Continued growth is never guaranteed.

What had just happened?

Hubris happened, that's what.

Complacency kills.

As partially told in the movie Air, adidas' number-one brand position paradoxically prevented the company from remaining number one in the United States.

Our overconfidence in our longstanding market leadership position clouded our view of the changes happening in consumer behavior and desire. It blinded us to changes in the sports apparel consumer that were happening right in front of our eyes.

It was right there, and we didn't even see it.

What about you?

How about you? Where are you blinded by your success?

If your nonprofit is the "big kahuna" in its cause category, have you drifted into complacency?

Have you stopped demonstrating bold creativity and instead relied upon your brand recognition?

Are you meeting your audience members to understand what kinds of fresh opportunities and experiences with your organization they might absolutely love?

If not, you're really missing out on the deep insights you need to create a game-changing new opportunity for your organization's current and future fans.

Unlike over-confident adidas, upstart Nike was responsibly fearless.

Nike's fearlessness inspired the creativity needed to land Michael Jordan and launch the Air Jordan brand that has led the market ever since.

Fear kills great marketing.

While hubris is a common reason why we cease to be boldly creative in our strategies, another reason is fear.

Fear shows up in a number of different ways for nonprofit marketers and fundraisers:

• "I don't want to get blamed if we try something new and it doesn't work."
• "Stick to the tried and true. We don't have the money to be creative like those big companies."
• "I tried a new strategy last year. It didn't perform like we hoped. I'll never do that again!"
• "We need to be good stewards. That means we should just do things that we know will work."

Too many Christian leaders avoid bold strategies, becoming complacent and safe in their marketing and fundraising.

Yes, creating new, remarkable, defining moments for current and prospective donors and other participants is scary. You might try something that doesn't work.

But that's the job.

We're called to take holy risks.

You're not supposed to be a nervous caretaker, paralyzed by what might go wrong.

You're not supposed to be a nervous caretaker, paralyzed by what might go wrong. If you're a marketer or fundraiser, you're supposed to live into your calling with boldness, willing to take holy risks.

If you are nervously avoiding risk, ask yourself, “Is this really what God wants from me?"

Or, would God prefer you use data and analytical tools, but also take a deeply human approach to that data, knowing the people whom that data represents and listening for his voice?

We need to ask ourselves, have we become not merely wise but over-dependent on metrics and business conventions at the expense of being bold in the Holy Spirit?

Leave room for God.

There is a beautiful tension between our marketing savvy and what we are called to do as Christians.

We aren't marketers for Apple, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Nike, or adidas.

We are marketers God chose to work directly for kingdom-focused organizations.

Of course, we are to bring all of our skills and experiences to bear in that service. But, we're supposed to bring all of our faith too.

Do we rely so heavily on data that we have left no room for God? For Christian organizations, he is our fundamental difference from the rest of the world.

Have we leaned so far into impersonal "Big Data" that we forget to seek what the Lord wants us to do in caring for the human being on the other side of that data?

If we have, then we ought to rethink that tendency. After all, there is more to great marketing and fundraising than the data-driven methods that have become so familiar to us all.

Growing ministries is so much harder today.

From the mid-1980s to late 2000s, Christian ministries were booming. It was the golden age of donor giving, and new tools kept making us more and more efficient. The rise of the evangelical church and the boldness of ministry leaders fueled a remarkable period of giving.

So many of our most amazing organizations were established in this time period. Their founders and leaders took strategic risks and spoke out boldly.

Today, the giving climate is more difficult, church attendance is down, trust is lacking, and the economy is iffy.

So what does a responsibly fearless leader look like in today's environment?

So what does a responsibly fearless leader look like in today's environment?

The responsibly fearless leader doesn't ignore donor data. Instead, she adds to it a deep, relational appreciation for the human being behind the data.

The responsibly fearless leader doesn't brush off ROI and performance metrics, but he considers the need to fire the imaginations of donors and volunteers, taking holy risks on new ideas.

The responsibly fearless leader won't try every creative idea that smart staffers come up with, but she seeks ideas outside the "Christian bubble" with true curiosity and a righteous optimism.

Also, the responsibly fearless leader doesn't toss out proven strategies in misguided acts of folly masquerading as courage, but he will certainly honor the organization's audience members by bringing them into the design process to discover what new opportunities and experiences they might most love.

Where can we start?

So how can you become just a bit more responsibly fearless right now? Here are five ideas:

1. Study what bold companies do. Pull together a group of five to 15 colleagues and see what you might learn and apply from these cases.
2. Learn the discipline. New experience development is like any other discipline. There are a few ways to do it well and a lot of ways to do it badly. Take a course in human-centered design as a starting point.
3. Get to know your audience as people. Most leaders meet with major donors but not with general donors. That is a mistake. You'll always misunderstand your general donors, to your organization's detriment, until you get to know them as people.
4. Start one bold project. Start developing your entrepreneurial muscles by deciding to create a remarkable new audience experience. Start by identifying the audience whose participation you desire at unprecedented levels. Know these people and what they will truly love (versus what's trendy right now, which so often fails).
5. Most importantly, pray. Seek the Lord as to what fears might be holding you back from making the brave decisions that will unlock growth for your organization.

Let's Get Going

The great news is that everything you want for your career is on the other side of your fear.

Until his house is full. Let's get going!

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Donna Lucas (former adidas Brand Manager) serves Joni and Friends as Senior Vice President of Development and Marketing leading teams to be responsibly fearless in sharing the gospel with people living with disability. Allen Thornburgh leads SUBLIMITY, the experience development studio that helps busy leaders create, launch, and scale bold new experiences that their audience loves. He can be reached at allen@sublimity.co.

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