Leadership Not by the Book: 12 Unconventional Principles to Drive Incredible Results

By David Green and Bill High

If conventional leadership wisdom is to be believed, Hobby Lobby shouldn't work. So why does it?

David Green, the founder of Hobby Lobby and an unlikely leader, grew his company from a $600 startup to a $8 billion company that gives 50 percent of its profits away to fund initiatives all over the world. He blazed his own path in business, drawn not from business gurus but from the pages of Scripture.

In this inspirational book, David Green challenges talented leaders with hearts committed to Christ to consider this question: What if God wants to use you to do a new, even greater work? To raise up and encourage the next generation of leaders, David Green shares 12 unconventional principles that drive Hobby Lobby. These core principles can open doors to greater success in business and life.

Whether you lead a business or a nonprofit, a small business or a multinational corporation, a start-up or a department, this book will show you how breaking the conventional "rules" of business may be the best decision you ever make.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781493437771

David Green

David Green is the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby, the largest privately owned arts and crafts retailer in the world. Hobby Lobby employs over 33,000 people, operates 800 stores in forty-seven states, and grosses more than $5 billion dollars a year. Currently David serves on the Board of Reference for Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2013, he was honored by receiving the World Changer award and is also a past Ernst & Young national retail/consumer Entrepreneur of the Year Award recipient. In 2017, the Green family opened the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC.

Book preview

"An alternative title for this book could have been Billion-Dollar Wisdom because that’s what’s inside. It’s one thing to run a business for a year or two. It’s an entirely different thing to lead a multibillion-dollar business for decades. Whether you’ve got a small team like me or a big dream of what could be, you’ll always feel like you’ve underpaid for the amount of knowledge that’s packed inside this book."

Jon Acuff, New York Times bestselling author of Soundtracks

"In my many years as a female CEO in the male-dominated trucking industry, I can testify that David Green’s latest book, Leadership Not by the Book, is a refuge for those wanting to lead by God’s Word and Holy Spirit and NOT by the ways of the world. I highly recommend this read for all leaders and aspiring leaders."

Marcia Taylor, CEO/Founder, Bennett Family of Companies

"I’ve written and spoken about God’s Kingdom agenda as His visible manifestation of the comprehensive rule of God over every area of life. I can think of no better person than David Green to write about God’s manifestation and the rule of God in the arena of business. This book, Leadership Not by the Book, is a must-read for those desiring to live by God’s Kingdom agenda with their business, their ministry, and their leadership."

Dr. Tony Evans, president of The Urban Alternative, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

Like David Green, I’ve learned by leading my own organization, Turning Point, that if you follow conventional wisdom, you’ll land in conventional places. But if your leadership is by the Book and you are careful to obey, then you’ll be amazed by the places God will take you. I highly recommend this read.

Dr. David Jeremiah, senior pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church- El Cajon, CA, founder and CEO of Turning Point Ministries

"God often calls leaders to follow His guidance rather than traditions and trends—and my friend David Green is a prime example! In Leadership Not by the Book, David explains how leading by the Good Book, the Bible, results in some unconventional decisions and surprising methods to exceed anything produced by human efforts alone. His fresh perspective and innovative insight make this book a must-read for every leader."

Chris Hodges, senior pastor of Church of the Highlands, author of The Daniel Dilemma and Out of the Cave

For years, I’ve watched in awe at how Hobby Lobby, a store that’s open only six days a week, has had astounding growth and success. The financial results have been remarkable, and from this insightful new book by my good friend David Green, you’ll learn how this business achieved such incredible success. He shares everything you’ve ever wanted to know about one of the largest and most successful private companies in the United States. If you’re ready to take your leadership and your business to the next level, this is the book for you!

Robert Morris, senior pastor at Gateway Church, bestselling author of The Blessed Life, Beyond Blessed, and Take the Day Off

In a day when there are leadership books written by those who never really successfully led an organization and church growth books written by those who never spent time pastoring a church, it is refreshing to discover this new volume by David Green with Bill High whose tried and true principles have actually been beaten out on the anvil of personal experience. This is a formula that works because it is God centered, people focused, and filled with commonsense application. In fact, across the years the Green family has been characterized by using common sense. But what sets them apart is that they also have the uncommon sense (faith) to believe God can still make the impossible possible. This is a book on leadership NOT by the book. And yet, at the same time, it is a volume on leadership by THE Book . . . of all books. Read it and reap!

O. S. Hawkins PhD, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, President Emeritus of GuideStone Financial Resources, and bestselling author of The Code Series of devotionals with over two million sold

If you want to learn the secret for successful significance, not just significant success, this book is a gold mine. The opposite of theory and convention, David shares the incredible story of scaling from unlikely startup to multibillion-dollar powerhouse with the decision points, principles, and leadership paradigms anyone is invited to live by. The world would be wrecked by the blessed wake that would result if business leaders read and heeded this invitation!

Mike Sharrow, CEO, C12 Business Forums

"There are some people that when they talk, you listen. David Green is not only one of the most successful businesspeople on the planet, but he lives by a different code. He walks with godly wisdom in everything he does, and it sets him apart and gives him an authority. In Leadership Not by the Book he shares a lifetime of principles that have guided him. Some have helped him be unusually successful, and some have shaped his perspective to enjoy the journey a little bit more. In all of these, you will find pure gold advice that can dramatically change your own journey."

Matt Brown, evangelist, author of Truth Plus Love, founder of Think Eternity

"If you look at the life of Christ, you will see that He turned traditional religious practices on their heads. He left the experts dumbfounded and changed eternity’s entire narrative. In Leadership Not by the Book, David Green and Bill High take a lesson from Christ’s way of life by turning traditional leadership upside down. Follow the practices found in this book, and your life as a leader in business, home, and faith will be transformed because you will no longer be conformed to the patterns of the world."

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of NHCLC, author of Persevere with Power, executive producer of Flamin’ Hot

© 2022 by Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., and Generational Legacy Counsel, LLC

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4934-3777-1

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016

Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Italics added to direct Bible quotations reflect the author’s emphasis.

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

The proprietors are represented by the literary agency of A Drop of Ink, LLC.

Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.

To all the leaders at Hobby Lobby

who helped form this book,

to the thousands of employees who

further our mission every day,

to the loyal customers who keep us going,

and to the love of my life, Barbara,

the very first person to run the business.

Contents

Cover

Endorsements    1

Half Title Page    5

Title Page    7

Copyright Page    8

Dedication    9

Introduction: The Secret Sauce    13

Part One:  God-Focused Practices    19

1. Give the True Owner the Vote    21

2. Listen to and Obey the Holy Spirit above All    35

3. Give Away Your Profit    50

4. Maximize Risk for the Right Reasons    67

Part Two:  People-Centered Practices    83

5. Build for 150 Years, Not Just the Next Generation    85

6. Drive Family Practices, Not Profit Practices    102

7. Put Employees First, Not Money    117

8. Defer to Your People, Don’t Just Listen to Them    132

Part Three:  Commonsense Practices    147

9. Remember Your One Thing, Not the Shiny Things    149

10. Get into the Weeds, Not the Altitude    167

11. Choose Simplicity, Not Perfection    180

12. Go at It with All Your Might, Not Lifelessly    196

Epilogue: Leadership by the Book    213

Appendix: Hobby Lobby’s Paradigm Change    221

Acknowledgments    227

Notes    229

About the Author    233

Back Ads    235

Cover Flaps    239

Back Cover    240

Introduction

The Secret Sauce

It shouldn’t work. So why does it?

Sometimes at Hobby Lobby, our customer service manager gives tours to corporate leaders. Some of them have graduated from business schools such as Harvard or other Ivy League colleges. He drives them around our premises in Oklahoma City on a golf cart. They go through our three warehouses, our art development rooms, our production and manufacturing lines, and our corporate offices. As he gives these tours, he hears our guests comment repeatedly, Your operations fly in the face of everything we learned in business school. This is exactly the opposite of what we learned—but somehow it works.

We do things differently at Hobby Lobby, and leaders notice.

Like so many people, we started our business in our garage. Along the way, we had our moments of doubt whether we’d even make it. I’ll be the first to admit, we learned much by trial and error. We’ve made plenty of mistakes over the years. But along the way, God has been gracious and guided us in ways that often haven’t appeared to make sense. We weren’t guided by business degrees, best practices, or focus groups. We didn’t have a road map—just God, the Bible, prayer, and common sense. These are the ways we’ve watched Him work. And as we followed Him, we saw Him break the rules of traditional business practices and give us success.

When we started on this journey in 1970, we had no idea what lay ahead. We had no inkling of the sales trajectory God had planned for us:

1972: 1 store, $136.40 (August through December)

1982: 7 stores, $18 million

1992: 36 stores, $128 million

2002: 285 stores, $1.1 billion

2012: 520 stores, $3.3 billion

2022: 985 stores, $8 billion (projected)

In fifty years, we’ve gone from less than $150 to $8 billion in sales! Let me bear witness—that isn’t me.

As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Hobby Lobby, I’d like to look back and try to answer the question, Why does how we operate work when it shouldn’t?

To begin, I know a few things for sure:

It isn’t merely a success formula.

It doesn’t only reflect sound business practices.

It isn’t dumb luck.

And it certainly isn’t a result of any extraordinary foresight or ability on my part.

And yet, God has used me to help create an $8 billion a year business that employs more than fifty thousand men and women across the country. He’s enabled us to give away 50 percent of our profits to help fund remarkably effective initiatives for His kingdom all over the world. It has been a wonderfully satisfying, thrilling, scary, eye-opening, perplexing, enjoyable ride lasting half a century!

But really, none of this is what interests me the most. I find the following question far more exciting: What if God might want to use you to do a new, even greater work?

While we celebrate what God has done so far through Hobby Lobby and our associated companies, I’m praying that the Lord will raise up hundreds, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of talented leaders—whether in business or ministry—with hearts committed to Christ. I dream of an army of men and women who want to not only create successful organizations but also use those enterprises to make a difference for Jesus around the world. Keep in mind that I believe the unconventional principles discussed in this book apply whether you lead a business, a church, a nonprofit, or are just contemplating the idea of leadership.

I want to lay out for you the core elements that have enabled Hobby Lobby to thrive, even though to many observers our success has seemed not just improbable but impossible. Much of our success, frankly, is improbable from a merely human standpoint. But we have never pursued business from a merely human standpoint.

We always take care to describe success in terms of what God has done. That, in fact, is a crucial part of our secret sauce, which I want to describe for you. I would love for this sauce, or some version of it, to become your own, enabling you to reach heights you’ve never even dreamed of achieving. God rarely chooses to duplicate what He’s already done. What new thing might He want to do through you?

The Secret Sauce

Every secret sauce includes many ingredients, and the amount and combination of these ingredients give each sauce its unique flavor. While every ingredient plays a key role in the sauce’s essence, some ingredients play far more critical roles than others.

As I highlight the ingredients that make up the secret sauce responsible for the success of Hobby Lobby, it might help to place those ingredients in three major categories:

God-centered practices

People-focused practices

Commonsense practices

While each of the ingredients we’ll consider has proven critical to Hobby Lobby’s success, some ingredients have played (and continue to play) an outsized role in our growth. We could not have expanded from a family business that began with a $600 loan in 1970 to a contemporary company with 985 stores nationwide, stocking 100,000 items, without this secret sauce.

I realize that most corporations with priceless secret recipes zealously guard their proprietary formulations, often keeping them locked up in high-security vaults. I think of the carefully protected recipes for Coca-Cola, KFC, Dr Pepper, or Bush’s Baked Beans. By contrast, I am handing you the secret sauce that powers Hobby Lobby. Why?

First, it’s not really mine to hang on to. While the Lord used me to establish and lead Hobby Lobby, it’s His company, not mine. He made that clear to me several years ago when I wondered what I should do about company succession and ownership. It’s one of the secret ingredients you’ll read about.

Second, I’d like to see countless men and women around the globe use this secret sauce to create their own, very different versions, suitable for a wide variety of industries, businesses, ministries, and nonprofits—not to enrich themselves but to give millions of families stable incomes and enjoyable, meaningful places to work. Beyond that, I long to see them create such high-performing organizations that they gain the means to fund or build new, extraordinary initiatives for God’s kingdom from one corner of the earth to the other, blessing those made in God’s image wherever they may live under God’s