Spiritual Advisors for entrepreneurs
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Entrepreneurs are culture shapers. Not only do they help create jobs and wealth, but their new ventures often shape our daily lives, for better or worse.
While the potential impact of an entrepreneur on the world is significant, being an entrepreneur is one of the most challenging jobs in the world. The demanding nature of the work, the high levels of uncertainty and risk, and the substantial levels of failure and success can lead to devastating effects on the spiritual, mental, financial, and relational health of entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs need and deserve support to succeed at work and in life. It is my hope that the model of spiritual advising I created as the capstone project for my Doctor of Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary will be widely adopted by coaches, entrepreneurs, and VC’s, so I am freely distributing the frameworks and strategies (and hope others will improve upon them). There is significant evidence of a need for this model. The companies I prototyped with gave exceptionally high ratings on feedback, and multiple VC’s, entrepreneurs, and coaches have indicated the need for such a model.
Contrasting a spiritual advisor with other existing types of roles highlights the unique contribution that spiritual advisors can add.
|
Approach |
Starting Question to Entrepreneur |
Goal |
Strategy |
|
Counseling |
How do you feel about issue X? |
Problem focused Emotional health Healing |
Past focus on trauma and self-management techniques |
|
Coaching |
What are you going to do about X? |
Goal focused, goal determined by founder Skill improvement Personal change |
Future focus on a goal; identify gap between desired goal and current reality, create a plan to bridge the gap |
|
Spiritual Direction |
Where do you see God in X? |
Relationship focused (with God) Spiritual health |
Present focus with tools of prayer and spiritual disciplines |
|
Corporate Chaplaincy |
What are the spiritual and emotional needs of employees? |
Evangelism Well-being of employees |
Pastoral care that is primarily responsive and widely available to employees |
|
Mentoring |
How do you do X? |
Completing tasks |
Rely on the mentors’ past experiences and lessons learned |
|
Peer Groups |
What’s your business and life plan? |
Feedback on plans Encouragement |
Cohorts in accelerator programs or CEO roundtables |
|
Spiritual Advising |
How do the founders and the company align with God to carry out the mission? |
Company and Entrepreneur’s missions fulfilled |
Mission clarity, team culture building, integration in all business functions, leadership development, focus on founders’ team wholeness |
The funding for this effort will go towards building a website that shares the framework and tools for being a spiritual advisor, marketing the model, and covering my time and other expenses as they arise.