Bishop Dale Bronner taught a lesson on leaving a legacy at the recent Marketplace Luncheon.
“It takes faith to go into business,” Bishop Dale Bronner began. “A businesswoman is a woman of faith. A businessman is a man of faith.”
Bronner, the senior pastor of Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral, was speaking at City Harvest Church’s Marketplace Fellowship lunch on Jun 23. Bronner is also co-heir to Bronner Bros. Enterprise, one of the largest private African American hair and skin care companies in the US. Smartly clad in a black suit and tie, Bronner spoke to over 100 participants at the Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel that afternoon.
Before he began his sharing, Bronner encouraged the audience to write down their insights. “If you think it, ink it. A short pencil is worth more than a long memory,” he said.
He went on deliver a series of powerful leadership and business principles in punchy statements, trademark Bronner-style, each containing precious wisdom that went straight to the heart. Here are five things City News learned from the meeting.
One: Leaders plan in decades
Smart leaders plan in decades, think in years, work in months, live in days, and celebrate in moments. They think ahead and start planning decades before. They are the architects of the environments they wish to inherit. More importantly, they celebrate every little victory–first steps, the accomplishment of the week’s goals, the early beginnings of a plan’s fruition.
Bronner enthused, “What you celebrate, you get more of!”
Two: Success without a successor is a failure
Give birth to something that will outlive you. If your project cannot function well in your absence, it is not well-designed. A test of your leadership is that you can leave and your venture can survive without you.
Three: Priorities determine what gets done
Most leaders have a to-do list. However, smart leaders should also have a stop-doing list. You have to stop doing the average things that got you to your current level, in order to do the new things that will get you to where you want to be.
Four: Wealthy people plan for three generations. Poor people plan for Saturday night.
How should one operate to be wealthy?
Bronner advised, “See yourself as the CEO of your life. Develop your own personal Board of Directors—people to guide you in your finances, your marriage, your career, your spiritual development. Choose your Board not for their accomplishments, but for their character.”
Have four hobbies: A hobby that makes you money, another which keeps you in shape, another that keeps you creative, and another that keeps you connected to people who elevate your vision.
Five: Rich people have money. Wealthy people have time.
Bronner presented an acronym, WARRIORS: Work at receiving residual income over receiving salaries.
“Consider the only streams of income you have—salaries, investments, business, real estate, royalties. Think about how you can increase your value so that you can earn more without giving more of your time. Your time ought to be spent with your family because no amount of success can compensate for failure at home.”
Bronner’s words of wisdom blessed the attendees greatly. Johann Sim, a pastoral supervisors from CHC said, “I think one big takeaway is this: what is done in the business should also be done at home. I’m not a business person, but thinking ahead is definitely the kind of legacy I want to pass on to the next generation and the generation after that. The legacy is for my son and those of his generation to continue living a Christ-like life and creating a legacy for their next generation. Therefore, I have to think beyond the now, not just in my own marriage and my own family, but also for the next generation and the generation after that. God is a multi-generational God.”
Julie Goh, managing director of Villa Investments said, “The main lesson for me was that we have to think in decades. That’s a much longer horizon for what we’re used to doing in terms of planning, as most business owners like myself will only think of five-year plans. This has broadened my perspective and has caused me to think about things like succession. To be honest, I’ve never thought of anything more than 10 years so this is highly applicable to my business.”
