Laurie: In your recent book, Authentic Promotion: Grow Your Business, Feed Your Soul, you challenge the reader to become a steward of their business. What does being a steward mean?  What's the difference between being an owner of a business versus being its steward?

Molly: At the beginning of the chapter on stewardship, I write: "Being a steward means that you will regard your business as something separate from yourself rather than identical with your personal and even your professional identity." In addition, being a steward means that you cultivate your business so that it is an ample and stable container in which your work can take root, blossom, and bear fruit.

Stewardship requires vision, discipline, passion, and humility. In my book, I offer the example of a parent. In order to be a good steward of her children, she must avoid over-identifying with her children so that she does not lose the perspective necessary to make loving and directive choices for their well-being.

Laurie: Can you give an example of how someone's behavior or actions would change in a particular aspect of their business if they were acting as a steward?

Molly: Absolutely. The first one that comes to mind is money. A good steward will plan for the healthy growth of the business while being frugal so that the assets of the business can grow. This might look like planning for taxes rather than putting them off or avoiding getting a business license. It might include planning which pieces of software to upgrade and when. And it will certainly mean assessing expenses and investments needed for a healthy enterprise and setting fees accordingly.

Laurie: What do you think prevents people from being a steward for their business? 

Molly: Fear, fear, and fear.

Fear is so often rooted in ignorance. Few people starting a business realize what being in business entails. It's scary to admit that you don't know a whole lot about what you are doing. It's scary to attempt to learn it. And it's scary to admit you are scared!

Then there are the inner demons. When you are responsible for your own livelihood (and this is only amplified if you have employees or contractors), you will be confronted with the shadows of money: greed, grandiosity, envy, and stinginess. It's all very nice to talk about abundance, but in order to be a good steward it is necessary to be honest with yourself about the mixed motives that we all have when we are under economic pressure. I'm not saying that you should give in to base motives. What I'm saying is that a good steward needs to be able to look in the mirror, see a person who is sometimes frightened and needy, and take care of that part of herself while deciding how to walk through the fear with integrity. It's not for sissies.

Laurie: How can people develop themselves in this role? 

Molly: In the Authentic Promotion program, I teach a number of practices that cultivate stewardship. These include learning to make complete requests, promises, and offers. That may sound simple, yet I've seen hundreds of businesses on a starvation diet because the owner could not establish a clear agreement about the work to be done, the fee to be charged, the manner and timing of payment, the responsibilities of the buyer, and the conditions under which both parties will declare themselves satisfied. Don't even get me started about the consequences of muddy communication when it comes to hiring and managing employees.

I also teach a whole segment on stewardship and the body. You can plan to be a good steward all day long, but if you cannot embody stewardship, if you cannot summon up a posture that expresses passion, commitment, and vision, your plans will be of little use. Simple daily practices can create profound shifts in the way you hold and move your body, developing a felt sense of stability and focus. When you feel like a good steward and move like a good steward, when you remember to breathe even when you are scared or confused, then stewardship will happen.

Laurie: Finally, are there individuals in the press that stand out for you as being good stewards?

Molly: Good stewards covered in the press recently include Go Daddy's Bob Parsons, http://www.bobparsons.com. He has vision, creativity, and manages resources to build a strong foundation. The companies who extended special arrangements to Hurricane Katrina victims, withdrawing bills, deferring mortgage payments, or making their inventory available for the survivors who were stranded showed good stewardship by seeing beyond the short term bottom line. Years ago, Johnson & Johnson showed extraordinarily good stewardship when they responded quickly and transparently to the Tylenol poisoning problem.

Unfortunately, the Dot-Bomb debacle exemplified bad stewardship. Companies that failed were spending unwisely without developing a solid business base. They operated on pipe dreams.

A good steward will take care of the money side of things, but a good steward would never trade money for the heart of their work. ~

Molly Gordon, President of Shaboom Inc., is a Master Certified Coach who specializes in helping individuals and organizations navigate the seas of complex change. Most often, her clients are people who have already achieved a certain level of success and are no longer motivated by fear or the desire to impress others - those who are ready for more meaningful lives. Her website, blog, and e-zine attract thousands of readers each month. Join them at www.shaboominc.com.