The ABCs of Leadership

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June 25, 2022

The ABCs of Leadership

Written by

Gabe Olson

The ABCs of Leadership

What are the fundamental building blocks of being a great leader? How do we lead our team and those around us well? As a guest on The Overflow Worship Podcast, Jeff Huston discusses this topic with Andrea Olson.

Jeff Huston had the opportunity to be a guest on The Overflow Worship Podcast with Andrea Olson. Andrea is a leader in the Christian community, founding Overflow Worship, serving as a worship leader and team coach, releasing music as a Christian musician, and loving her family well, as a wife and mother. In addition, she has a special place in Jeff’s heart, as she also holds the title of his daughter!

In this episode, Andrea and Jeff discuss various aspects of leadership and the lessons we can learn from the roles we step into. In addition to being a successful entrepreneur and Founder/Owner of 3D Money, Jeff has also served many years as a servant leader in the local church; he has worked with church staff, elder boards and has even been responsible for leading worship. He shares advice and insight from his leadership experience in the workplace and within the local church.

Andrea kicked off the conversation by sharing how important it is to get people on the same page with the context, not just the content. She said, “I believe our role as leaders is to bring people along with us well. You must lead them well. The two biggest aspects of that are clarity and communication. Regardless of your platform, if you are not clear or pointing them in the right direction, you’re not doing your job.”

What does that practically look like, though? How can we be leaders to our teams and lead with clarity?

Jeff shared some insight to answer those questions by stating, “I believe that to be a great leader, you have to self-lead. You need to be great at leading yourself. We can probably all think of leaders who have not led themselves well. Leading yourself well is where it begins.”

The second thing that Jeff shared was regarding recruiting or hiring people, especially leaders in your organization. He asked, “Are you looking for a vision or are you recruiting to a vision? Most of the time, organizations are not clear enough about who they are and who they are not.”

In the book “Good to Great,” Jim Collins talks about how it is more important to decide who you are not, rather than deciding who you are. It is going to be hard work clarifying that, but it is so vital! Hiring someone with a great vision might seem like the right decision, but if it does not fit with your organization’s vision, they are not the right person.

As Jim Collins says in his book, “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” However, not every person is going to have a vision that aligns with yours. Collins says, “A company should limit its growth based on its ability to attract enough of the right people.”

The third thing that Jeff believes is necessary to lead teams well is having a transformational mindset; instead of getting work done through people, you should strive to get people done through the work you do. That is a powerful concept. That is what Jesus was all about, getting people done through work. It is not just about having someone complete a task, but instead helping a person move from point “A” to point “B” through the work that they accomplish.

How are you leading your team? Are you living your life with intentionality? Lead with clarity and communication; and don’t forget to lead yourself well to lead others well!

LISTEN TO PODCAST EPISODE

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The Global Economic Shift

By Jeff Huston • July 25, 2023

The Global Economic Shift

Will There Be A Banking Crisis?

By Jeff Huston • June 12, 2023

Fall of 2020, the Covid Pandemic was raging, the economy was shut down, inflation was 2%, interest rates were near zero, and the Federal Reserve was printing massive amounts of money. While the Central Bank printing presses were running full steam, I heard two economists make statements that seemed impossible to believe at the time, because the world was at a standstill. Chetan Ahya, Managing Director and Chief Asia Economist at Morgan Stanley said: “The driving forces of inflation are already aligned, and a regime shift is underway.” Paul Tutor Jones, Hedge Fund Manager said: “We are witnessing the great monetary inflation…an unprecedented expansion of every form of money unlike anything the developed world has ever seen.” As we now know, our current economic reality is quite different from what it was just 2 ½ years ago. Interest rates have risen significantly, inflation remains stubbornly high, and banks are tightening credit and hording deposits because they have massive unrealized losses in their bond portfolios. There are now legitimate concerns about the stability of the banking system. About the only thing that remains constant is the ridiculous childish gridlock that continues in Washington. I wish they would stop playing politics and start doing their job of governing. But I digress… I was recently piloting my plane from Dallas back to Minnesota. As I began my decent, I flew into the smoke that had migrated down from the Canadian wildfires. My visibility went to near zero. It reminded me of today’s investment environment and outlook. Visibility is currently quite low. Therefore, it is more important than ever before to have a sound, long-term strategy with a clear focus. Risk management needs to be a key priority. This is a good time for investors to do a fundamental review of how they are positioned, and determine what needs to change now to optimize investment results in coming years. Making sound investments has always been based on anticipating how the world might evolve. While no one has a crystal ball on making bullet proof long-term predictions, I believe many of today’s key trends and themes can be utilized to make smart investment decisions. So, while there are a lot of uncertainties in the short-term, I believe investors should remain almost fully invested with high allocations in real assets. This is your downside protection against inflation, a falling dollar, and an unstable financial system. The most important advice we can give you at this point is to set your priorities right. That means, first and foremost, having a very safe and secure place to store your wealth. This is relevant because we have been receiving increased questions concerning our current 6% rate. I recently had an investor ask me if I thought our rate should be higher since there are short term CD’s floating around offering rates that seem too good to be true. My response was that you must ask the question, “Why would a bank be willing to pay…say…5% for deposits whe n they are making loans at 7%?” That spread is not enough for their business model to work. So, why would they do that? The only answer I can think of is that they need more deposits to shore up their depleted capital. All this reminds me of Mark Twain’s quote when he said, “The return of my money is more important than the return on my money.” What to own, has really become one of the most critical questions in wealth and risk management. The recent banking crisis shows that investors simply can’t assume banks are safe anymore. There are great benefits and opportunities to be found when investing in cash flowing real assets. This doesn’t just offer more diversification, but it greatly enhances wealth protection as well. Additionally, we find that our clients use the monthly cash flow for all kinds of wonderful things, enhancing their lives and the lives of those they care about. If you’d like to speak with someone about securing your investments, we would love to connect with you! Gratefully, Jeff Huston and the 3D Money Team invest@3dmoney.com 320-905-3306

Chasing The Wind

By Jeff Huston • May 25, 2023

I’m mad at myself! I let myself get sucked into the endless news cycle again. I’ve never considered myself a news junky, but there have been times when I’ve been more “connected” than others. A few years ago, I made the decision to cancel all my news subscriptions except one. Since then, I have only been reading the Wall Street Journal. No nightly news, no magazines or other newspapers, no talk shows, no social media. I did that, because all the other news sources caused me to do what King Solomon referred to as “chasing of the wind” in the book of Ecclesiastes. It consumed my thinking and wasted way too much of my time. “Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is w earisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.” Ecclesiastes 1:4-8 NLT Reread that last verse, the one in bold print. Isn’t that an amazing summary of the 24-hour news cycle? No matter how much we hear, we are not content! For the past several years, I’ve been true to my self-imposed limits and guardrails in this area. However, a couple months ago, I cracked the door open. I’d go on YouTube periodically to catch up on the latest happenings in the news cycle. As I did that, I got caught in their spiderweb. They kept me clicking for more and more content…wasting more and more of my time. Thankfully, I recognized the error of my ways and quickly put a hard stop to it. It can be such a trap for me! Maybe it is for you too? In the book titled “Your Attention Your Property,” the author addresses “thinking about your thinking.” He says that we can step back and not only see what our attention is focused on, but we can experience how we are fully conscious and present with the particular experience we are having. We can do this at any given time , we just need to make a habit of actually doing it. We must learn to focus our attention, so that we can gain the ability to think about things. For me, the endless news cycle causes an emotional reaction to physical things, to other people, and to other people’s thoughts. When I’m in “the cycle,” I’m not thinking clearly about my own thoughts. I’m 100% focused on someone else’s thinking. When that happens, I end up thinking negatively. However, when I take back control of my thinking, I’m able to align my ways with God’s ways. My thoughts become aligned with God’s thoughts. It’s a beautiful thing. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart because it determines the direction of your life.” So, how do we guard our hearts? There are multiple ways I guard my heart, but one of them comes down to always making my contribution bigger than my reward. I want to spend my life being a value creator, not a value extractor. It’s why I love capitalism. The way I see it, there are two kinds of people in the world. Those that embrace, promote, and believe in Capitalism and those that hate it! For me, Capitalism has been the growth process that has multiplied my uniqueness as a businessperson and as a God follower. The people that want to lead us toward socialism don’t know what they are talking about! Capitalism is about Value Creation. Socialism is about Value Extraction. In 1800, the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say coined the word “entrepreneur.” He said, “The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.” I love that. It perfectly summarizes our value proposition at 3D Money. Since 2010, we have been doing jus t that. Looking for opportunities to shift resources (people and assets) from a lower level of productivity to a higher and greater yield. Our investment focus on opportunities creating housing, jobs, and food, positions us for an ever-expanding future of value creation for our investors, our team members, and our customers. Once again, we want to thank you for your continued trust and confidence. Sincerely, Jeff Huston and the 3D Mo ney Team invest@3dmoney.com 320-905-3306 P.S. About a year ago, we offered you a PDF copy of the book “Your Attention Your Property.” If you didn’t get one but would like a copy, please send a request to info@3dmoney.com We are happy to email you one (as a thank you gift from us).