by Hank Flint
Vice Chairman & CEO of Coca-Cola Bottling
U.Va. J.D./MBA '80, U.Va. B.A. '76

The following is adapted from Hank's visit to Darden Christian Fellowship on October 26, 2010 and can be found in our Winter 2011 Study Center Newsletter. Many thanks to Hank for his time and heart to visit Darden and for allowing us to share some of his story.

I thought about a number of things that I could speak to you about today but I felt called to speak about an uncomfortable thing - personal failure. I’m not talking about failing a test, or failing to get a job, or failing at a job, or other kinds of earthly failure, but failure to follow God’s Word, to advance the Kingdom, to serve one Master and no other. I guarantee you that behind most every grand introduction you hear, there is a list of failures not recounted, and behind every Christian resume, there’s a long list of failures to do the Kingdom work we are charged to do. Our greatest learning comes from failure but we don’t talk about it much, do we? 

To tell you a little about myself, I graduated from U.Va. undergrad in 1976 with a B.A. in English and American Studies. I became a Christian at the end of my third year of college, brought to Christ by the influence of two men who were bold and unashamed of their faith. I was nurtured in my faith during my fourth year by a strong undergraduate Christian community of which the Center for Christian Study and its predecessor were a part; I was seemingly prepared for a great graduate experience at the Darden School and the Law School and entered the joint degree program in the Fall of 1976 right out of undergrad. Oh, and I met and fell in love with my wife, Anne McMullan, during my fourth year and we became engaged just after I graduated from UVA and before my first year of Law School.

In short, there was a lot going on. I had embraced career preparation and marriage in one fell swoop. I was well prepared for Law School, not particularly well prepared for Business School but I’ve always been an aggressive learner and hard worker so I survived pretty well with good job offers in the business world and legal world and, I suppose, a look of success. But, looking back, the question I ask now is “Where was Jesus?” What Master was I serving in those days, as a young man pursuing a career, as a newlywed pursuing a marriage? I was prone then to be caught up in the challenges of the day or week and in the things of the world most immediately obvious and frankly, important – things like career and marriage – but I don’t recall ever asking the Lord God, “Lord, what is your purpose for my life?”

Well, I finally took a legal job in a firm of 25 lawyers in Charlotte, NC, a large firm by 1980 Charlotte and North Carolina standards. Some considered that choice a step-down from the bright lights of bigger cities, bigger law firms, bigger investment banks, bigger consulting firms. But it was a choice my bride and I made together to live in a smaller place, to focus on career AND family, to have a manageable life . . . and frankly to deal with something I’ve struggled with all my life, something the power of which we underestimate, something called “workaholism”.   Workaholism is an addiction. It represents over compensation for a fear of failure, a need to achieve for achievement’s sake, a never satisfied state of never feeling good enough. A great book by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, Lead Like Jesus, defines “addiction” as “an ever increasing desire for something that has an ever-decreasing ability to satisfy.” It is rampant in service businesses like law, investment banking, consulting and the like, and other careers as well.

I practiced law for 24 years, running the gamut from corporate to securities to utilities to merger and acquisition to venture capital and private equity law. Charlotte grew like gangbusters. The city which Anne and I styled as manageable and livable for quality of life became bigger that we ever imagined with lots of career opportunity, lots of success opportunity and lots of opportunity for an addiction to mature.

But, as a Christian businessman, 56 years of age and a little tire tread behind me, let me tell you a few things I remember the most about that part of my career. I remember the early part, the part about my first associate who I fired for failing to be available when clients needed her because she was off doing other things, other things arguably she shouldn’t have been doing with client demands as they were. But did I understand that she was recently divorced after two years of a first marriage, that her life was in a shambles, that she needed a friend in the workplace, not an enemy, and that there was an opportunity for Christ sitting square between my eyes? And what about the incredibly talented associate who next worked for me and who finally told me through teary eyes that my work style was offensive, that not everyone needed to work like me, serve clients like I did, or expect the same thing from themselves that I did. And then there was a third work associate who conformed to expectations and stayed the course, worked himself to the bone and lost his marriage and his interest in the law practice, not necessarily because of me and my work style but what if I could have coached him and helped him, what if I could have seen him the way Jesus sees people? The point is there is a story and an opportunity with every single person you meet and there are no coincidences in relationships in the workplace or otherwise. People are placed in each other’s paths and, as sure as I’m standing here, the Lord God is saying “What will you do with what I’ve provided you, not only things like food and other sustenance, but the relationships I’ve provided you?”

What had happened to me in those days between 1980-1995? Who was my Master then? Was it God? I don’t think so. Was it money? Not really. Was it an insatiable thirst for more work, more fear prevention medicine, more career, more following, more self-esteem, more love from the world? I believe so. Am I describing a career that looked like a wreck to the world? Not at all. It looked just the opposite. But to the one Master my work and career were a wreck because they had become the object of my service, my second master.

I saw that the day-to-day activity of work and career and family had stolen from reflection on God’s purpose for my life, that His purpose had been buried in living for the next day or week, not in living for eternity. And I saw the workaholism, not for its outer symptoms of intensity and hard work but for the darkness that was behind it. I found renewed comfort in a God that loves us, that tells us we are worthy, that we have nothing to fear and calls us to Him. And I began to understand my Kingdom purpose to love and mentor other people, young and old, and to know, understand and develop them in the work environment so that work and career would feel like a place of great expectation and gratitude, not a place of burden and paycheck.

A workplace is an incredible place for ministry, one of the best places for ministry if the glasses you wear belong to Jesus. And so I began to see my work and career entirely differently. I began to pray, to meet with other Christian men in our community, to seek the Kingdom of God, and I was renewed and changed. God began to work through me and use me as His vessel, building on who He made me to be, erasing fear, and replacing it with His will and His hand.

Now, a few short years after this renewal and reawakening, I was asked to co-lead my law firm. God prepared me for that leadership as sure as I’m standing here today. He prepared me to release my client relationships to others, to develop and build new relationships throughout the firm, to speak truth into people about alcoholism, workaholism, and similar issues, to listen to family issues, marriage issues, kids issues and other crises of life, and most importantly to move into those issues with an eye toward what Jesus might say or do. God taught me to see my work and ministry through the value of relationships, to be more intentional and planful about work and home, and to see it all in His context for His purposes. I felt myself moving into a comfort zone of Kingdom work and leadership over the five years God placed me in this position.

And then, in 2003, I was confronted with the prospect of an abrupt career change. Stop leading my law firm; stop practicing law; join Coke Consolidated, a long standing client of mine and one of the only clients I retained as co-managing partner. Jump out of my growing comfort zone into a business I knew a little about but really not that much. Come off the leadership pedestal and become a learner once again. And all this in a company and industry where the longevity and experience averages 15-20 years and respect is bred from tenure and operating knowledge. Now I was to come in as a senior executive officer and you might think that a fancy entrance but I can tell you that title, on the one hand, and real leadership and influence, on the other, are mutually exclusive, particularly in an industry like ours.

And so, since mid 2004, I have been learning and growing, using the relationship skills the Lord has provided to build friendships in the Coke system and growing in operating knowledge. Suffice it to say that relationships with our franchise company, The Coca-Cola Company, and fellow bottlers count for a large percentage of our business success. And the value that the Lord has placed on personal relationships in my life at this time is clearly the “Why” behind my calling to this new career. My responsibilities as Vice Chairman, though some are functional in nature, really revolve around personal relationships – with our employees, with TCCC, with fellow bottlers, with the political environment impacting our business, with our customers, and with our Board and executive team. And so I find myself positioned at this point in my career in an unusual job built in some way to pursue God’s calling or purpose for my life and the question is “What will I do with this opportunity?”

Well, part of it is to have a conversation with you. And my real leave behind for you all today, is this whole idea of serving one Master, serving the Lord God throughout your life and career as THE priority, not A priority, and your Kingdom purpose will fall into place. A life and career covered in Kingdom purpose will be a life built for eternity and not for things of the here and now.

Here are a few things I’ve learned which will help secure your service to one Master throughout your life and career:

1. Covet Conversations with God. Call this prayer time or continuous conversations with God but listen to God regularly, reflect, talk, ask for direction, ask for Him to show you what you’re to do, what His will is. Ask daily and routinely and he will open up doors. On mornings when I’ve earnestly and honestly asked God to show me opportunity to do His will, He has never failed to show me something new and magical.
2. Read Scripture Regularly. Read and study Scripture. I’m in Jeremiah as we speak and am feeling challenged by this lonely pariah of Judah who stood so firm for the Lord in the midst of a people which had abandoned their God and His covenant.
3. Seek Transparent Fellowship with Sisters and Brothers In Christ. Transparent fellowship means truthful, deep sharing relationships with trusted men and women of faith who care about you, who strengthen and encourage you, who hold you accountable, and who want to do something to advance the Kingdom.
4. Join an Authentic Church Anchored in the Gospel and Get Involved. This is building on your community of faith, keeping you anchored in the Gospel and connected to God’s work locally and in the world. Authentic means just that: it seems to me that your Church environment should be just as authentic as your personal fellowship. Get your family involved and become an integral part of the community. Share your talents.
5. Focus on Service to Others – In Life and In Your Work Environment. Have an intentional and personal commitment to serve others. To know something about their life, their joys, their struggles. Learn names. Understand that employees, customers, subordinates, superiors, and all others you meet are people first, business associates second. Love them. Let them see the servant heart of Christ in you. Develop the full potential of those that work for you. That means their full life potential, not just their business potential. Do all this even to the point of sacrifice in a competitive work environment. Your name will be associated with trust.
6. Share When a Door is Opened. Share the love of Christ when a door gets opened. It will get opened. Recognize that God does the work, not you.
7. Lead with Purpose. Finally, as you are granted leadership opportunity, lead with your purpose and values at the forefront. Talk about your purpose and values. Reduce them to action.

 I want you to avoid my long walk in the wilderness. Put God first. Ask Him to lead you in your life and stay squarely within His purpose.