Pursuing the Composite Scorecard (For Life)

How do you measure success? How are you scoring yourself? When you finish the workday, whether that’s a drive or a train ride or simply a deep breath after shutting the laptop after the last Zoom call, how do you evaluate whether you’re doing a good job? Or beyond work, what about at the very end of the day, before you shut your eyes for the final time, how do you evaluate whether it was a good day and whether you did well?

It’s so often a tough thing to evaluate how you’re doing because you wear so many hats...at the same time. You’ve probably had a day where you nail the high stakes meeting with a new client only to be told by your teenage son, “You don’t trust me!” Or the reverse…an impactful weekend with your daughter talking about the future is followed by a Monday morning dumpster fire at work right out of the gate.

Add in the hats of spouse, friend, neighbor, follower of Christ, investor, partner, and whatever else you wear, and it can feel pretty much impossible to see whether you have a passing grade.

For years, I have talked a lot about being a complete leader, but what about being a complete person? Anyone can be a one-dimensional success, but you’re not a one-dimensional person. We can’t talk about flourishing, which is another concept I’ve looked at (and longed for) a lot without an understanding of a composite scorecard.

The composite scorecard is at the heartbeat of the executive coaching I’ve done for the past three-plus decades. Every single person I work with is a whole person and so I want to work with them in that way. The “work” life and the “personal” life are in fact connected.

The good news is there’s hope for composite success. I have used a snapshot in the life of young Jesus as my model for ‘composite success’. It is the notion of succeeding in multiple areas all at the same time.

Luke 2:52 says it this way…”And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

What was Jesus’ doing as he was growing up? He was doing just that—growing. And his growing was a composite growing.

• He grew in wisdom - He learned more knowledge but knowledge that was applied in moral ways to the world in which he lived. Wisdom is rightly applied living to the details of your daily life and work.
• He grew in stature - I don’t know that Jesus had a daily rigorous work out program like some people make us think, but he did grow physically.
• He grew in favor with God - His spiritual life was where he got his sense of worth and value and he understood that more and more. Don’t think that wasn’t hugely important for the years ahead.
• He grew in favor with man - Jesus had strong EQ, he had relational skills, soft skills in the workplace.

All of this mattered. Yes, it mattered for his effectiveness in his work but on an even deeper level, it mattered for his flourishing as a whole person. It was living into who he was created to be. If he only grew in wisdom but not in favor with God and man, it would have turned into just ivory tower head knowledge that helps no one. If he’d grown in favor with man but not in favor with God…well, you know where those stories lead—mass following that grows increasingly corrupt at the core.

Jesus pursued a composite scorecard approach to life and work. He was effective and emotionally healthy, a man who completed tasks and cared for people. 

Luke 2:52 is a verse I have prayed for every member of my family from aging parents to yet to be born grandchildren. And I pray this picture of composite / comprehensive success for myself almost daily. 

Check out the video above, begin to ponder the composite scorecard, and, if you’re interested, shoot us an email or give us a call. You have a ton of responsibilities. Don’t get overwhelmed by that. Live into it well.