Chapter 6
Stewardship

WALK THE WALK

Stewardship, defined as “the responsible management, supervision, and protection of what has been entrusted to your care,” is a remarkably private yet revealing trait. True stewards are extremely valuable people. They are thoughtful, respectful, and trustworthy—first with themselves, and then with others. Stewardship is fueled by intrinsic motivation of internal reward. No babysitting required. No expectation of extra pay for the extra effort. No promise of an additional reward being handed out. This makes the behavior of stewardship a reliable predictor of the value of future performance. It’s simple: people who can be trusted with little can be trusted with much more.

The practice of stewardship before leadership establishes a three-level model for personal and organizational growth. It provides an effective way to clarify why, how, and who should be considered worthy and capable of invitation into the role of leadership.

Working this three-layer model backward (from the top down) reveals that the best leaders are first identified and developed through their acts of consistent stewardship. Stewardship is about investing in what can be done, and done well, above and beyond the basic requirements of membership.

Consistent stewardship increases one’s construct a little bit at a time. Like building blocks, each small act of stewardship stacks together to form a larger structure. If we were to ask which is the most important block, the answer would be, they all are. Individually, they are one-of-one. Together, they can be formed into about anything.

Eventually the time comes when something occurs in our stewardship that causes people to turn and take notice. “How did you do that?” they ask. In a rush to explain the cause of our exceptional performance, we often misattribute it to leadership abilities, when in reality, such an accomplishment is the accumulation of consistent acts of stewardship.

The truth is, the one who is noticed has been acting as a good steward for some time. It’s not like a person at the membership level jumps in a single bound from doing what is expected of everyone to carrying out what only a few in leadership are practicing. They worked up to it by acting in the responsible management, supervision, and protection of what had been entrusted to their care.

A friend once shared with me his standard for deciding which boys he can trust to date his teenage daughter. The process is very simple and requires a great level of stewardship from her nervous male suitors. First, he requires the boys to come to the front door, ring the doorbell, come inside, and sit in their kitchen for a good fifteen minutes. In that nerve-racking quarter hour, the dad talks with the young man about anything and everything except his daughter. When the fifteen minutes are up, the ice has been broken and the two are usually on pretty good talking terms. This is when he invites the guy into the garage to see something really cool: his prized Corvette Stingray.

After a walk around the all-American muscle car, he invites the boy to sit in the driver’s seat and start the engine. Walking around to the passenger side of the car, the dad gets in and closes the door. That’s when he leans over to the boy and shares just how much he loves the car. “This car, she’s amazing, isn’t she? That’s what a 455 horsepower, 6.2 liter, V8 engine with an 8-speed automatic transition sounds like. She’s powerful, sleek, and sexy.” Just as the guy agrees with wide eyes on his grinning face, my friend adds, “Kind of like what you’re thinking about my daughter right now.” Stone-faced, he stares the boy square in the eyes. With the engine still running, he tells the now off-kilter teen that as much as he loves his car, he loves his daughter a million times more. He certainly wouldn’t trust a fool with the keys to his prized Corvette, and he most definitely will not entrust his precious girl to a boy who would treat her with anything less than the respect, admiration, and care she deserves. “That’s why you two are going to drive this Corvette tonight,” he tells his daughter’s date. “Bring her back mistreated in any way and you’ll pay for any and all damage.” With that he gets out of the car, waves at the boy, and walks back into the house.

People can get pretty anxious about entrusting others to care for their valuables. To my friend, nothing in life is more valuable than his daughter. Handing the keys to his car over to a teen driver pales in comparison. The really fun part about that story is, his daughter loves that her dad trusts her to go out on dates in his car. As for the boys, she’s smart enough to know who will treat her right before they ever get a chance to meet her dad.

So often we think of stewardship as the responsible management, supervision, and protection of things that have been entrusted to our care. Yet stewardship also has a lot to do with the quality of our relationships. After all, people matter more than things, and accidents happen that can wreck both our precious possessions and most significant relationships.

The good news is that both broken things and damaged relationships can be repaired. Those who practice stewardship can be trusted to do their best at repairing both.

THE DOOR DING

To say Americans have a reputation for being obsessed with their cars could be an understatement. From classics to concepts, hot rods to hybrids, lowriders to rock crawlers, you don’t have to look hard to find a motorhead whose car-and-driver relationship borders on pure passion. Where some simply see wheels and steel, true auto enthusiasts appreciate the beauty of design, adrenaline of horsepower, and pleasure of cruising.

Two such car-crazy guys are Neal Ashburn and Tom Cotter. Neal is the owner of Innovative Speed Shop, which specializes in classic and exotic auto detailing. He founded his business as a teen and built it from the ground up on about two gallons of elbow grease a day. Over the years, Neal’s reputation for excellence and commitment to customer satisfaction spread, making Neal the show-quality authority on cleaning and restoring all types of rides, inside and out. One of Neal’s loyal customers is Tom. The name Tom Cotter is well recognized by custom fabricators and original purists alike for his more than five decades of personal work on and prolific writing about automobiles.

Tom collects classic and exotic cars. His accumulation of vehicles has grown so large, it requires the square footage of a renovated textile mill, now the AutoBarn showroom, to park them all. One of his favorites in the collection is a 1939 Ford Woodie Wagon. The Bird’s Eye Maple wood-sided Ford Deluxe “Woodie” was purchased by Tom as a barn find on Long Island when he was only fifteen years old. Although he paid a mere $300 for the classic, the vehicle’s body has been painstakingly restored and a few updates added to give the car 400 horsepower and a cruising speed up to 70 mph. Now valued at far more than $300, the Woodie is an auto show favorite and was Tom’s ride as he hunted down hidden classics across America while filming his streaming series Barn Find Hunter.

The 1939 Woodie is such an impressive ride, Tom knew it was the perfect car to drive in a West Coast episode of his show. To prep the car for the cross-country journey, Tom decided to send the classic to the best auto detailer in town. So, like he had done many times before, he had the priceless car delivered to Neal at Innovative Speed Shop.

What happened next has less to do with the detailing of the car and more to do with the detailer. The way Neal tells the story, he made a grave mistake that day. The way Tom tells the story, Neal saved the day.

After spending more than a month cleaning every inch of the classic car, Neal knew it was ready to make the long haul out West. With time to spare before the vehicle transporter was scheduled to pick up the Woodie, Neal decided to pose for a few quick pics with his work. After moving the beautiful car outside, he parked it just right to capture the sun’s reflection off the perfect paint and gleaming chrome. Even the wood siding held a rich glow that would look impressive on Neal’s pending social media posts. After all, who wouldn’t want to boast a little about the art of getting such a remarkable ride ready to be captured on film for Tom’s loyal viewers?

Then it happened. While preparing to load the Woodie onto the transport truck, the back passenger door unexpectedly swung open. It stopped with a heart-arresting thud when the heavy wood-paneled door collided with and dented the rear fender. Now, we’re not talking about a dimple and scratch that could be tapped and buffed out with a little know-how and extra effort. Nope, this was a deep dent—the kind of dent that would require pulling the fender, pounding it out, and completing a full prime and repaint job. And Neal knew it. Neal also knew he was the last one to open and—so he thought—close the car door. Maybe after the photo session he hadn’t latched it back correctly? Maybe he had and the latch slid open in one of those once-in-a-lifetime, can’t-be-explained, freak accidents? Whatever the cause, it didn’t matter now. Neal knew the car had to get loaded for safe transport, but not before he made things right.

Ford’s design of the 1939 Woodie’s rear doors included what has become known as suicide doors. This means the rear doors are hinged at the rear rather than the front, causing them to open backward rather than forward.

Saying Tom was upset to receive Neal’s call and confession to damaging the classic car would be a lie. The truth was, Tom is pretty easygoing. He doesn’t freak out about much of anything. Not even a dented classic car. Still, Neal knew Tom had entrusted him with this beautiful ride, and he was about to return the classic worse off than when he received it. To Neal, this would be poor stewardship, and he knew if he were to simply shrug his shoulders and apologize, he might forever regret losing the trust of one of the best clients he could ever wish for.

Standing beside the dented Ford Woodie, Neal was crushed. He felt as if he had just experienced a heart attack. Yet once the initial shock passed, Neal was certain he could repair the damage he had caused to both the car and possibly his relationship with Tom. He would have to cash in a couple of big favors and spend no small amount of his own money to right the wrong, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

Somehow he convinced the transport driver to delay loading the vehicle for twenty-four hours. With Tom’s blessing, Neal contacted the same auto body and paint wizard who had expertly layered on the car’s custom paint and persuaded him to take a look at the damage. Working through the night, Neal and the painter removed, repaired, repainted, and returned the car to its former beauty just in time for transport. Not only was the fender flawless, new latches were installed on the rear suicide doors to prevent them from ever accidentally swinging open again.

As Neal watched the Woodie load onto the transport and set off on its cross-country delivery, he knew he had done the right thing. Accidents happen. They are part of life. But stewardship is no accident and righting a wrong is a choice that requires work. Hard work. And that’s what good stewards do. They responsibly manage, supervise, and protect what has been entrusted to their care. First with the little things. Then with much greater.

A few months later, Tom Cotter delivered another of his prized cars to Neal’s shop. This time it was his extremely rare 1965 Shelby 289 Cobra. Having returned from a driving tour through Alaska, the classic needed a little TLC. Turns out, midway through the trip, the Cobra was mauled by a bear. No joke. In search of a midnight snack, an Alaskan grizzly had helped itself to a pack of forgotten Fig Newtons left inside the red two-seater. After ripping through the canvas convertible top, the grizzly left behind a large bear-paw dent and claw scratches on the Cobra’s rear fender. (You can’t make this stuff up.) Once the car and driver had safely returned home to North Carolina, Tom knew exactly who he wanted to handle the restoration work: his trusted friend and genius detailer, Neal.

Teaching our emerging generations to practice stewardship before leadership is key to their current and future successes. Much like the example of Tom’s trust in Neal to care for his cars and their relationship, our youth also need to practice caring for both their own and others’ treasures in a way that demonstrates respect and trustworthiness. No matter how large or small the value. Like previously stated, those who can be trusted with little can be trusted with much more.

Remember our definition of stewardship? “The responsible management, supervision, and protection of what has been entrusted to one’s care.” By breaking down this definition into its individual parts, we can learn a great deal about what stewardship is and why it is so important to success.

The responsible management, supervision, and protection of what has been entrusted to one’s care.

Responsible—able to answer or be accountable for something within your control.

The responsible management, supervision, and protection of what has been entrusted to one’s care.

Management—bringing about success in accomplishing something despite difficulty.

The responsible management, supervision, and protection of what has been entrusted to one’s care.

Supervision—overseeing performance.

The responsible management, supervision, and protection of what has been entrusted to one’s care.

Protection—safeguarding from danger.

The responsible management, supervision, and protection of what has been entrusted to one’s care.

Entrusted—committed or invested with trust.

The responsible management, supervision, and protection of what has been entrusted to one’s care.

Care—giving serious attention.

Experiencing true success requires today’s emerging generations to practice each stewardship value listed above. They can’t pick and choose the ones they like and the ones they’re not willing to commit to.

To set the point, consider the following. Two twentysomething entrepreneurs are separately seeking venture capital for their startup companies. Each has a unique solution for solving a real problem. Both are fresh, rising stars in their industry. The entrepreneurs are each asking for $100,000 for a 30 percent ownership share in their new companies. It just so happens you have $100,000 and are looking for a sound investment. You can select only one entrepreneur to fund. Select the one who best represents the kind of company you would be willing to risk $100,000 on with your investment.

Company #1—Run by an entrepreneur who demonstrates a fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants management style, hands-off supervision, and questionable accounting practices that would reflect on the $100,000 you entrusted to their care.

Company #2—Run by an entrepreneur who demonstrates responsible management of their time and priorities, supervises people and production well, and would protect every cent of your $100,000 like it’s their own.

The answer is obvious. Company #2 would get your money. And the reason boils down to the increased possibility of you receiving a strong return on your investment.

Now how about something a little more realistic. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that kind of cash sitting around to invest in a young, innovative entrepreneur. What I do have is weekend yard work and a sore back. Upon the painful realization that I can’t do the heavy lifting anymore, do I hire the kid down the street to mow my lawn knowing they don’t like to edge and they tend to leave behind piles of grass clippings? Would they do an OK job? Sure. I guess. Or do I pay the kid from around the corner who edges walkways with surgical precision and mows like they are tending the fairway at the US Open golf tournament? Once again, we would all pick the second option. Why? Because of the quality of the lawn care. Even though it’s not their lawn, the kid I’d hire would be the one who approaches the job with great care. This is their practice of stewardship. What starts out as good stewardship of a neighborhood lawn-care weekend job can grow into much more one day. Like an entrepreneur seeking $100,000.

In early 2019 AT&T launched an amusing and memorable series of thirty-second ads. Each commercial depicted an everyday situation where the tagline JUST OK IS NOT OK couldn’t be truer. The OK surgeon. The OK babysitter. The OK brake mechanic. The OK sushi restaurant. My favorite is the OK tattoo parlor. Picture a nervous guy in his mid-twenties sitting in a tattoo parlor chair. Preparing to ink the man’s forearm is a very chill-looking, smooth-talking tattoo artist who asks the guy if this is his first tattoo. With obvious unease, the man says it is. Sounding overly calm, the tattoo artist smiles and tells his customer, “Relax, amigo. It’s going to look OK.” What follows is a hilarious exchange between the tattoo artist and the man as the poor guy squirms with anxiety, nervously seeking assurance from the artist that his permanent work will look better than only OK. Hearing “No worries, boss. I’m one of the tattoo artists in the city,” only elevates his anxiety. Doesn’t he mean one of the best? Looking down as the work begins, the man is quickly approaching panic as he reasons with the tattoo artist: “Aren’t you supposed to draw it first?” The tattoo artist pauses just long enough to look up with a raised brow. “Stay in your lane, bro,” he says as the humming tattoo needle pierces the arm of the now regret-ridden guy in his chair.

Would you let a just-OK tattoo artist leave a permanent mark on you? You wouldn’t? Neither would I. Why not? Because we might regret it. Same with allowing just an OK surgeon to operate on you, an OK babysitter to watch your children, an OK mechanic to change out your brakes, or an OK sushi chef to serve you raw fish. For each to be done well requires much better than an OK effort and rating. Each needs a person who will own the outcomes that could affect us more than themselves. Each requires the responsible management, supervision, and protection of what has been entrusted to one’s care. Anything less could end very badly.

Where else do we expect people to practice stewardship? When it comes to areas of life that affect us, the list is endless.

We want our banks to be good stewards of our hard-earned money.

We look for large corporations to be good stewards of the environment.

We hope the government is stewarding our tax dollars well.

Sadly, we are far too often disappointed. Some people use this as their excuse for not making good stewardship the minimum standard for how they conduct themselves. They think, If big banks, big companies, and big government can’t do it, why should I be held accountable? And therein lies the problem. Stewardship is not a top-down responsibility. Remember, stewardship is based upon the model that those who can be trusted with little can be trusted with more.

Bringing the focus back on our emerging generations, how committed are they to stewarding what has been entrusted to their care? How prepared are they to launch into life responsibly managing, supervising, and protecting their communication skills, driving habits, education, environment, faith practices, finances, personal belongings, business practices, heritage, influence, language, physical fitness, property, nutrition, opportunities, relationships, reputation, sexual activity, sleep schedule, social media, technology, time management, work ethic . . . just to name a few. As we work to prepare them to inherit the world, our responsibility includes guiding them to practice stewardship before leadership. When we do that, stewardship acts as the prerequisite for the quality of leadership they will need to right many historic wrongs and become the Next Great Generation.

CONSIDER THIS:

Popular today with environmentalist and tax-spending oversight committees, the word stewardship first appeared during the Middle Ages as a job description for the manager of a large household. Also known as a steward, an estate’s manager was commissioned with the “careful and responsible management” of property, labor, finances, and the household’s reputation.

YOUR TURN:

1. List a few areas of stewardship that have been entrusted to your care.
2. In what areas of life do you feel young people today need to practice responsible stewardship?
3. What acts of stewardship do you feel best qualify a person for leadership in the following groups?
   
   In family: __________
   In community: __________
   In education: __________
   In business: __________
   In government: __________
   In faith: __________