April 26, 2025

Your Business Success Isn't Just About Financial Metrics—It's About Eternal Impact

Christian business leaders need to measure beyond traditional key performance indicators by adopting Kingdom Performance Indicators (KPIs) that track eternal impact. These new metrics reveal why we're doing business and who we're truly impacting beyond immediate stakeholders.

• Traditional KPIs measure financial and operational performance but fall short of measuring kingdom impact
• The shopping cart story illustrates how small acts of stewardship reflect our approach to business and leadership
• Kingdom Performance Indicators might include charitable impact, volunteer hours, or testimonials from affected lives
• Define your "why" with eternal significance—understand your purpose beyond providing products or generating profit
• Implement the 3H framework: Heart (demonstrating love), Home (cultivating culture), Hands (using resources to serve)
• Intentionally measure kingdom impact with SMART goals and regular assessment
• True success transcends the bottom line and creates a legacy of positive impact

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00:00 - Introducing Kingdom Performance Indicators

01:13 - The Shopping Cart Lesson

04:17 - Traditional KPIs vs Kingdom Impact

07:12 - Three Principles for Kingdom Impact

09:50 - Challenge and Closing Thoughts

WEBVTT

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Here's the critical question Are those traditional key performance indicators enough for a Christian business leader to measure?

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They tell us how well we're performing financially, how efficiently we might be operating, but they often fall short of telling us why we're doing it or who we're truly impacting beyond our immediate stakeholders, and that's where Kingdom Performance Indicators KPIs a new KPI really comes into play.

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Hey, uncommon Leaders, welcome back to the After Show.

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I'm your host, john Gallagher, and I'm excited to share with you another episode pertaining to a recent conversation I had on the Uncommon Leader podcast, designed to ultimately inspire, encourage and equip you for greater impact as a leader.

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I'm glad you're taking the time to meet with me today.

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Recently, I had the privilege of chatting with Rich Sanders, who's the author of the Christian Capitalist, and his perspective on integrating faith and business aligns really well with the topic that I want to chat with you about today.

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I would encourage you to go back and listen to the entire episode and share it with others.

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I think you'll find it very insightful and I'll put a link to the episode in the show notes for this after show.

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But let's go ahead and get started Now.

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In light of that conversation, I was taken back to a recent presentation I was able to do with a group of about 25 Christian business leaders about a topic that's been close to my heart recently and that's kingdom impact.

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I got to tell you the conversations that we had as a result of that topic were rich and thought-provoking and I just thought I wanted to share really the main topic of that presentation with you here, the listeners, so that you could hear from it.

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Today we're going to unpack a crucial concept from that presentation.

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It's how to define success in business, not just by the traditional metrics that we talk about, those key performance indicators, but something a little bit deeper kingdom performance indicators.

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So what exactly is kingdom impact?

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Well, to illustrate that, let me take you back to a seemingly ordinary moment in my life.

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It involves a grocery store parking lot and something we've all encountered the abandoned shopping cart.

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You know the ones, the ones that are left alone in the parking lot, wandering aimlessly like sheep that are lost as well, but ultimately they're in search of what we know is another car in the parking lot that they can go up and nestle, nest to and bump into and ultimately create a scratch on somebody's vehicle.

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That we don't want to happen For me.

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Those stray carts have become a bit of a personal reflection point for me.

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It reminded me of a specific time back in Fort Wayne, indiana, around Christmas time 2002, a pivotal moment when God's grace basically intersected with me when somebody got behind me in the checkout line at the grocery store when I was pushing one of those big shopping carts, and ultimately gave me a tap on the shoulder, something that I needed inside of my life.

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Ultimately, it was a pastor in the local community who ended up inviting me and my family to church that we were in search of, and it became restorative for us as a family.

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It taught me that even some of the smallest moments can have profound consequences.

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So those shopping carts become very important to me, and it's recognizing, ultimately, those small things as business leaders that we're stewards of our resources far just beyond our finances.

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We're entrusted with our talents, our time and our treasure to achieve a bigger impact in our communities, in our homes and, frankly, in the world that we can use those gifts to tangibly positively make a difference.

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It's not just solely for profit that we're looking to run our business or to run our department in terms of what's happening, but as a vehicle for the purpose that we're trying to carry out.

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It echoes the parable of the talents as well in the Bible Ultimately, that we're called to invest and multiply what we've been given for a greater return, not just for ourselves but for His glory.

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And I think it's something that becomes again from a purpose standpoint, not just about doing good things, like pushing the shopping cart back into the corral where it's supposed to go, but utilizing again our resources and not being selfish.

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It's about bringing that purpose into the very fabric of our life, of our business.

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So let's get a little bit practical in terms of the conversation.

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We're all fluent in the key performance indicator world in terms of business metrics, whether those are tracking revenue, profit margins, market share, acquisition costs for a customer or a customer service, or even employee turnover rates in our business or employee engagement.

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And let's be clear, these metrics are all vital.

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A healthy, sustainable business is essential, but, as I was reminded by a nun in charge of a Catholic hospital in Chicago one time, if there's no money, there can be no mission.

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So we've got to be able to run our business in a profitable way if we want to have kingdom impact.

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This is not really about what this podcast episode is about is how to run our business, but ultimately recognizing that we need a solid foundation to operate and to have the resources we need to make any kind of kingdom impact that we want to make.

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We shouldn't be afraid of making a profit as an organization, especially if we're stewarding those resources well for the future.

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But here's the critical question Are those traditional key performance indicators enough for a Christian business leader to measure?

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Traditional key performance indicators enough for a Christian business leader to measure?

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They tell us how well we're performing financially, how efficiently we might be operating, but they often fall short of telling us why we're doing it or who we're truly impacting beyond our immediate stakeholders.

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And that's where Kingdom Performance Indicators KPIs a new KPI really comes into play, a different lens through which we measure success.

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They're designed to gauge the impact of your business on the world, on the lives of individuals, and how authentically you're aligning with your values in your operations.

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So what might these KPIs look like in the real world?

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Consider some of these examples.

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Maybe you might think about the number of lives that are tangibly being impacted by your company's charitable giving initiatives.

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Or what about the number of lives that are tangibly being impacted by your company's charitable giving initiatives?

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Or what about the total volunteer hours your employees contribute to worthy causes and you still pay them for those volunteer hours?

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Or how about heartfelt testimonials from employees about the impact you've made on them and on their families outside of the workplace, or even those whose lives have been changed positively by the impact that your volunteers have made inside the organization?

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Many times I've heard of stories of people digging wells for people in different countries who don't have clean drinking water, or even somebody participating in a day of service at a baseball field to help those with special needs.

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And these are just a few examples and they might vary depending on your workplace.

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They might vary depending on your values or, frankly, they might vary depending on your own unique calling and what is most important to you.

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That's why that, why developing that?

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Why developing that?

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So that, as I often talk about, is so critical.

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So how do we move from the simply tracking key performance indicators to actively cultivating and measuring kingdom performance indicators?

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I've got three key principles that emerged from my recent presentation that I think will help you to move in that direction, as I already talked about.

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First, you want to define your why with eternal significance as a part of it.

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That all starts with clarity.

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What is the ultimate purpose of your business beyond just providing a product or service and generating a great profit?

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What problem are you truly solving for someone, and how can that be connected later to a kingdom-oriented vision?

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And when your why is rooted in your faith and a desire to see God's will in the marketplace, it naturally leads to a focus on impact.

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Secondly, you can implement the 3H framework.

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Drawing from 1 Peter, 4, 8 to 10,.

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We can use a simple framework to guide our actions.

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It's 3Hs.

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Think about your heart first.

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How are you demonstrating love, compassion and grace in your workplace with your employees, customers and their community?

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The second H is your home.

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What kind of culture are you cultivating inside of your workplace?

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Is it one of support, integrity and growth?

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That would be like a home, or is it much more difficult than that?

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And the third is to examine your hands.

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How are you actively using your gifts, talents and resources God has given your business to serve others?

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It's as simple as sometimes volunteering to just go move the shopping carts back into the garage or into the store so that somebody's car doesn't get damaged and has an expense they have to deal with.

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It really can be that simple and it's that difficult as well.

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And third, you have to intentionally measure what truly matters.

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If you're going to make a kingdom impact, you have to measure kingdom impact.

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If you're going to make a kingdom impact, you have to measure kingdom impact Just as you meticulously track your financial KPIs.

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Be deliberate about those kingdom performance indicators as well.

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Set measurable time-bound goals for your kingdom impact.

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I talk about SMART goals in a previous episode of the After Show and I think it's very important to be measurable and time-based.

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Don't make it complicated, but it does have to be intentional and then regularly assess your progress to those goals, celebrate the wins and adjust when you're not getting to where you want to go.

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It's just like measuring to your key performance indicators, but that accountability, that measurement, that tracking, visual indicators, setting a goal and writing it down is going to help you make a bigger difference.

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So those are the three ways I think you can really make a difference with regards to kingdom performance indicators.

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Define your why, implement the 3H framework of heart, home and hands, and intentionally measure, in a smart way, what truly matters.

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So I want to leave you with this challenge.

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Take some time to brainstorm and identify at least three potential kingdom performance indicators for your home, for your church or for your workplace that you could start tracking and see if it doesn't make a big difference in your life and the lives of others around you.

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Even those small, intentional steps in this direction can create significant ripples.

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Think about that legacy that you want to build.

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What's the story you want to be told about your business, not just in terms of financial success, but in terms of those lives that you've touched and the positive impact that you've made.

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It's about recognizing that true success, the kind that lasts for eternity, goes far beyond the bottom line.

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It's about aligning our business with God's greater purpose and actively working toward kingdom impact.

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So thanks so much for tuning in today.

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I hope this has inspired and equipped you to think differently about success in your business.

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And until next time, go and grow champions.

00:10:44.341 --> 00:10:50.398
And that wraps up another episode of the Uncommon Leader Podcast.

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Thanks for tuning in today.

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Until next time, go and grow champions.