From Addition to Multiplication: A Reflection on Time, Mentorship, and Building a Culture of Discipleship in the Corporate World
The Urgency of Time
Time is not ticking for me. It is flying. Ever since my daughter Arielle was born, I have felt the acceleration. Two months have passed in what feels like two blinks. The days are full, but they are not dragging. They are racing. And the more conscious I become about time, the more I realize that this awareness is not a burden but a gift.
When my therapist asked why I am so conscious of time when life is going well, I could not give a neat answer. Perhaps it is my superpower. Perhaps it is the inheritance of watching others who live with intentionality. Or perhaps it is the reality that even eighty-eight years, like the life of Judge Frank Caprio who passed this week, eventually comes to an end. His life, like the Mission Impossible movie I had just watched with friends, reminded me that every story, however long, will roll to the credits.
If that is true, then the real question is not how long we live, but what we multiply while we are alive.
The 3M System: Mentors, Mates, and Mentees
Every person is pulled in three directions at once. Ahead by mentors, beside by mates, and behind by mentees. I call this the 3M System.
- Mentors pull us forward. They live the life we want thirty years ahead, and by tying our rope to them, we are drawn into a better future.
- Mates walk beside us. They sharpen, challenge, and balance us so we do not fall to one side.
- Mentees are those we pull along. They ensure that what we receive does not end with us.
In corporate settings, this 3M reality is no different. A CEO without mentors stagnates. Executives without mates become isolated. Managers without mentees become bottlenecks. Multiplication breaks down when one of these dimensions is missing.
Ten years ago, my house was closed. I only opened my door to family or old friends. Today, I have lost count of the number of strangers who have sat at my dining table. Why? Because a mentor opened his house to me first. Because someone thirty years ahead modeled a lifestyle of discipleship, not just leadership. He was not trying to add followers. He was multiplying leaders.
From Closed Doors to Open Houses
Corporate leaders often talk about “open door policies.” In practice, many of those doors remain symbolic. True openness is costly. True openness means making space for people who are not like you, who may not even click with you, but who still deserve presence and attention.
My wife did not find this shift easy. In the early years, she resisted the constant presence of people in our home. But slowly, by the culture modeled through my mentor and reinforced by lived experience, she became not just a partner but often more welcoming than I am. Culture multiplies when it is embodied by more than one.
In business, culture multiplies the same way. A founder’s values remain abstract until embodied by others. That is why sustainability is not about slogans on the wall. It is about who else carries the same heartbeat.
The Struggle of Self-Centeredness
For me, the hardest blind spot has always been self-centeredness. Not selfishness, but measuring others by my own core values and pushing too hard. It often made my love feel suffocating. Coaching changed that. Dr. Elias taught me that listening is a higher form of leading.
In corporations, self-centeredness appears when leaders impose their style on every team. Instead of empowering, they overpower. Instead of multiplying, they manage. The shift from addition to multiplication begins the moment leaders stop speaking more than they listen.
Anchoring Back: History and Case Studies
History proves the difference between addition and multiplication.
- Jesus’ Model (2 Tim 2:2): He invested in 12 who invested in 70 who invested in 120. The strategy was not mass communication but deep multiplication. Paul later reinforced this: “Entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others also.” That is four generations in one sentence. That is multiplication.
- John Maxwell’s Law of Reproduction: Leaders who develop followers add. Leaders who develop leaders multiply. The corporate graveyard is filled with organizations that added revenue but never multiplied culture.
- Peter Drucker’s Warning: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Addition may fatten the balance sheet. Only multiplication of culture sustains it.
The most enduring corporations, like Toyota or Procter & Gamble, are not those that added fastest but those that multiplied culture across generations of leaders.
Anchoring Up: Scripture and Values
Scripture anchors discipleship in more than performance. In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul does not say, “Teach many.” He says, “Teach those who will teach others.” Multiplication requires discernment in choosing. Not everyone should be handed the rope.
This is why the 3C Framework matters:
- Choose: Be intentional about who you invest in. Look for faithful, available, teachable people, not just the talented.
- Connect: Build relationship before transferring responsibility. Influence flows through trust, not titles.
- Commission: Send them out to do the same with others. Until they reproduce, the cycle is incomplete.
In corporate discipleship, this is succession planning with soul. It is leadership pipelines shaped by values, not just competencies.
Anchoring Forward: Corporate Culture of Discipleship
What would it look like if companies embraced discipleship, not just leadership?
- Shift from Programs to People: Training programs add knowledge. Discipleship multiplies culture. It is not what is taught in classrooms but what is caught in relationships that sustains.
- Shift from Scale to Depth: Addition asks, “How many staff attended?” Multiplication asks, “Who is reproducing what they received?”
- Shift from Leaders to Multipliers: The true measure of a leader is not the size of their department but the number of leaders they leave behind.
Practical rhythms for corporates:
- Monthly one-on-ones that go beyond KPIs into personal growth.
- Storytelling rituals that transfer values across generations.
- Commissioning moments where emerging leaders are publicly released to mentor others.
When corporates practice these, the culture no longer depends on the founder’s charisma. It multiplies through the system.
Presence Over Performance
Discipleship is not about busyness but presence. In families, this means creating peak memories that last a lifetime even if meetings are rare. Psychologists call it the Peak-End Rule. People remember the emotional high points and the way an encounter ended more than the frequency of meetings.
In business, the same principle applies. A leader may only meet their team once a month. But if those meetings create high trust, clarity, and a sense of belonging, the impact outweighs daily transactions. Presence, not performance, is the multiplier.
The Reverse That Redefines It All
You called this reflection “Mission Impossible.” And that is the paradox.
Legacy work always feels impossible at first. Opening your home feels impossible. Raising leaders feels impossible. Building culture that lasts beyond you feels impossible.
But the real impossibility is this: trying to sustain addition without multiplication.
Addition makes you look successful. Multiplication makes you unforgettable.
The opposite of discipleship is not neglect. It is self-preservation. The leader who guards their comfort will never multiply their culture. The leader who gives presence, chooses carefully, connects deeply, and commissions boldly will find that Mission Impossible becomes Mission Inevitable.
Categories:
- Purpose of Life
- Impacting Lives
- Building Stellar Series
- Purpose @ Work
- Friends & Community
Tags:
- Culture of Discipleship
- 3M Framework (Mentors, Mates, Mentees)
- 3C Framework (Choose, Connect, Commission)
- Corporate Leadership
- Legacy Building
- Multiplication vs Addition
- Presence Over Performance
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