The Center - Memphis: Recent Episodes
The Center Memphis
The Center Memphis is a weekly podcast to help leaders define reality and offer hope through the truth of God’s Word applied to everyday life and work.
Will Walker joins Howard to discuss entrepreneurship, working with your spouse, and how to keep relationship accounts full. WIll is the president and founder of Walker Financial Management. This episode is full of practical ways for entrepreneurs and business leaders to keep full accounts with their spouses, family, coworkers, and clients.
Resources
Article: Where Do You Want To Go?
Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Graphic: Aligning with Life Purpose
Graphic: Continuum of Redemptive Work
Key Scriptures:
Matthew 11:28–30
John 14:6
Romans 11:36
Our Website: thecentermemphis.org
Lisa Moak joins Howard on The Way To Work Podcast for a Mother’s Day special! Lisa is the mother of 3 children, and, today, she joins us to talk about how the Working Genius intersects with the wonderful work of motherhood. Her Working Genius is Enablement / Wonder. You’ll hear practical examples of how she enables her husband to be more effective in his work as she idealistically supports her children to be the best they can be.
More Useful Resources From The Center
Graphic: Aligning With Life Purpose
Verse: John 14:6
Our website: thecentermemphis.org
Brian Moak from Irby Utilities — just back from the Masters and Talladega — joins Howard to discuss how competition creates Win/Win situations not just for our customers but also for our competitors. You’ll hear how reframing how we view competition — in every day sports and work based scenarios — translates into us acting for the benefit of others as we do our very best.
More Useful Resources From The Center
Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Article: Relationship Victory — Thinking Win/Win — Requires Consideration And Courage
Graphic: Aligning With Life Purpose
Graphic: The Win/Win Matrix
Graphic: Continuum of Redemptive Work
John 14:6
Our Website: thecentermemphis.org
Sharda Collier from YoungLives joins Howard to discuss how synergy between people with different gifts and viewpoints can create impactful solutions. You’ll hear how synergy has brought Sharda to where she is in her career and how she is changing the lives of pregnant teen mothers in Memphis.
More Useful Resources From The Center
Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Graphic: Aligning With Life Purpose
Graphic: Levels of Communication
Graphic: Synergize
1 Corinthians 12:4-6
Genesis 12:1-3
John 14:6
Our Website: thecentermemphis.org
YoungLives: younglives.younglife.org
Taylor Strickland joins Howard to discuss the transformative power of empathetic listening. You’ll hear how seeking to understand the needs, wants, and desires of your coworkers and clients before projecting your needs, wants, or desires onto them creates deep relationships built on character and trust.
More Useful Resources From The Center
Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Graphic: Aligning With Life Purpose
Proverbs 18:2
Proverbs 18:13
Matthew 7:7-8
Romans 5:3-5
Our Website: thecentermemphis.org
This week Tom Fowlkes joins Howard to discuss how winning in business doesn’t mean that someone else is losing. We live in a world of abundance, not scarcity. You’ll hear how approaching daily decisions at work with this abundance mentality facilitates relationships of mutual benefit with clients and coworkers.
More Useful Resources From The Center
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Graphic: The Win / Lose Matrix
Graphic: Aligning With Life Purpose
Ephesians 3:20-21
Colossians 1:26-28
Our Website: thecentermemphis.org
Matthew Gant joins Howard to discuss how to create long term victories in the insurance business and in all of life and work. On this special Good Friday release, you will hear how this principle has the potential to reshape your relationships with your clients as well as your coworkers — enabling opportunities of abundance for everyone. The Way of Jesus is loss for our gain and Jesus appoints us to do the same (John 15:16).
More Useful Resources From The Center
Our Website: https://www.thecentermemphis.org/
Book: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Graphic: The Win / Lose Matrix
Graphic: Aligning With Life Purpose
Romans 8:32
John 19:30
Luke 6:31
Ephesians 3:20
1 Corinthians 15:55-58
In this episode, Rob Thompson joins Howard to explain how to go from knowing what is important to accomplishing the most important things in our lives and work. You’ll hear how to put in place a practical routine that helps ensure the important things get done — all while staying flexible enough to make time for the most important people in your life.
More Useful Resources From The Center
Our Website: https://www.thecentermemphis.org/
Article: Choose Opportunity — Choose Relationships First
Graphic: Continuum of Redemptive Work
Graphic: Aligning With Life Purpose
Graphics: Habit 3 Diagrams
Video: Big Rocks
Video: Rob Thompson At The Center
Listen as Willie Baldwin joins Howard to unpack how beginning with the end in mind changes how you live and work. Willie touches on how this principles transforms your daily relationships with your coworkers, clients, and even your family.
More Useful Resources From The Center
Article: Where Do You Want To Go?
Graphic: Understand Your Center
Book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Our website: thecentermemphis.org
In this episode, Hamp Holcomb and Howard discuss how the ability to effectively set and achieve goals can impact the trajectory of your career. Hamp shares personable stories and practical lessons he’s learned throughout his career about how beginning with the end in mind altered the goals he set and how he went about achieving them.
More Useful Resources From The Center
Article: Where Do You Want To Go?
Graphic: Understand Your Center
Book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Our website: thecentermemphis.org
Listen as Howard, Dan Butler and Drew Pera explain what it means to be proactive by making choices and taking action in some very difficult circumstances.
You will hear how Dan and Drew were able to move from what seemed like a lack of control in their work to taking full agency by implementing very practical steps to make a difference for those in their circle of influence.
The goal of our 7 Habits series is to help people adopt practices that allow them to grow professionally and spiritually at the same time.
More Useful Resources From The Center
Article: Proactivity is Response Ability
Our website: https://www.thecentermemphis.org
Diagram: What a Habit is
Book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Healthy and successful organizations know how to leverage the means at their disposal toward their most important goals as an organization. In this short podcast, Howard outlines how organizations can know how to utilize the means at their disposal toward their goals in a way that produces value and maximizes returns.
Resources
Working For Glory | Whiteboard Session
Business is Provision For People
Venn Diagram
Andy Crouch: Money Has Power
Dyson Podcast: How I Built This
Effectively deploying the unique gifts of employees or volunteers is fundamental to the success of businesses and nonprofits. In this podcast, Howard shows how organizations can know what their gifts are and how to deploy them.
Resources
Working For Glory | Whiteboard Session
Business is Provision For People
Venn Diagram
SWOT Analysis: How To Do One
Working Genius Gift Assessment
Driven By Podcast: Hollywood Feed
This is the 1st podcast in a 3 part series where we are unpacking how business is meant to provide human flourishing, which is full of glory and joy. These podcasts are based on questions we’ve received from our recent whiteboard session. In this episode, Howard clarifies what company missions are, why they are important, and how to achieve them.
Resources
Working For Glory | Whiteboard Session
Business is Provision For People
Venn Diagram
Do you know someone in or approaching retirement? Listen as Andrew Beach, director of life planning and retirement coaching at The Center - Memphis, explains how to retire with great purpose and eternal meaning.
Over the past 9 months at The Center, we’ve been learning how to lead like Jesus. There isn’t any leadership attribute or area of we are trying to grow in as a leader that Jesus is not the preeminent example of. And, as we’ve learned what it means to lead like Jesus, we’ve learned what a privilege it is to serve others and that it is a reward. So, listen as the team — Andrew, Carter, and Howard — examines the rewards of leading like Jesus.
Resources
How Do I Get Unstuck And Move Forward With Purpose?
Know Your Working Genius
Hebrews 10:35
1 Corinthians 3:14
2 Corinthians 3:18
Matthew 5:12
John 15:5-7
Most people know it’s a good thing to be wise — especially in business. However, for most of us, there tends to be a gap between what we know to be wise and what is actually being implemented day to day in our business, daily work, and leadership. Listen as Howard and Carter discuss how to best implement wisdom in your business, daily work, and leadership.
Our lives, and especially our work, get full of competing priorities, and we frequently tell ourselves we will get more involved in God’s mission later. Listen as our guest Brian Evans, from Strategic Financial Partners, joins Howard to discuss how the time for living and working on mission is now.
Resources
Mathew 20:1-16
Alistair Begg, The Man on the Middle Cross
Our daily lives are full of distractions. We have a constant stream of alerts, meetings, golf games, book clubs, and countless other things that intrude into our lives and can throw us off track. In this podcast, Howard and Carter discuss which of these distractions can be eliminated and which ones should be redeemed.
Today's podcast has special insights from our friend Will Walker from the Grizz Den Podcast
Resources
Grizz Den Podcast
Regardless of whether you know the deepest truths of life or not, we all know the feeling of being paralyzed and not knowing how to move forward. Sometimes we find ourselves stuck at work, in relationships, and countless other scenarios. Listen as Howard and Carter discuss what to do the next time you are stuck or paralyzed at work.
Almost everything in business operates by a standard — whether it's production quotas, revenue targets, success rates, etc. People, however, run on love, grace, and forgiveness. Often, in business, high standards and forgiveness are treated as if they are separate and opposed. Nothing could be further from the truth. Listen as Howard and Carter discuss how high standards of excellence and dispensing grace are synonymous.
What are steps we can take to help make our city safer — to see more people flourish? Listen as Howard and Carter discuss how life is a response to the gifts we’ve been given... and doing the very same things for others that God has done for us — this is where we will find the highest meaning and purpose. This is where we will find true life.
Resources
Memphis - Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
Changed To Be Change Agents | Willie Baldwin & Andy Kizzee
Practicing The King's Economy by Michael Rhodes and Robby Holt with Brian Fikkert
We all have to make complex decisions that involve our safety, even little decisions like where we pump our gas or shop for groceries. Listen as Howard and Carter discuss how God's word informs our decisions about safety.
The organizations we are a part of are constantly changing — whether it is a company, a nonprofit, a church, or otherwise. Sometimes we are able to influence them to change for good, but other times we are not. Listen as Howard and Carter discuss whether you should leave your job if you cannot make a difference.
Resources
Job Fit
People change, and it is our job to help them. However, some of the ways that we help people change are not as helpful as we think. Listen as Howard and Carter discuss how to help people change with grace and truth.
Resources
Lay Aside Your Misplaced Fear
The Three Secrets of the One Minute Manager
1 John 4:18
Psalm 19:9
Psalm 128:1
Proverbs 1:7
Proverbs 14:27
Matthew 18:3
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
When we put our gifts to the needs of the world, we grow faster personally and professionally. Listen as Howard and Carter discuss how giving away what you have - rather than accumulating it for yourself - creates professional growth and personal satisfaction.
Resources
Audio Transcript
Arthur Brooks’ Talk at Harvard: From Strength To Strength
Graph of Happiness Over Time and Amount of Possessions Over Time
Diagram of Purpose in Work
A Good Job For Life
When work is difficult because of people or circumstances, it can quickly become discouraging and can seem like there is no benefit to doing things The Way Jesus prescribes and modeled. Listen and Howard and Carter discuss how the incarnation encourages us in the midst of doubt.
Links
Philippians 2:1-11
Matthew 11:2-6
Galatians 2:20
1 John 4:4
The Incarnation At Work - Article
The Incarnation At Work - Video
Diagram of being led by the Holy Spirit
Diagram not being led by the Holy Spirit
Renovation of the Heart
The Case For Christ
The Center - Memphis
Ask 10 people how to give and you will get 10 very different answers. Join Howard and Carter as they discuss how God’s word informs our giving practices, and most importantly, our motives for giving.
Links
1 Chronicles 29:11–13
The Way To Give
Andy Crouch
As leaders, we all have conflict in our lives. You cannot be in a relationship without conflict, and conflict — left unresolved — leads to broken relationships. As followers of Jesus, we have a specific role in every conflict we face. Listen as Howard and Carter discuss how Jesus resolved the conflicts he faced, and how we can do the same.
Links
Leaders Make Peace
To Lead – Know What People Want
People pursue what they want — even to their own detriment. Listen as Howard and Carter discuss why understanding the wants and deeper needs of those you lead — including customers and coworkers — is of vital importance for impactful leadership.
Links
Lead With Questions
What Do You Want?
The world runs on promises. Yet, we often have trouble making and keeping commitments. Join Carter and Howard as they discuss the best ways to make and keep promise as they pull from some classic writings on promises (from Harvard Business Review and Lewis Smedes) and some perfect wisdom given by Jesus to His followers.
Podcast Links
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The Center
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Leaders Make and Keep Promises
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Controlling the Unpredictable - The Power of Promising
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Meaning Marriage Facing Complexities Commitment
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Promise Based Management: The Essence of Execution
Scripture
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John 15:5-8
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James 4:13-15
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2 Corinthians 1:20
We have all been let down by leaders who say one thing and do something else. The best antidote is to be servant leaders who act in love. Listen as Carter and Howard discuss how Jesus led and how He calls us to go and do likewise.
The Center - Memphis
Edelman Report
Trust Equation Article
We can all grow in trust. If we use trust equation — the factors that make up trust — we can break down barriers to trust. Join Howard and Carter as they discuss some very specific scenarios about how to evaluate the trustworthiness of others and grow in trust as leaders.
Memphis is a well connected city that needs more connections for good. This week our guest is John Carroll, the founder and Executive Director of City Leadership — the organization that created #choose901, #serve901, #teach901, #give901, and so much more. He has made connections to recruit, develop, and catalyze others for good since he showed up in Memphis 18 years ago. Listen as we discuss how to love Memphis, and see — at the same time — how God calls us to be like Jesus by identifying and repairing what is broken.
Links:
thecentermemphis.org
cityleadership.org
choose901.com
serve901.org
give901.org
Ambition should be a catalyst for good, yet too many of us set our ambition and goals on things that don’t last. Join Brantley and Howard in this podcast to learn how to best inform ambition, how ambitions change as our hearts change, and what to do with ambition. You will also hear practical ways on putting your transformed ambition to work.
Informing Ambition
Changing Ambition
Acts of Ambition
You can’t cancel culture. You can’t change culture. You can only make new culture. As Andy Crouch says, “The only way to change culture is to create more of it.” Join Brantley, Dan, and Howard as they share how people in business are making culture new. You will hear practical ways you can do the same.
Links:
Making Culture
Link to Culture Making
Link to The Advantage
Sometimes the best thing we can do is bust the business model in order to better fulfill the mission of an organization. Brantley, Dan, and Howard discuss principles that drive innovation and business model transformation. They include real examples of how and when to make changes to business models in order to do more good in the world.
For more see:
Business Model Busting For Good ( https://www.thecentermemphis.org/blog/business-model-busting-for-good )
We accomplish nothing alone. Partnerships are part of being human. Yes, we are designed for partnership, but how do we know when we should partner with others and what factors make for a good partnership? Brantley and Howard discuss what organizations and individuals should consider when they evaluate partnership opportunities.
Resource Links
The Center - Designed For Partnerships
Link - https://www.thecentermemphis.org/blog/designed-for-partnership
Praxis on Redemptive Partnerships
Link - https://redemptivebusiness.com/partnerships/
McKinsey - Checking the health of your business partnerships
Link - https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/checking-the-health-of-your-business-partnerships
Everyone wants a good job. Today, people are considering changing jobs at record rates. Why is this, and what makes a job “good”? Brantley, Dan and Howard discuss what individuals should consider when they evaluate an opportunity. They also cover how it’s critical for leaders of organizations to align the gifts of each coworker to better serve the needs of the world.
Your true purpose must be put to work. In this episode, Brantley, Dan, and Howard discuss how those who follow Jesus have a distinct advantage in making their purpose practical for everyday life and work.
Everybody is talking about purpose. Harvard Business Review says we must have a purpose behind our purpose. In this week’s podcast, Brantley, Dan, and Howard discuss where true purpose comes from, and how our purpose is designed to be life-giving fuel for all of our life and work.
In this week’s podcast, Brantley, Dan, and Howard discuss how God shapes our hearts to desire exactly what He wants for us. The discussion is practical and revealing about how we may not want what we currently desire, and how God uses our imperfect desires to shape us so that we may know His love and mercy in new ways.
Verses covered
Psalm 37:4
Joshua 1:7-9
Romans 8:14-16
Romans 12:1-2
Ephesians 1:3-6
Links
Desires of the Heart - https://www.thecentermemphis.org/blog/desires-of-the-heart
Renovation of the Heart — https://www.amazon.com/Renovation-Heart-Putting-Character-Christ/dp/1615216324
In this week’s podcast, Brantley, Dan, and Howard discuss how we can know God’s will for our work. They have an in-depth discussion about how God’s will applies to both big and small decisions in life and at work. They also share examples of good work, broken work, and finally how God calls us to be redemptive agents in everyday life and work.
Links:
The Center Memphis - thecentermemphis.org
Work Is Very Good - https://www.thecentermemphis.org/blog/work-is-very-good
Every Good Endeavor - https://www.amazon.com/Every-Good-Endeavor-Connecting-Your/dp/1594632820
In this week’s podcast, Brantley, Dan, and Howard discuss how every moment is spiritual and an opportunity to worship God. Many of us will spend 90,000 hours of our lives at work. Knowing how to glorify God at work is essential to being who God made us to be.
thecentermemphis.org
In this week’s podcast, Brantley, Dan, and Howard discuss how love, forgiveness, and gratefulness fuel healthy lives, relationships, and organizations. You will hear real examples of how to best use these life giving powers at work.
The Center Memphis: thecentermemphis.org
In this week’s podcast, Dan and Howard discuss how too often we as leaders can treat people like objects — or means to end — as we try to achieve personal and corporate goals. At the same time, we can be tempted to treat money as a personal god as we desire independence and control. You will hear examples about how to detox from shellfish ambition (Philippians 2:3-4), while caring for our coworkers, friends, and family in a way that gives life and honors them as image bearers of God.
Andy Crouch - Money Has Power - From Faith Driven Investor Conference
https://youtu.be/RETf-je6lKY
‘Great Attrition’ or ‘Great Attraction’? The choice is yours —McKinsey Quarterly
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/great-attrition-or-great-attraction-the-choice-is-yours
Love At Work — The Center-Memphis
https://www.thecentermemphis.org/blog/love-at-work
Getting Right with God and Each Other, sermon by John Piper
In this week’s podcast, Dan and Howard discuss how we are made to bear fruit in business. You will hear how God cares about maximum fruit production and gives us everything we need to be fruitful. You will also learn about a new book from Praxis, Redemptive Business, that is a an excellent guide on how to bear fruit at work.
In this week’s podcast, Dan and Howard discuss how everyone is a witness to something. We are all made to be witnesses. You will hear real life examples of the struggles of being a witness and truth from God’s word about how to be a faithful witness. You will most importantly hear what it means to live as a child of God and to be a witness to the King in all of your work.
In this week’s podcast, Dan and Howard discuss how it takes discipline and dependence to achieve any prize worth having. You will discover life examples and solutions as we look to God’s word to define winning, discipline, and dependence.
In this week’s podcast, Dan and Howard discuss why our culture is obsessed with winning and how that impacts us as leaders in the work place. You will discover life examples and solutions as we look to God’s word to define true victory.
In this week’s podcast, Dan, and Howard discuss the double meaning of our title “Freedom At Work.” They cover how we are free from what holds us prisoner at work and how we are free to use our freedom at work. You will hear real life lessons from multiple industries.
In this week’s podcast, Brantley, Dan, and Howard discuss what it means to work redemptively and how that leads to more joy even in the the most challenging circumstances. You will hear real life lessons from multiple industries.
In this week’s podcast, we discuss how important it is to want something and know what you want. We also discuss how God takes our best and worst desires and uses them to shape us toward knowing His will for our lives.
Brantley and Howard turn the podcast over to Ronnie Stevens in this week’s episode. In this episode, Ronnie tells us what Jesus says about our work as he explains why, how, when, and where to work. He also explains why money makes a useful servant, but a terrible master.
Listen as Harry Jones, Dan Butler, and Brantley Davidson discuss overcoming the fears they have faced and how God has helped them exchange their fears for something better.
Brantley, Dan, and Howard discuss the source, meaning, and purpose of conflict — clarifying how leaders are called to actively make peace by resolving conflict with and for others.
Brantley, Dan, and Howard share principles of healthy conflict, key things to consider in order to create a healthy team environment, and examples of how to lead though conflict.
This week Howard and Brantley discuss Emotional Intelligence (EQ), the 5 traits of EQ, and how spiritual maturity is the truest form of EQ.
One positive thing many of us have learned from the pandemic is the joy and peace of a less hectic schedule. Listen as Howard and our guest executive coach, Rob Thompson, discuss using the calendar as a tool to make sure you spend time where it matters most.
In this week’s podcast, Dan Butler and Howard explain how God uses everything (including selfish acts and bold naivety) to transform individuals into better leaders who are more like Him.
On this episode of The Center Memphis, Howard and Brantley discuss the seven essentials of leadership and how God's word provides a foundation for each to help guide us daily.
On this episode Howard and Brantley discuss communication and the importance of articulating our mission, vision, and strategies to help those we love serve.
On this episode of The Center - Memphis, Brantley and Howard discuss strategic plans. Specifically, how all good strategies are rooted in purpose and should align with God's values.
This week, Brantley and Howard are joined by Larry Jensen to discuss leadership and faith. Larry is Chairman and Principal of Cushman & Wakefield-Commercial Advisors. Mr. Jensen has been active in community and leadership roles with current involvement as Chairman of Methodist Foundation, the executive committee at Shelby Farms Park Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited Board of Directors, and the Committee for Economic Development Policy & Impact Committee.
Learn what it means to have dreams and visions and be confident they are aligned with God's vision for you life.
On this episode of The Center - Memphis, Brantley and Howard discuss core values and the importance of ensuring those values are lasting to help leaders accomplish their day-to-day.
The inaugural podcast episode of The Center Memphis. Brantley and Howard discuss the purpose of The Center, what we'll be learning at The Center through the Spring, and dig into Knowing Your Why and how that leads to life’s purpose for leaders.
thecentermemphis.org
IG: @thecentermemphis