All of you are starting to
realize how important this culture is, right? Everything
starts from there. No matter how hard you work, if you
cannot change the culture, not much will change because
that's what is stifling everything. Everything is
conceptual. It's all conceptual. We didn't know how to
translate that into something substantial, until now.
Push New Culture Down
The more you push the
leadership structure down to the frontline, the more
effective it will become. The last thing I want to stretch
is a centralized bureaucrat. Keep on pushing the leadership
down to the frontline. You have to learn how to get your
hands dirty.
Every leader in the CARP
organization, regardless of position, should be an advocate
of a new culture, not only in word, but in deed. Things
cannot happen only within the top leadership, but have to be
pushed down to every single level of leadership, where
culture will be felt.
That's why one of the
things you have to start doing is really evaluating your
people. To make sure that they are the ones who can really
drive this culture. Look at all the center leaders. Many of
these cultural initiatives, the feeling of urgency and
feeling of importance, are going to be determined by your
actions. But where it's really going to be felt is on the
center level. That's where it's really going to be felt.
In other words, you can't
do everything. We usually have somebody who's somewhat
competent on top, but then you have a team that lacks
ownership. The middle of the management team really lacks
ownership. So the person on top ends up doing everything.
This is not what you want. This is not going to push culture
down. What you need to do is, you have to look at the center
leader as the bedrock of middle management. They have to be
the ones; of course you create the urgency, you create the
initiative, you create the importance of this cultural push,
but they are the ones who really make the culture be felt,
and solidified. People are everything. You have to make sure
that they are the ones who can push this culture down.
The Battleground Is In
Substantiating The Ideal Culture
I don't want you to think
that education is just workshops and organized formal
meetings. That's not the only part of education. I want the
type of education that is more profound, more influential in
molding somebody. This is the education that you get when
you are around a certain culture.
Every social group has
certain morals that translate into certain behaviors and can
be considered culture. These are the things that are picked
up. When you read True Father's speeches, why are the
speeches not making an impact? It's because the negative
culture is more influential, the environment is more
influential. People need substantial models to follow in
leading their lives. This is where culture is felt, seen and
experienced, not just cognized. That's why you have to push
it down to the center level. It's absolutely important. You
should be very concerned about this.
When you start bringing in
new members into our movement, their first experience of all
these conceptual theories of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth,
and how ideal relationships between subject and object form,
etc. are going to be manifested in their minds and hearts in
the way that they see the relationships in their centers. If
you have a negative culture there, that's the way in which
they are going to interpret these concepts or these ideas.
That's why I'm saying this is where the battlefield is. This
is where the real battleground is.
It's not in the world of
ideas, but in the world of culture. That means how we
manifest these ideas or these beliefs. That's where the
battle is. Once we are able to build that kind of alignment
between what ideas we believe in, to how we act, how we
think, and how we behave, then we are going to start seeing
the things that we all dreamed of, because there's going to
be a consistency. You have to understand this point. It's
the most important point. That's why I care so much about
how leaders act or how they lead. And that's why I pick up
on those things.
It's not just a matter of
feeling good about relationships? "Oh, that person makes me
feel good." That has nothing to do with it. That's why this
is so important. This is where the first initial
battleground is. The battleground is in substantiating the
ideal culture. Once we do that, then heavenly fortune will
be tapped, and our movement, starting from leaders all the
way down to members, is going to be moving in absolute
alignment. You are going to see the amount of efficiency and
the amount of power that could be manifested from that.
Right now everybody is
moving in separate directions. There is no coordination, but
just a lot of wasted effort. This is where the battle is
fought first. This is the battle that has to be fought, that
has to be won. There's no use for me to do all these things
because, regardless of how outlined our future is and how
developed our strategy is, we will not be able to execute
it. Even though the path is all set out, because you
wouldn't have the cultural backbone that is the inner fabric
of the organization which allows you to execute, that could
not exist. Those battles have to be fought and have to be
won. The worst combination is a prima donna who's ignorant,
and thinks he knows something and has the strength to lead.
That's the worst combination.
Build Alignment Through
True Communication
Reports have to make a
difference. That's why one of the things we are trying to
establish here constantly, is to build constant consistency.
What did I tell you yesterday? Communication is absolutely
key and alignment is absolutely key. If communication isn't
true, it's skewed either too positively or too negatively.
In other words, it's not well balanced, and not objective,
then most likely you are going to have inefficiencies made
in the decision making process.
Now this is very
detrimental to an organization or to a leader who believes
that anything can be fixed or anything can be dealt with if
given a true assessment of the situation. So actually what
you are doing is you are undermining that decision making
process if you give false information. You are diluting the
process. You are actually hurting the process.
Both are bad -- too
positive or too negative; because the guy who's too positive
never identifies those problems and never fixes them, and
the guy who is too pessimistic or too negative is a guy who
never seizes an opportunity nor take initiative. Both are
bad. The way in which you get balanced communication is
through that give and take process. Eventually people will
understand what type of level communication is necessary.
But you have to start at one point or juncture in time at
which that is what you are trying to shoot for. True
communication! You have to say from this point on we want
true communication. And it's constant work in process to
accomplish that.
The reason why this is
necessary is so that alignment could be built. If you don't
have true communication, you cannot build alignment. All
you'll have is a centralized process with saying, "We are
going to do this and then you follow direction." That's the
default process especially if you don't have true
communication. You cannot build alignment. The only way you
can build alignment is through structure. But what did I
tell you? This is not what we want to accomplish. We want
the culture to be the force that builds alignment, not the
structure. But if you do not have true communication, the
default process will be that structure will build that
alignment, not the culture.
So, basically you'd be
fooling yourself. The organization will be fooling itself
and you'll be undermining that culture. So what happens?
Structure becomes the thing that becomes absolute. It
becomes the pillar of the organization. It becomes the
unchanging force that builds stability, not the culture. So
in essence what happens is you build an organization filled
with nonsense.
Communication Is Key
Communication is precisely
the point where it supports mass structure, process,
systems, etc. If you look at the human form, you have the
skeletal form and you have flesh. You get fat or skinny
depending on how much you eat, right? It's kind of like
that. You need to have something that is stable and
something that is transient, that's constantly changing. If
you don't make culture something that is stable and
absolute, and make structure something that is changing with
the environment, then the other default case duplicates
where the structure becomes something that's absolute and
the culture constantly changes. You have to understand this
fundamental principle. That's why I keep on saying culture,
culture, culture. What drives what? When I was referring to
the point of what drives what, this is what I'm referring
to.
So communication is key.
You need to communicate effectively. I don't know how many
times I have to give this example. If I were to chop off
your arm, what happens to your body? Aren't you going to
feel excruciating pain because of huge blood loss? Now if
God didn't make it that way, you will not feel any pain even
if you were severely injured. Let's say your nervous system
doesn't work. You don't feel pain. All of a sudden somebody
chops off your arms and you're gushing blood. But you don't
feel pain, nothing is telling you, your nervous system is
not telling you. There's something dramatically and
tragically wrong here. It actually tells you the opposite?
"Oh, I feel fine. I want to go to sleep now." What will
happen to you? You will end up dying. The nervous system is
crucial here. It doesn't lie, does it?
The efficient process of
communication is to build awareness for the human body to
make sure that it recognizes a problem and feels it. At the
same time, the nervous system is also the source of
pleasure, isn't it? When you eat something that tastes good,
it's your nervous system that tells you, right? When you
smell something good, it's your nervous system that tells
you, right? The communication that the nervous system gives
to the human form so that the human form can maintain itself
is true communication.
Don't you think
organizations that are trying to build a model as perfect as
human form should follow this example? What is the key that
then allows the interpretation of either pleasure or pain to
be transferred efficiently and effectively like the nervous
system? Communication! When something happens, you know it.
Organizations have to have that level of ability. That's why
communication is key.
Why did we create a
mission statement? Why did we create a statement of purpose?
Why are we doing these congregating meetings among the
leaders and of different chapters? Through the process of
communication, we are building the alignment, right? So,
everybody knows what our culture is in this organization,
not only this organization, but also outside organization we
are communicating with. Everybody knows what our values are.
Everybody knows what we are trying to shoot for, especially
people who are part of CARP organization. Communication is
key. You have to understand this clearly. And this goes to
the bedrock of culture.
I don't want to build an
organization where people are constantly second guessing?
what is being told on. The communication and the level of
trust should be such when something is said you believe and
take ownership over it, because if you don't believe it
you're not going to take ownership over it. I don't know how
many times I have to tell you this. If you want to focus on
culture being the bedrock, communication is the absolute
key. And that communication is not just cherry-coated
communication, but it has to be honest communication.
If you don't have that,
what's the default process? The default process is that the
absolute backbone becomes the structure, and you create a
centralized organization, the directions are given, and
people follow. But there is no ownership there, there's no
creativity there and there's no teamwork there. It's
basically pure command and control just through will. And
believe me, nine out of ten times that type of organization
will fall flat on its face. Let's say you do ten projects,
nine of them will flop because you are cutting the
communication links out at the ends of your nervous system
of that organization. It's like taking drugs. If you are
numbing the nervous system, you don't know what is going on.
Think about it. That's what it's like for an organization.
An organization that does not have an effective
communication is like an organization on drugs. This should
not happen in CARP.
Culture Drives Structure
I know that when I have
meetings at UVG, everything I say gets basically done. It's
a very centralized organization. Whatever I say or whatever
my subordinates say, people believe and take ownership over
it. Why? Because we tolerate zero nonsense. And the nonsense
goes both ways It goes in cherry-coated communication
process, and it goes in being so pessimistic that you're not
willing to take or see the opportunity, take initiative. It
goes both ways. Actually one thing that you realize if you
build an organization like UVG is that you have more
control. The person on top has more control. Because if I
say we should go like this then most likely it will go like
that. And the person who will be executing on it will be the
person who has conviction and ownership over that fraction.
So, most likely it will be successful.
And it goes fundamentally
to the issue of what drives what. Does culture drive
structure or does structure drive culture? It fundamentally
goes to those points. You probably didn't learn this in the
MBA, did you? Believe me, this type of knowledge and wisdom
doesn't just come from going to school. They did not teach
this in Harvard Business School.
That's why think about all
the things I'm teaching you right now, in terms of
organizations, in remodeling and rebuilding the CARP
organization. I'm telling you the very simple principles but
that have very profound effect throughout the organization.
And actually if I were to explain this from the Principle
perspective I can also make that connection as well.
Going back to what I was
saying, think about the certain principles that I'm telling
you in terms of running organization effectively. I'm
telling you that culture should be the absolute factor and
the structure should be the component that is somewhat
transient, not transient, but has the flexibility to change
and meet the environmental needs, not the other way around.
However, if you do not build this kind of organization, then
the default organization is you have to have a strong
structure. This is one thing that I explained to you.
Transformation Happens
Through Experience
Now, the second thing that
I explained to you was the CARP epistemology of how one
learns. This is once again tied to the structure of
organization in building an organization that raises
leaders. I was giving you the example like all these things
that I'm teaching you that you do not learn in school. Where
do you think I learned? Where do you think I picked them up?
Where do you think I observed them? It's experiential
knowledge. I told you yesterday that it took me ten years to
come up with these Core Values , although I knew it
intuitively ten years ago. Yet, to be able to articulate it,
to be able to put it in this type of format, to be able to
explain it to you in this type of way to make all the
connections between how the organization looks in terms of
structural and internal components, meaning culture, it took
me ten years.
How can you raise leaders
within this organizational format; utilizing philosophical
backbone on how one learns, which is the CARP epistemology,
where experiential component becomes so important? Recognize
that other components of education also exists, not just
conventional form that you go to a workshop and hear
material and you say, "Oh, I understand." The learning
process actually happens on a daily basis. Through the
experiences you are able to garner.
Also, recognize the fact
that there are good experiences and bad experiences. Good
experiences cultivate and nurture a certain behavior set,
perspective, outlook that allows you to establish alignment
that allows you to bring about the best in yourself, which
is culture. These are the stuff that you pick up like
osmosis, almost on a day-to-day basis. That's why many times
when I make observations when I'm looking at young people,
just being around somebody who has really high performance
has certain values. It just rubs off on them.
Let's say a young person
was placed in an environment where there are a lot of people
with high performance and values. Even though that young
person might have come from a very different background, he
or she starts to think like that, starts to act like that,
starts to have perspective like that, starts to work like
that, and so on. You don't necessarily have to send them to
a class to have them be able to teach something like this.
They will pick up on those just by being in the proximity.
Just because you know
doesn't mean you become. It's here [pointing to heart]
through experience. Changing your person, changing your
outlook, changing is a transformative process, and that
happens through experience. That's why you want to create an
environment that nurtures and cultivates positive
experience. We have to recognize that all of the Unification
Church should be a school and every CARP center should be a
school -- a school of building this ideal culture. That is
going to have more profound impact.
Of course, I'm not saying
you take away conventional form of education that teaches us
or puts information into our heads. You definitely need
that. That has to reinforce the things that you feel. You
have to reinforce it with cognitive process, so we always
will have a need for workshops or educational programs. But
the thing that will need the most profound effect will be
the culture that resonates within every single CARP center
and every single home, every single church, etc. Then you'll
start to see the effect in the Second Generation, basically,
when they go to the workshops and they see or hear the
Divine Principle, they will not have a culture shock, it
will be very natural for them.
Culture Clarifies Your
True Identity
Let me ask you a question,
Tosaka-san . What's your last name? So you're from the
Tosaka clan. Do you have faith in that? Do you have faith in
the fact that you are part of the Tosaka clan? Do you
struggle with the faith that you're part of the Tosaka clan?
It's such a stupid question, it's ridiculous. The reason why
you need faith is because there's certain distance there.
There's a gulf that needs to be filled, isn't there? Yet,
when you are part of that direct lineage, where that's part
of your identity, faith is natural, isn't it? That's part of
who you are. Do you go questioning your identity as part of
your clan? Am I really struggling I am part of the clan? Am
I really a product of my father and my mother? It is such a
ridiculous question. And only reason why humanity is asking
such an idiotic, stupid question is because man fell.
That's why we needed
institution, such as religion which happened to be leap of
faith, in order to have connection with their identity,
which should have been natural. Isn't that right? When I
really think about issues about faith, you can consolidate,
simplify and really go into the question of what your true
identity is. Ask yourself fundamental questions. Look, if I
have questions about my identity, I must be a total idiot.
Because you cannot change who you are, and it is so
absolute, isn't it? There's no question.
The reason why there are
questions in your minds, in the minds of the members and
Blessed kids, and people in general is because there is a
gulf. It's like the Israelites who were trying to look for
the Promised Land. They didn't realize that the Promised
Land is actually in them, because they didn't understand
their identity. They didn't understand them as God's clan or
people. So, once you start to realize who you are, that
really becomes a new point.
I was having a
conversation with someone about different religions, and in
his mind all the different religious leaders are the same
kind of level. I don't know that's the way the people teach
in especially religious people, doing comparative religions?
Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, etc., they are all the ones that
founded these great religions as if these institutions are
so monolithic and so great that they should be preserved.
However, when you look at it from God's providential
viewpoint, God's goal was never to create these kinds of
faiths. They were vehicles to bring man closer to God in his
providential plan to restore an ideal family, where the
substantial restoration of man could come through transfer
of lineage to be under direct dominion of God.
And actually, if you look
at this from historical providential point of view, these
different religions, these different religious leaders have
different merits. You have to look at it from the
perspective of God's providence. If you look at it from the
perspective of God's providence, leaders that were in the
Judeo-Christians are far closer to what God wanted to
accomplish. So, from God's perspective, from the perspective
of God's providence, all the different leaders of different
faith don't have the same merit. If I have to give a similar
analogy, it's really a question of alignment, isn't it? It's
a question of people who are more aligned than others.
Do not lose sight of who
we are, what we are. It's really a question of alignment, is
it not? You need to know who you are. You need to know who
you are, where you are going, in order for you to
substantiate alignment; especially if you are going to be
playing a large role in God's providence. It's really a
question of alignment.
But the fact of the matter
is, "Do you know who you really are?" It's like the blind
leading the blind. You have no idea where you are going. And
the more you go this way you'll be lost in the wilderness.
That's why this culture is so important. It starts
solidifying, clarifying your identity, who you are. It
starts to focus where we are going as the Able-type within
the human community. It all clarifies what our values and
believes are. It also solidifies how we should manifest it
in our lives so that we are living examples of our beliefs.
In that process we are aligning ourselves with God's
original nature.
Culture Allows Us To
Reflect God's Original Nature
What was I telling you
yesterday? I was telling you yesterday that especially the
first component of the Core Values, living for the greater
good or living for the sake of others?is the nature that is
most closely akin to God, because it reflects God's original
nature. Even the Divine Principle explains that the reason
why God created man is to have an object partner of love,
right? That was the impulse. So, in character and in nature
this culture allows us to be the true reflection of God's
original nature. It's kind of like osmosis. That's the
natural process.
That's why if God stands
in the position of our original creator, our original
parent, then we should, as human beings, reflect his
original nature. And that original nature should be given to
us or passed down to us through the culture that exists in
the family and that is rooted on true love. That's why I
told you yesterday, that there are no selfish people in the
Kingdom of Heaven. Selfish people are the ones who are
resigned to dungeon of hell. And actually, they are the ones
who created that dungeon themselves in their own lives.
Isn't it kind of
interesting that people who are self-centered have a really
negative outlook on their lives? They trust nobody, right? I
see that every selfish person I know live a miserable life.
Regardless of how well off they are, they create that
dungeon of hell themselves.
Build Alignment And Take
Ownership
Culture is really
important especially in building this new CARP. There are
organizational ramifications, there are educational
ramifications, and there are also ramifications in terms of
understanding our identity, giving us purpose and
directions. Those ramifications are building unity. Unity
doesn't happen just by forcing, but it allows the process of
natural subjugation.
The main point here is
alignment. The thesis of the point is that this vertical
alignment is the basis of point where everybody comes
together. That's why I keep on saying this is the
battleground. This is the battleground! This battle needs to
be won before the Unification Church could be positioned to
affect the larger community around it, the nations, and the
world. If this is not set, actually I'm glad that we don't
have a nation now. And believe me, if we had a nation now,
we'd run it poorly. Yet, once we build this type of bedrock,
then this will be the basis or the genesis of building that
ideal nation.
If you look at all the
different nations of the world and when you look at the
American model, the American nation was truly a nation that
God raised. It's a nation among nations that has the
shortest history. And it was a nation that started with a
dream which came from Judeo-Christian values. So you can say
America came from Judeo-Christian culture.
Why is this so
fundamentally important? We'll see. I even started this
meeting by saying, "Look, if you don't have the right kind
of culture, no matter how much I tell you which way to go,
you are not going to be able to execute on it." Or even
though we see successes, it's not going to be to the full
potential. I don't know how many times I have to emphasize
this.
That's why from now on,
from this point forward, all of you should think of
yourselves as this new cultural ambassadors and owner that
pushes culture down to every single center of CARP.
Especially to the heads of the Second Generation Department,
we really educate not only the Blessed children, but also
the Blessed families. That should be the mandate that you
feel after you leave from here, as an owner, that you push
with conviction and passion. Not because Hyun Jin Nim
directed me to do it, but because you believe it sincerely,
that it resonates in your heart and that you feel that this
is necessary. That's something you want to commit to.
With that level of
sincerity and determination, then you can truly say that
before me you stand as a mature leader that has ownership
over these values and therefore is moving in lock step
alignment in the direction that I'm going. If you cannot be
in that, if you are not able to have that level of
ownership, then basically you are a prima donna that I need
to baby sit. In other words, all the additional work that
need to be done and all of that responsibility will come
back to me. So I'll eventually have to do it. In essence,
I'll be babysitting you.
So you have to move with
that level of conviction this is really what I take
ownership over and this is something that I need to own and
embody, not half-heartedly, not because you must do it but
because you believe in it. Because you must have ownership
over, then you feel the urgency that I must do it.
Let's say you are a very
smart person, a nuclear scientist. You feel that your
knowledge of nuclear science can allow humanity to have new
forms of power. And you want to continue your research
because you really believe in it. And let's say that some
terrorist organization kidnaps you, puts a gun to your head
and tells you, "You must continue your research and find out
more about nuclear power." In both examples you must have a
feeling of you must do, right? The first was you have that
feeling because you naturally felt the importance of it. The
second is you have a gun to your head therefore you must do.
What do you think eventually will be more productive? If I
were a betting man, I would bet on the first example.
People in general do
things better with greater ownership if they feel the
necessity. That's the fundamental difference. If people are
not robots, they need to take ownership. So you must do
because you take ownership. If you cannot take ownership,
then eventually I need to find somebody who can take
ownership. That's how it works.
Set High Standards
I give UVG as an example
because UVG is unadulterated. I do whatever I feel is
necessary. In the past, the way that people were put into
positions was, "Oh, we have a warm body here. Why don't we
put him in that position?" Eventually that position is
determined by the person. So if he or she was deficient, you
just hire another person who is a little more capable who
can take care of work that person has. That's not the way we
operate now. For every position, we have clear expectation
and the person has to reach it. If you don't reach it, then
eventually someone has to come and fill that spot because
the standard will never ever be dictated by any one person.
The standard will be absolute.
So you have to rise too.
Actually by doing that it forces people to grow because if
there's no condition where you set the bar high, there's
nothing for the people to shoot for, right? You take people
as they are, and you put them in a situation where they are
not pushed to grow. What happens? They don't grow, right?
They don't develop, do they? They just work on auto pilot,
doing the same thing over again. Do you think the creative
juices come out? Do you think they grow? Do you think they
are challenged? Once again that's a prime example of culture
really determining which way we should go.
So we look at it from our
cultural perspective. We realize this is not the way we are
educating people on the culture of UVG, we are allowing
welfare situations, therefore we are not challenging them,
we are not making them grow, and we are not raising leaders.
So looking at it from our cultural lens, we realize we need
to change this. So I had to change a lot of positions, a lot
of people this year.
Why do I tell you this?
Because from a general principle point of view, recognizing
the decisions I make is definitely going to effect in terms
of message of our organization, what we hold to be valuable,
what we hold to be important. If there are inconsistencies
in what you believe and what you do, then what you believe
in is nothing to that organization. So the culture does not
become the absolute. That becomes almost like a constitution
of that organization or a contract of that organization.
Looking at it from the
Principle viewpoint, don't you think that in every position
God has expectation? If he did not, then how could he
qualify one person within the history of God's providence as
failing or succeeding? He had clear expectations and that
standard went over here. Did that standard change? No, it
didn't. The person had to rise to that expectation. He made
sure that he recognized the people with the potential to
reach that. But eventually, that person through his own five
percent responsibility had to rise. If he did not, it was
his decision not to. It was his inability not to. This is
your five percent responsibility. Do you understand that
concept? If somebody came to you and said this is where you
should be, you make a choice of whether you choose to try to
rise up to that or not, right?
If you say that the
average kid is like this [drawing on board] and therefore we
should raise our standard, you know what will happen? Let's
say, this is the standard that we operated before. You have
a certain number of kids, and that's a normal distribution
for. But what happens is when you lower the standard to over
here, to someone that is average, then even the top kids
will go down. So basically that lowered standard becomes a
new top. So the average performance of everybody drops by
that much. What actually happens is you become worse and
worse, even the best kids become worse and worse. It's like
a slippery slope. That's one thing you didn't understand.
That is why you always keep for organization focusing on
leadership.
Mantle Of Leadership
Everybody has innate
potential, yet if you are not challenged you will not rise
to find that innate potential. That's the problem. Once
again, culture has to be the absolute, not the structure.
One of the things that you need to feel is the mantle of
leadership. People think of leadership as, "I get more
perks, I get more power, etc." That's why they are terrible
leaders. They couldn't know what leadership meant. The
mantle of leadership is like this, you always feel that you
need to rise, and set a new paradigm.
There's a certain measure
of discomfort there. If you are complacent, you are not a
leader. If you feel comfortable, you are not a leader. With
the mantle of leadership, there's tremendous discomfort. If
I have a leaders' meeting among all my business leaders,
they are all nervous. It's not a comfortable environment,
but it's a very challenging environment. Everything that
they say will be scrutinized. So you'd better know what you
say. You can't just say stupid things. It had better be well
thought out. Why? Because everybody is gathering there, with
precious time, for the sake of finding the best solution for
any given task. So if you want to be part of value creating
process, you'd better put some good thought into what you
say. So it's a very uncomfortable environment. But that's
what the real mantle of leadership is.
The leader has to identify
what the best course of action is, isn't that right? Do you
think that's a simple process? Do you think that's an easy
process? One thing that I noticed especially when I first
started going public mission was how quickly our Unification
Church members wanted to have position. Why is that the
case? The reason why they haven't learned this mantle of
leadership was because of the welfare mentality. They've
been subsidized forever.
In terms of developing
Second Generation education, I want to actually send Second
Generation kids in the working business environment for one
or two years, especially those who I feel like have
leadership potential, even who might even in the future work
with church side. Because they'll realize that free market
is pretty brutal. If you are not performing, you are not
going to be in that job. Your company is going to go under.
You know, I have not seen this level of accountability on
the church side. There's no concept of accountability.
I told you that I'm hiring
three new people at I-ZONE , right? These three girls, they
are so motivated? "If I don't perform, I'm probably not
going to be here. If I don't set the bar higher, I'm
probably not going to be here." So the level of
accountability that exists on the business side is more
acutely felt than on the church side. Why am I mentioning
this to you and why is it that I'm focusing on building a
world-class business organization?
If you actually look at
the modern history, in the last century there was the boom
of the Catholic religion, the Mormon faith and etc. The
reason why these organizations eventually grew was because
there were really successful business leaders within those
communities. Actually they helped build accountabilities in
the church processes. You have Steven Covey that helped the
Mormon faith, organized their education programs, organized
their youth programs, organized their leadership programs,
etc. Who is the most famous business organizational
management guru? Peter Drucker is a catholic; actually his
philosophy was, "I was in business, but I want my kids all
to work for non-for-profit." He felt that all business
leaders should eventually go into running non-for profit
because they know how to bring in discipline into
non-for-profit organizations.
When I say non-for-profit
organization, I'm talking about the church. That is how you
build discipline; in other words, bring in accountability.
This happened over last 50-70 years. So, does it mean that
everything I'm doing is business-oriented? Working with
business language like that is because I like business? It's
because the business tool sets allow you to substantiate
conceptual formats into substantive, executable plans.
The organizational dynamic
is fundamentally the same. The most important component you
need to build is discipline. And that's what it brings.
Because the environment is harsher, it's more unforgiving. I
don't know how many times I keep on saying the way that
things are going will not last. There will eventually be an
end. Don't think it will last forever. And don't think that
it's growing or getting better. Actually it's been growing
worse and worse. I'm not worried about it, because like I
said, it's not a matter of things, but it's a matter of
leaders. You raise leaders; things can turn around quickly.
The reason why we have
these kinds of problems is because we have no leaders. You
don't understand the mantle of leadership, you don't
understand discipline, you don't understand accountability,
and you don't understand what essence of leadership is all
about, starting with wanting to do something for the larger
good. In other words, you don't have the culture. I know
personally that I can build these things back up. There's no
problem. Things are not the matter, but the most important
thing is leadership. We don't have leadership. This will
have to change from CARP.
War Against Negative
Culture
Culture is the key. I
don't have to explain it over and over again. This is where
my first battle is going to be. The battle is the battle of
culture. Once that is set, everything will start falling
into place. It's not a battle of how I fix this, how I fix
that. I know that given the current culture, even if I go in
to fix this, it's just a matter of time when that turns bad
again. So the culture is really that which will build the
basis of leadership. This is where the first battle is going
to be fought, especially in CARP. If you don't believe this,
fine, sit on the sidelines. But, don't get in my way.
So, you understand the
importance of culture, right? Beyond that, there's not much
for me to say. You need to really take ownership and drive
this culture to every single center, so that whoever comes
in contact with CARP feels it. Actually, I want to take that
back to every single member of CARP, not center, so you can
go down to the individual member level. So that when I do
travel once again and visit CARP centers and members, I can
feel in them that they exude, exemplify and embody this
culture. That should be our goal. Then, eventually, they
will be the type of people that have leadership innately
within them. Innate characteristics are components of
leadership innately within them.
Go back to the example
that I was giving especially when I was explaining to you
the way that we define our Core Values as competencies.
These are life-long skill sets that one develops, and these
are not easy to learn. Yet, if you start embedding that
within you through experience, through ownership and let it
grow, and these are things that allow you to understand an
essence of leadership and to be somebody who can make a
difference, not in your own way but in alignment. That's the
fundamental difference. Hopefully in the future I'll be able
to see those types of individuals that I recognize as being
mature leaders, true leaders of not only Second Generation
but all of the Unification Church. Right now I don't see
that. That's what I want to see.
Like I said, it's not a
question of me giving you things. See, if I just gave you
thing, it's not helping you. The greatest gift that I can
give is to give you the gift to be able to rise to your full
potential and to stand as a leader that is moving in
alignment with the course of history, providential history.
Because if you are that type of person then you'll be a
conduit, you'll be an agent, in whom the blessings of heaven
will unfold, moving our movement that much closer.
Even on individual level,
you'll have the sources to create value. That means no
matter where you go you'll have the ability to create value,
not destroy value? "I have the confidence wherever I go I
will create value. I'm not worried." And these are the
internal things that you cannot learn easily. That's why it
takes at least a minimum of seven years, even more to raise
leaders. It's all of these things that are being built.
And I know that a lot of
Second Generation kids think that just by going to good
schools can make them leaders, right? You think if you go to
MBA program, eventually you can run one of the UVG
companies? It will never happen that way because that's not
where leadership comes from. It comes from here [pointing to
heart]. And once you have that, you start learning other
things, like skill sets, then that makes you that much more
powerful package, right? But if you don't have that, it
means nothing because you do not understand the fundamentals
of leadership.
It's not just a matter of
knowing things. Have I made myself clear? That's why culture
is important. I made observations that if I talk too much,
then it all ends up in your head and you end up being
paralyzed. So sometimes too much is not so good. I want you
to realize the importance of culture and the importance of
ownership. This is not something that happens easily. It's a
continual process where you are constantly aligning yourself
to this cultural paradigm, and that becomes a compass where
it always keeps you in check. It's a constant, vigilant
process where you check yourself and push it in terms of
ownership to all those under you. I want you to understand
that.
CARP has declared war on
negative culture. So CARP has to take on the responsibility
of really substantiating God's Kingdom on earth, and really
start building the proper culture. So all the dreams and
expectations that had not been met, CARP should fulfill. And
you are going to fulfill it by first having war against
negative culture. So things will start happening here.
