This content was originally published here by Two Ten Magazine, the Marketplace Ministry Magazine presenting Purpose, Perspective & Perseverance.

— by Mark Whitaker

As the ball dropped into the cup on the final hole of the 2014 Masters Tournament, an emotional Bubba Watson retrieved it and held it high to the roar of the gallery crowd. The youngest golfer in history to win two Masters within a three year span, this victory proved that his first Green Jacket was more than luck, although he is the first to deny the fact that he’s one of the greats of the game. Bubba’s humility, unabashed Christian character and drive to succeed are all traits that led PING Golf to become his leading sponsor and ambassador for the values that PING stands upon.

Bubba’s victory is yet another testimony to the company that has had more of an impact on the game of golf than any other; PING Golf. We had an opportunity to sit down with John Solheim, the Chairman and CEO of PING Golf to talk about the foundation of the company and how they continue to lead the industry while giving back to those in need. John is the second generation to lead the company along with his older siblings following in the footsteps of their father and founder, Karsten Solheim.

“Born the oldest son of parents from Norway, Karsten Solheim had to learn early in life how to overcome trials and struggles.”

His mother passed away when he was two and a half years old while giving birth to his younger brother. His father was a self-taught craftsman and owned a shoe repair store. Karsten spent most of his free time helping his father run the shop. As he grew older, his father opened a second shop, which he ran while Karsten ran
the original shop.

Learning Business Skills for Life

Karsten learned business and management skills that would prove beneficial to him throughout his life. He also developed an uncanny ability to analyze broken shoes and devise methods to repair them as good as new, most times better than new. He and his father were known for their quality workmanship, for which people were willing to pay a premium.

Karsten’s faith had always been an integral part of his life. After high school, he became involved with leading his church youth group. While escorting the youth group to the church Christmas production, Karsten met a young woman, Louise, with whom he struck up a conversation. Louise had experienced similar heartache as a child, losing her mother shortly after her birth.

They had an instant connection in spite of their age difference; he was 24, and she was 17. After two weeks of dating, Karsten knew that she was the one that God had chosen for him and asked her to marry him. They were married six months later and had their first son, Karsten Louis (Louis). Karsten left the family business to pursue a career as a salesman, selling cookware, and soon rose to the top of the sales force.

Our Nation at War

It was during this time that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and America was thrust into World War II. There was a restriction placed on certain materials that were essential to producing goods for the military. Aluminum was one of those materials, the material used to make cookware that Karsten sold. With no new products to sell, Karsten was forced to seek other opportunities.

Karsten ran across an ad for a short, accelerated engineering course offered at the University of California-Fresno to help fulfill the military’s need for engineers. Karsten enrolled and excelled in the course. Halfway through, he was offered the opportunity to work for Convair (which later became General Dynamics) in their aircraft engineering division. From there, Karsten went to work for a shipyard and proceeded to develop numerous methods and designs to increase the rate of production and the quality of the ships.

In 1943 Karsten received papers to report for the military draft. Before leaving for the draft, he interviewed with the Ryan Aeronautical Company, makers of the military’s aircraft. After seeing Karsten’s resume and meeting him, they offered him a position in their engineering department utilizing his extraordinary engineering skills to advance the military’s war efforts.

The Consummate Engineer

Working alongside some of the finest engineering minds in the Nation, Karsten was immediately embraced and was quickly promoted to the chief mechanical engineer for the FR-1 Fireball, the Navy’s first fighter plane to utilize jet propulsion.

After the war, Karsten changed careers a few more times before landing a job with General Electric as a mechanical design engineer. Karsten moved to Ithaca, NY while Louise stayed in San Diego to raise their 3 boys, Karsten (Louis), Allan and John; and their daughter Sandra.

One day, Karsten was invited to join some colleagues after work for a round of golf. Although Karsten had a dusty set of clubs in his garage, he had never played before. He borrowed a set of clubs thinking that if he applied logic and physics, there was no reason why he shouldn’t be able to compete with the others in his group. He quickly found out that he had little or no control over where the little white ball would go once it left his club. As aggravating as it was on the fairways, it was even worse on the putting green.

Building a Better Putter

It fascinated Karsten that he could hit an acceptable drive and approach and even get the ball on the green in three or four strokes but would use almost that many more strokes attempting to putt the ball into the cup. He observed that the ball left the putter with no consistency at all, almost having a mind of its own. In fact, it bothered him immensely. So much so, that he immediately began to scientifically analyze the physics of the putter.

“He was convinced that he could design a better club to putt the ball with more consistency.”

In 1953, Karsten was reunited with his family when they all moved to join him in Ithaca. Eighteen months later, General Electric transferred him to Syracuse, NY. In his spare time, Karsten continued to mull over his ideas for improving the putter. He realized that the key to getting the ball to respond consistently was the weight distribution in the head of the putter, referred to as heal-toe weighting. In the trials that he conducted in his home, he was encouraged by the results, even if it lacked aesthetic appeal.

Karsten was transferred once again, this time to California, where he began working on one of the first computerized banking programs for General Electric. He continued to work on his golf game, practicing every chance he got. He soon began competing in local tournaments and winning them with his unconventional putter. One day while playing on one of his favorite courses, he had a conversation with the local golf pro. The pro had commented on how impressed he was with Karsten’s putting. Karsten demonstrated his homemade putter, and the pro offered some advice. He told him that if he could design a club that would allow the ball to roll from the face of the club rather than skip or slide, as all of the current clubs of the day did, he would sell a million of them. This was the catalyst that Karsten needed.

The Musical Club

He reworked the design of his putter keeping the weight at the heel and toe of the head. When he had some of the new designs fabricated and tried them, they had a distinctive ring when they hit the ball; he referred to it as a “ping” and thought it would be a catchy name for the new club.

Karsten began manufacturing his new putter, the PING 1A, in his garage. His youngest child John, still in high school, and middle son Allan would help him assemble the clubs, while Louise managed the books and tracked the orders. Interest in the curious new putter picked up quickly as golfers saw immediate improvements to their games. In 1959, Sports Illustrated mentioned the “musical” new putter and orders started coming in immediately. One company ordered hundreds of them to give out as Christmas gifts.

Requests for the putter increased, and soon he was shipping out clubs from his garage. Karsten would visit golf courses across the country and demonstrate the new club to golfers and to the golf pros. As orders increased, he continued to refine the design of the club, releasing models 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 5B.

Still working for General Electric, Karsten was given the opportunity to transfer to their computer factory in Phoenix, Arizona. He jumped at the chance, since it would allow him to stay home much more and allow him to build his fledgling putter business. As business continued to grow, the Karsten Manufacturing Company was formed. In the mid-sixties, Karsten Manufacturing developed the most successful putter design in history, the Anser.

Changing the Game of Golf

Sales of the Anser putter were so successful that Karsten had to move production from his garage into a 2,200 square foot building in Phoenix, which would eventually grow to become the PING Golf campus. Karsten’s two other sons and daughter came to work for the company, and Karsten left General Electric to focus full time on his company.

As high profile players such as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Littler, Julius Boros and George Archer started using PING putters, orders kept pouring in. Karsten refused to mass-produce the clubs, insisting that each club was produced to order. Karsten began to focus on the other clubs in the set and developed an innovation for irons that used a cavity back club head called the Karsten 1, released in 1969.

Karsten Manufacturing, known today as PING Golf, employs more than 1300 and has changed the game of golf forever. It continues to be run as a family company with Karsten’s children and grandchildren involved in the business. Their innovations in club design including putters, irons and woods, allow average golfers to improve their scores and enjoyment for the game. The breakthroughs in design and manufacturing methods have been copied by almost all the top club makers, since the original patents have expired.

Succession of a Legend

In 1995, John Solheim took over as Chairman and CEO of PING. He had been a part of every stage of the company from its inception and shared the dogged pursuit of engineering excellence. Karsten passed away in 2000, but left behind a legacy of excellence and philanthropic devotion that John continues today. PING Golf has been instrumental in promoting LPGA events. In 1990, Karsten and Louise founded the prestigious Solheim Cup for women, the equivalent of the Ryder Cup for men. They have given millions of dollars to missionaries across the globe and funded state-of-the-art recreation centers at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas called the Solheim Center. “I learned from my dad the importance of excellence and giving back and how that honors God,” John explained.

PING Golf has been a leader in aiding wounded veterans as well. They are corporate sponsors of the Wounded Warriors Project, Warfighter Sports and others. They have developed an Adaptive Fitting Program that provides specially designed golf equipment for golfers with special needs, allowing them to play and compete in events never before possible.

Never content with the status quo, John and his engineering team are constantly researching new designs, materials and manufacturing methods to improve the game of golf.

John explains, “You never know where inspiration will come from. It never ceases to amaze me how God places us in situations to reveal things to us as only He can. I recently visited Yellowstone National Park and saw a beautiful orange dragonfly. I had a high res camera with me and took some close-up photos of this brilliant creature that God designed. As I studied those photos later, zooming in on the wing structures, I was amazed at the wing structure, and it struck me that we can use a similar design in our clubs. We’re using some of that technology inside some of our new club designs.”

John recalls, “As a company, we weren’t immune from experiencing trials and tribulations. My father and I share the same source of inspiration from God and stand upon His word. One of his favorite verses, and one that I have come to understand and appreciate even more since taking over the company, is Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

——

[Special thanks to Two Ten Mag for the cover photo]

We continue to count down the Top 100 Books for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs with…

Kingdom Calling

by Amy Sherman

Amy Sherman, director of the Center on Faith in Communities and scholar of vocational stewardship, uses the tsaddiqim—the vision of Proverbs 11:10, in which the people who see everything they have as gifts from God to be stewarded for his purposes― as a springboard to explore how, through our faith-formed calling, we announce the kingdom of God to our everyday world. But cultural trends toward privatism and materialism threaten to dis-integrate our faith and our work. And the church, in ways large and small, has itself capitulated to those trends, while simultaneously elevating the “special calling” of professional ministry and neglecting the vocational formation of laypeople. In the process, we have, in ways large and small, subverted our kingdom mandate.

God is on the move, and he calls each of us, from our various halls of power and privilege, to follow him. Here is your chance, keeping this kingdom calling in view, to steward your faith and work toward righteousness. In so doing, you will bless the world, and as you flourish, the world will celebrate.

Click on the book cover to check out the Reviews and Purchase at Amazon

This article was originally published here by Mats Tunehag

— by Mats Tunehag

My wife and I spent a couple of weeks in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos in August. The focus was freedom! Freedom from slavery and injustice, and freedom to live in truth, enjoy beauty, create wealth and share goodness. This is the story of freedom business.

We know that jobs with dignity are a primary need for prevention of human trafficking. It is also a must to bring restoration of survivors of modern-day slavery.

That’s why freedom businesses exist, and the Freedom Business Alliance exists to help freedom businesses succeed.

To that end the Freedom Business Forum was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in late August. It was the first global gathering of its kind, and about 140 people from all continents participated. It was a great mix of people and talents, all committed to true freedom through business, with all their hearts and minds.

Freedom business is hard, but necessary. And some are called to it, and as Pope Francis says: 

“Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world.  It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good.” 

The concluding keynote address at the Forum was held by one of my heroines, Annie Dieselberg. She runs a freedom business in Bangkok. Her calling is clear and her commitment exemplary. Her challenging freedom business journey is reflected in a most inspirational speech. Here’s Annie:

Hold Fast to Your Dream

“My children recently decided they needed to make some money. Secretly they began creating products and then they laid them out on the table and announced their store was open. They invited mom and dad to come and to make purchases. What they had created was paper bookmarks, origami, and drawings, which they had priced at around 10-20 baht each. My husband and I each chose a couple of their products and my kids proudly pocketed their income with plans for an outing to the nearest 7/11. They had figured out that earning money was purchasing power and the ability to make choices.

Most of us, if not all of us, at young ages, became aware of the power that money has to give us choices in life. Most of us probably came up with innovative ideas of how to make some money to gain choices that our parents were not providing for us. From lemonade stands, to car washes, to babysitting, or mowing peoples’ lawns, there was in us a desire to create money, because money is purchasing power and gives the ability to make choices. The ability to choose is not something to be taken for granted. It is something that comes with freedom.

Freedom allows for choice, which can be used for good or for evil, for self entirely or for the good of others.

My older daughter Kristina was a nanny for a very wealthy and prominent business family. One day my daughter and the 3 year old were discussing friends. The wealthy family traveled so much that she didn’t have any friends to play with. The 3 year old announced, “That’s okay, I will buy friends.”

This 3 year old already understood that money was power. From her worldview she could get anything she wanted with money. She is too young to understand the negative consequences of misuse of money and power, especially when it comes to relationships.

The business of prostitution and sex trafficking makes billions of dollars of profit for people with evil and selfish goals. It preys on vulnerabilities of people who have few choices in life and turns them into slaves and commodities. It is an obscene abuse of power and of wealth. The dreams of the victims to gain income for their families and improve the quality of life, quickly turns into terrorizing nightmares that scare away their dreams.

Prior to working with women in prostitution, I mostly viewed the business world as the other side – where greedy and selfish people used money used for privilege and exclusivity while ignoring or exploiting the vulnerabilities of the poor. I made the mistake of dismissing business as a whole.

Somewhere around 2003 however, I was introduced to Business as Mission and I began to see the strength of business and the opportunity for individual, community, and global impact.[1] I realized that it wasn’t business or making money that was evil and self-serving, but the misuse of that privilege. I realized that the creation of business, is a key to sustaining freedom, by providing survivors life-giving choices.[2]

I am a survivor… I have survived being a pioneer in the freedom business movement. In 2005, my team and I began NightLight Design Co. Ltd. The story I have told many times over is a humble beginning with one girl over a coke at McDonalds learning to make a necklace. She needed a job and I promised her one so with a prayer and a leap of faith we began. Though I had 5 years experience working with survivors, I did not have any professional business experience. Being a pioneer in the field I had no mentors that could guide me in creating or operating a freedom business.

Initially visiting business people’s advice lacked awareness of the challenges of working with survivors. Mission groups came through with advice on addressing the spiritual or emotional needs, but their advice lacked the understanding of the business side. I quickly discovered that we were pioneers with a big machete in hand, hacking through the jungle vines. We would encounter valleys and mountains, we would get hit in the face with branches, bit by spiders and snakes, trip and fall on our way to find the path. It was messy and it was and is an adventure.

The business took off quickly with a lot of excitement. By the third year we had 88 women employed. I made a hasty and foolish promise to God that I would not reject anyone who came our way for help. It was a promise I couldn’t keep. As other organizations began to emerge with similar businesses and the market quickly became saturated, we began to realize that our model was not sustainable.

We came to a crisis point a few years ago. The negative voices thundered in my head and I began to cave in and doubt the vision that I had believed came from God. I almost quit. I almost gave in to shutting down the business. At about that time Jennifer Roemhildt Tunehag[3] came through with encouraging news about the launching of the Freedom Business Alliance and instilled some hope back in me.

Around the same time, God gave me a vivid dream that was a clear warning against aborting the vision. I decided to take a stand and rather than give up we did some re-structuring to save a failing business. That restructuring began to turn things around.

Freedom businesses are hard.

Recently my family was returning from vacation at the beach when my 6 year old daughter asked, “How do you get a hotel?”  Wow, what a loaded question. Now that I have been in business, I began to list many of the steps from planning, to investment, to design, to construction, interior decorating, restaurant set up, menu, guest services, staffing, and marketing.

By the time I was done listing I concluded that it is a huge project that involves a lot of work. My daughter was not anywhere near as overwhelmed as I was and announced, “I am going to have a hotel.” What was it that made her decide she wanted a hotel? It was her positive experience. She had made the connection albeit naïve, that having a hotel could give people, including herself, a positive experience. She had a dream.

I had a dream of a business that would employ survivors and give them a positive experience. I really had no idea what I was really getting into, but I had a dream and in spite of the challenges I was not going to give up.

Since 2005 we have seen 175 women come through the holistic employment program of NLD and NLF. The women are employed in an environment of faith, hope, and love that they have never experienced before.

One of my heart stories that drives me is a woman I met when she was still in prostitution. She told me that sometimes she did not know if she was still a human being so she cut herself. She said if she saw blood and felt pain she knew she was still alive, still human. When she started making jewelry at NightLight she said to me, “Annie, I used to catch myself with my head low because I was so ashamed of who I was and what I was doing. Now I catch myself with my head up high because I am proud of what I am doing.”

Today that same woman is on staff managing the materials department. She teaches new women and expat groups how to make jewelry. She now has power of choice in her life and she is choosing to make an impact in her community.

Freedom businesses are about the business of restoring that hope, of restoring the power to choose, of redeeming the value of life, and the ability to make money for good and positive impact. Freedom businesses give people the chance to dream again, to believe in a future that has quality of life.

I believe many of you are starting out or in a stage of the dream where it feels hard and honestly when we hear the presentations of some of the very successful businesses it can feel overwhelming. We wonder how we will ever get to that measure of success. We wonder sometimes if we can legitimately call ourselves a business in comparison. We resonate with Kerry’s[4] description of heart-driven decisions. But honestly, none of us here are only heart people. We all have a little of the brain at least. And brains, you all have at least some heart. Otherwise none of us would be here at this forum.

The Freedom Business Alliance is in fact an intersection of the two. If we were all heart, we would be content just working at a soup kitchen or a relief agency. If we were all brain we would probably be doing business completely oblivious to the crying demands of survivors. All of us are here because we either have big hearts with growing business brains, or big business brains with growing or enlightened hearts. We all dream of a world where business has a great social impact and provides jobs, freedom, choice, and quality of life to survivors, their families, and their communities.

Langston Hughes wrote, “Hold fast to your dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”  The women we encounter in the sex industry are broken-winged birds who cannot fly, birds caught in cages, bought and sold and with each sell they lose sight of themselves and their dreams.

Freedom businesses open up the cage doors and bring the broken-winged into a place of security, of love, of healing, and of hope.

Freedom businesses give women back their dreams and through freedom businesses women are given back their ability to fly. Hold fast to your dreams!  

Freedom business founders and leaders, hold fast to your dreams! I cannot promise it will be easy, but with each bird, each woman, who flies again, we forget the costs, the labor, the sacrifice, and we celebrate life and freedom.”

Annie Dieselberg, NightLight 

Keynote address at the Freedom Business Forum, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Delivered August 23, 2017

——

Notes added by Mats Tunehag

[1] See http://bamglobal.org/ and http://businessasmission.com/

[2] See BAM Global Think Tank Report: “A Business Takeover: Combating the Business of the Sex Trade with Business as Mission.” http://www.matstunehag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/BMTT-IG-BAM-and-Human-Trafficking-Final-Report-October-2013.pdf

[3] Jennifer & Mats Tunehag visited Annie in Bangkok in February 2015

[4] Kerry Hilton also spoke at the Freedom Business Forum. He runs a freedom business: http://freesetglobal.com/

——

[Special thanks to Artem Beliaikin for the cover photo]

This article was originally published here by The Dallas Morning News

— by Dana Branham

With a little under two weeks before a lawsuit he filed years earlier was set to go to trial, John Rogers penned an unusual letter to the judge handling the case.

In May last year, the Richardson business owner asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing his former employees of stealing company secrets, after he says he received “a clear message from God” urging him to be generous.

When the thought hit him, Rogers said, he was at a Christian weekend retreat focusing on generosity.

“I was kind of shocked with the enormity of what God was essentially asking me to give up,” Rogers said. “Frankly, I was troubled by it.”

Attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit said the letter was unlike anything they’d seen in their time practicing law. But each believed that had the case made it to trial, their side would have prevailed.

Rogers’ lawsuit, filed in federal court in June 2017, accused Sigma Drilling Technologies of using proprietary information owned by his oilfield supply company, Performance Pulsation Control, to form a competing business.

The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice — meaning Rogers and his attorney can’t decide later to bring it back to court — after U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III signed an order May 9, according to court records.

Greg Ziegler, who represented Sigma in the case, said in a written statement that his clients believed Rogers dropped the lawsuit to avoid “the embarrassment of a stinging defeat at trial.”

“As for the reasons the Plaintiff claims were his motivation to dismiss his case, only God knows the truth of a man’s heart,” Ziegler wrote.

His clients weren’t surprised to see the request from Rogers to dismiss the lawsuit — or his letter to the judge, he said. They expected all along that the case would end up voluntarily dismissed by Rogers’ company before trial.

“That doesn’t mean that they’re not very pleased that PPC went ahead and decided to do it, because it’s in the best interests of both parties,” Ziegler said. “Particularly if you’re a business, it’s better to conduct that business in the marketplace than in the courtroom.”

Ziegler said his clients deny that they used trade secrets that belonged to Performance Pulsation Control.

“In fact, it’s my clients’ contention that PPC indeed has no trade secrets,” he said.

But Rogers and his attorney said the decision to move on from the lawsuit had nothing to do with a lack of confidence, and in Rogers’ letter to the judge, he wrote that dropping the lawsuit isn’t an “admission that PPC has done anything wrong in pursuing” the case.

“As … [Rogers’] counsel, we were prepared and extremely optimistic about our chances associated with the trial in this case,” attorney John Palter said.

Rogers said his mind was still swirling when he left the Christian retreat in Atlanta to head home. He started writing notes on the flight back, trying to understand what he felt he was being asked to do.

When he arrived home, he talked with his company’s general manager and his wife, and when he was sure he wanted to drop the lawsuit, he called Palter.

After that call, Rogers said he felt peace.

“I slept better that night than I had in a long time,” he said. “Not only did I have a sense of peace, I had a sense of joy.”

The lawsuit was costly for both parties. Rogers said his decision to drop the lawsuit came after he’d spent more than $500,000 in legal expenses.

And it was expensive for the defendants and their business, too, Ziegler said.

“It is a financial burden on any company to have to endure the litigation process,” he said. “Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company or you’re a startup, it’s an unpleasant place to be.”

——

[Special thanks to Smiley N. Pool from The Dallas Morning News for the cover photo]

In this video, we take a look at why Prime Trailer gives its employees an entire paid day off to go out and serve the needs they see in their community! They’ve helped neighbors clean up their backyards, replaced rooftops, mowed lawns, and got to know those around them. CEO Wes Gardner encourages other business owners to let their people be themselves—to do what they’re excited about in their jobs and in their community.

Watch their inspiring video below!

If you liked this video, feel free to check out more on Vimeo from CityUnite!

[Special thanks to The Enlight Project for the cover photo.]

This content was originally published here by Two Ten Magazine, the Marketplace Ministry Magazine presenting Purpose, Perspective & Perseverance.

Note: This article was written previously during Dina Dwyer-Owens’ 15 year tenure as CEO of Dwyer Group (now Neighborly). She remains an acclaimed author and motivational speaker with more than 38 years of franchise leadership experience.

— by Lisa Huetteman

She might not be the person you would expect to see seated at the top of a company in a male-dominated industry. But Dina Dwyer-Owens, Executive Chairwoman of the Dwyer Group, is very comfortable at the helm of a company operating across the fifty United States and seven other countries around the world. She earned the position and re-earns it, every day in every way. 

Founded in 1981 by Don Dwyer Sr., The Dwyer Group has grown from Rainbow International Carpet Dyeing and Cleaning Company to seven franchise concepts represented by more than 1,600 franchisees and almost $1 billion in annual system-wide sales. Don Dwyer started Rainbow International by recruiting loyal, ethical, and honest people who looked to the system for the guide to providing superior customer service and building a solid business. He wanted people who believed in the Code of Values which were the foundation upon which he lived. 

He was a devout Catholic, a demanding leader and a great big dreamer. Although his life was cut short in 1994 at the age of 60, his legacy lives on with the support of his family, the company’s associates and the franchisees who embody Don Dwyer’s Code of Values in their businesses and their lives. 

Her Father’s Daughter 

She is her father’s daughter. Like Don Dwyer, Dina is a devout Catholic, a dynamic leader and measures the success of her company by the number of people she can help become a success in theirs. But Dina is also authentically devout herself and leads the company from a firm foundation that is grounded in her faith. 

In 1998, when she was first named acting President and CEO of The Dwyer Group, Glamour Magazine interviewed her for an article about the secrets of successful “SheEOs.” Dina reflected that the key to her success was not a secret. “The number one thing is my faith. Without my relationship with God, I couldn’t do what I do. The second most important thing is being surrounded by an amazing team and support structure at work and at home. The third ‘secret’ is systems. With franchising, operating systems are critical.” These three “secrets” still hold true today. 

Live R.I.C.H. 

Recognizing the importance of operating systems for the success of the company, the executive team expanded on the original guiding principles established by Don Dwyer to create an operational Code of Values organized under the themes of Respect, Integrity, and Customer Focus While Having Fun in the Process. The Operational Code of Values provides measurable principles to keep the company on the right path and a memorable acronym that personifies their purpose – to Live R.I.C.H! 

At every opportunity, Dina passionately shares the Code with employees and franchisees throughout the company. “I am certain that successful growth of the company has been and will continue to be founded on the Code of Values. However, I don’t want the Code to be perceived as a list of overbearing rules. Live R.I.C.H. is something that is easy to remember, understand and a gateway to the bigger message.”

Going Undercover 

Dina always credits the Code of Values at The Dwyer Group for fostering the environment that makes the company unique. To see if that message had spread throughout the seven franchise concepts across the country and around the world, Dina went undercover in 2012 on CBS’s Emmy-winning hit reality series Undercover Boss. 

“We approached Studio Lambert, the company that produces Undercover Boss, because we wanted the opportunity to find out if our Code of Values was truly making it to the front lines. Our company was celebrating its 30th anniversary, and with a woman at the top in a male-dominated business, we felt we had a winning story.” 

While the original intent was to confirm the Code of Values was being honored throughout the organization, Dina soon recognized that God had intended something much more important. 

“As soon as I learned that they were interested in me going undercover, I started receiving all these messages which in my mind were from God. The morning of the casting interview, I was in Mass and Fr. John’s homily was about evangelizing. He said ‘Every time we get a chance, we should be sharing the Good News.’ That thought stuck with me as I went into the casting interview later that day.” 

Authentic Leadership 

Armed with her pastor’s words of encouragement, Dina ignored her concern that the producers and the audience would not welcome the story of a CEO who was so open about her faith. She chose “Faith Brown” as her undercover name, and the true Dina was revealed. 

The episode began following Dina through a typical day; making pancakes for her children, chatting over the paper with her husband and attending church. “I need the nourishment I receive from daily Mass. I am not good at sitting at home and being prayerful. I see too many things around the house that need to be done. I put myself into a place where I can be prayerful and quiet, and all the busyness of the world is kept in perspective. It keeps me grounded in what is really important.” 

Throughout the filming, Dina was touched by the people she encountered. She was overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility God has given her to lead this company. “I am responsible, in some way, for so many lives, and these folks really do work hard to live our values. They really do care about our customers in the way we want them to.” 

Her concern that being open about her faith could be viewed as negative proved to be unfounded. Within moments of the show airing, Dina began receiving texts and tweets of encouragement. Of the 2,000 messages she received from viewers, not one was negative about her faith. In fact, she received hundreds of beautiful notes thanking her for being open, authentic and transparent. “I think I have the record for the most tears on Undercover Boss, because I can get very emotional. There are times that I have to work very hard to hold it back, because it is not the right occasion. But, on most occasions, if I tear up, I tear up. It is who I am.” 

While Dina went “undercover” to learn about her company, she learned far more about herself. “I came away from the experience with the attitude, ‘Be not afraid.’

I learned that no problem I encounter in business, no decision I make, nor challenge with any human, is more important than living God’s will for my life.Dina Dwyer-Owens

It is something that I have to remind myself of daily. If I pray for the wisdom from God, and listen and apply it, what do I have to be afraid of?” 

“I also learned so much about myself and my role as a Catholic Christian in evangelizing and being a light for His Kingdom. It is unbelievable the doors that God has opened when He says to me ‘Here is a door you need to walk through now, and I want you to talk about your faith.’ Or, ‘I know they are calling you because they want you to speak about The Dwyer Group’s values, but I want you to talk about your faith.’” 

The audience responded favorably to the Boss of The Dwyer Group, and out of 56 bosses, Dina was one of ten who was invited back for the 2013 season finale “Epic Bosses.” While the viewers were impressed by her vulnerability, Dina considers it essential to authentic leadership. “If we are not taking some risks, we are not being great leaders.” 

In February of 2014, after holding the position of CEO for 15 years, Dina handed those reins over to Mike Bidwell, an amazing and capable leader who has been with the company for more than 30 years, and she took on the title of Executive Chairwoman. Today, her primary responsibility is the culture of the company. “My number one priority is making sure that we live The Dwyer Group’s Code of Values no matter how large we get.” 

Her second duty is public relations and networking. As such, Dina spends a lot of time speaking and telling The Dwyer Group story – mostly about the Code of Values and the team of employees and franchisees who live those values. “As the Executive Chairwoman of The Dwyer Group, I have to be my best authentic self. I am a Christian first. Every speech I do, even if they ask me to avoid politics and religion, I speak about my faith, because it is who I am.” 

Thirdly, Dina is responsible for seeking out strategic acquisitions of businesses that fit The Dwyer Group’s menu of services. “Our mission at The Dwyer Group is to teach our principles and systems of personal and business success so that all people we touch live happier and more successful lives. Personally, I will continue to work to do that for as many people as I can.”

THE DWYER GROUP CODE OF VALUES – WE BELIEVE… 

1. …in superior service to our customers, our community and to each other as members of The Dwyer Group family. 

2. …in counting our blessings every day in every way. 

3. …success is the result of clear, cooperative, positive thinking. 

4. …that loyalty adds meaning to our lives. 

5. …management should seek out and recognize what people are doing right and treat every associate with respect. 

6. …challenges should be used as learning experiences. 

7. …our Creator put us on this earth to succeed. We will accept our daily success humbly, knowing that a Higher Power is guiding us. 

8. …in the untapped potential of every human being. Every person we help achieve their potential fulfills our mission. 

9. …we must re-earn our position every day in every way. 

10. …in building our country through the free enterprise system. We demonstrate this belief by continually attracting strong people to The Dwyer Group.

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[Special thanks to Two Ten Mag for the cover photo]