christian' to keep him on for a few more years and absorb the cost? Keith consulted others at the highest level, including his chairman and trustees. After much prayer, three principles emerged:

Firstly, there was the question of the dignity of the person - does it show respect to give them a role that lets them coast through to retirement, knowing as they would do, that they were not best placed to serve the needs of the business going forward?

Secondly, is it good stewardship to tie up a salary that could be deployed better to build the business?

Thirdly, would Keith actually be contravening the Biblical call to impartiality? Could he look a warehouse person in the eye if he had shown preferential treatment to managers?

So Keith made the leader redundant. Very hard and public for the leader. But hard and public for Keith too. In that difficult time, it was the Holy Spirit who gave him the patience, the strength, the perseverance, and the emotional resilience to carry on. In reading Paul's letters, he was reminded that God never promised 'happiness', but that he does promise joy and fulfilment in serving him.

Greater Expectations

Keith recognises that people have greater and different expectations of a 'Christian' business than of other organisations. Some of those expectations are appropriate, and some are not. Allowing poor performance is not a Christian way to run a business; failing to be a good steward of resources is not a Christian way to run a business, but that doesn't mean that profit is the only motive.

When Keith took over STL in 1987, the company had a turnover of £1.2 million, and had lost £250K in the previous year. It was four weeks away from bankruptcy. He had 34 staff from 18 different nations, all were volunteers and all were there for the short term. They were strong on faith but not highly trained. Keith wanted to build professional competency without sacrificing the faith.
What that means in practice is not only that STL have sought to recruit outstandingly talented managers, but have also kept their overall goals in mind. Overall, for example, their 40 bookshops have lost around £200k per year over the last ten years. In reality, the distribution business subsidises the bookshop business. Of course, that doesn't mean that all the bookshops lose money, but some do. So why not simply close the ones that don't?

Wesley Owen are in business, but they are primarily in business to serve the Christian community - to get the word out. Of course, you can't get the word out if you are bankrupt, but sometimes you can decide to make less profit so you can achieve your ultimate goal. Not that Keith will shrink from the difficult decisions: "If I'm looking down the barrel of a gun, I won't blink. I'll remove the leg to save the body."

If this sounds tough, then that is indeed the way Keith comes across - tough, or rather focused. The kind of person you'd follow into a battle. Focused but fair. Good leaders, like good pastors, have to be focused, to do what they believe is right before God. Good leaders don't ignore their people's advice, because they know God may be speaking through his people too, but good leaders know that the popular decision is not always the right decision. So good leaders need to be tough. But toughness isn't indifference; toughness isn't lack of care. Godly toughness comes from care for the people, and focus on the cause they're involved in, and it is resourced by the Father's love.

Jesus, for example, rebukes Peter in the most severe way for seeking to divert him from God's tough call to go up to Jerusalem to his death: "Get behind me, Satan!" (Matthew 16:21-23); God tells Isaiah to deliver messages that no one will pay an attention to; Jeremiah has to deliver messages that will get him persecuted. It is the reassurance of God's love and God's call that sustains. And it is no different for Keith: "Am I called to do this job? Yes, I am. Have I finished what I'm meant to do? No, I haven't."

Divine Intervention

If profit is not the only measure of success, then nor are professional skills the only way in which Keith has seen the business grow. "It is easy to get wrapped up in numbers and to become self-confident and self-reliant but there have been a number of incredible things where we have seen God's blessing, intervention and affirmation." About a year ago, for example, they needed to find a new location for a shop in Manchester, but were also tied into a five to six year lease on the current shop. Then one day they found the perfect site for the new shop. But, as Keith stood outside the new location, he wondered what to do. Could they afford to pay their current landlord the compensation for breaking their lease? Probably not. At that moment Keith's mobile phone rang. It was the property agent for their current property. "Would you be prepared to surrender your lease on your shop? The landlord will compensate you accordingly." The timing was beyond coincidence.

Naturally, Keith is not suggesting that faithfulness necessarily leads to prosperity, or that God will always act in such a way, but rather that God did bless the company on that day. And on many days before that.

After our interview, Keith writes me a little note:

"When I work at STL, I feel God's pleasure."

But that doesn't make it easy. After all, being in the right place, at the right time, and doing the right thing, isn't any guarantee of success, or even happiness, but it is a guarantee of God's approval. Whatever anyone else thinks.

Mark Greene

Mark Greene is Executive Director of LICC and the author of a number of work-related books and resources including Thank God it's Monday.

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