presented to UT Austin's Human Dimensions of Organization class in Nov 2013

1. STEWARD THE JOURNEY
A look at FG SQUARED’s 19 year journey to see what
patterns emerge
UT HDO Professional Seminar
09 Nov 2013
Hosted by Steve Golab
golab@fg2.com

2. ABOUT FG SQUARED
•
An Austin-based Jive Alliance Agency who also owns and
operates the GoLab Austin coworkspace.
•
Here’s what we do really well
•
Global enterprises trust us to tailor their Jive Software
communities.
•
We also provide workspace for local creative professionals,
software developers, and journey-oriented entrepreneurs.

3. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN PERSPECTIVE & MEANING
What is stewardship, and why is it an
important skill for people?

4. STEWARDSHIP – CHOOSING SERVICE OVER SELF INTEREST
“Stewardship is the willingness to be accountable for
the well being of the larger organization by
operating in service, rather than in control, of those
around us. Stated simply, it is accountability
without control or compliance.”
- Peter Block

5. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE
“You look at where you’re going and where you are
and it never makes sense, but then you look back at
where you’ve been and a pattern seems to emerge.
And if you project forward from that pattern, then
sometimes you can come up with something.”
- Robert Pirsig

6. JOURNEY
What journey are you on right now
and what meaning might you
uncover by reflecting on it?

7. PEEK INTO MY LIFE JOURNEY
1973
1994
Born;
given 10%
chance of
survival
FG2
was born
2008
Daughter
was born
2013
Heart
Attack
(DJIA 3754)
(DJIA 13264)
(DJIA 13104)
1991
2000
Move
to
Austin
Married
on a cliff
in
Hawaii
(DJIA 2633)
(DJIA 11497)
2010
Golab
Austin
was
born
(DJIA 12217)

8. THE JOURNEY OF MY ROLE AS BUSINESS OWNER
1995
2001
Project Manager
and Programmer
HR, Sales, and
Marketing
2010
Community
Steward
1998
2004
Client
Service and
Finance
Chairman
and CEO

9. THE JOURNEY OF FG2 OWNERSHIP TEAM
1995
Fred
and
Matt
leave
1994
Jason and
Casey join
2003
2006
Lin and
Debbie
join
Davin
leaves
1995
1996
2004
2010
Steve,
Fred,
and
Matt
join
Davin
joins
Jason
and
Casey
leave
Lin
leaves
Debbie
and
Steve
Remain

10. THE JOURNEY OF FG2 CORE TEAM
2004-2006
1999
Debbie,
Brad, and
Culby join
1995
Steve joins
Amy and
Coskey
joins
Brad and
Culby
return
2012
Coskey
returns
1997
2001
20011
Jim
joins
Brad
and
Culby
leave
Coskey
leaves

11. THE JOURNEY OF FG2 BUSINESS MODEL
1996
Multimedia
Services
Firm
1994
Ecommerce
2007
Social
Business
Agency
1995
2000
2012
Tech
Consulting
Firm
Integrated
Services Firm
Jive
Alliance
Agency

12. THE JOURNEY OF FG2 MARKETS
1996
B2B
1994
2008
Global
2000 and
Startups
WWW
Users
Social
Enterprise
1995
2003
2012
Professional
Service
Firms
B2B
Jive Owners in
Texas
Global
2000
Especially
Global 2000

13. THE JOURNEY OF FG2 OFFERING
2007
1996
1994
Legacy
Creative,
Technology,
Strategy
Computer and
Hair Products
+
Social
1995
2000
Myriad
of
Services
Plan,
Design,
Execute
2012
Jive
Only

14. SMALL GROUP CONVERSATION
What themes emerge?

15. THE JOURNEY OF FG SQUARED’S MANTRA
1994
1996
How will we
fund the Easy
Beader
Prototype?
What are our
signature
areas of
innovation?
1998
How do we
scale
quickly?
1995
1997
Can we make a
living doing
what we love?
How do we
build long
term client
relationships?

16. THE JOURNEY OF FG SQUARED’S MANTRA
2002
How do we
manage the
transition
going on in
our
individual
lives?
1999 - 2000
How can we
work less and
play more?
2005
How do we
stay alive
when our
email
server
keeps
crashing?
2001
2003 – 2004
Who stays and
who goes?
How do we
breathe new
life into this
company?

17. THE JOURNEY OF FG SQUARED’S MANTRA
2008
2006
Is this really
happening
again?
Where can we find
more inspiration?
2007
2009
What does social
mean for our
clients?
Who is going to
save us?

18. THE JOURNEY OF FG SQUARED’S MANTRA
2012
2010
When we say
no, what are we
saying yes to?
Who is ready to reboot
the business?
2011
2013
What do we
want to create
together?
How do we want
to grow
together?

19. SMALL GROUP CONVERSATION
What themes emerge?

20. STEWARDSHIP IS THE CORE ACTION
“We are all on a journey, and in that journey we are trying to
express ourselves in the greatest, fullest expression of
ourselves. Stewardship involves being present to and helping
someone else, starting with yourself, to go and find that full
expression. There is a lot of work behind real stewardship. It
has to do with a lot of things about understanding where that
person or thing is on its journey and what they’re trying to do.
So it’s a lot of questions pulling it out.”
- Bijoy Goswami

21. THANK YOU