Hobby Lobby CEO/Founder On Faith-Based Business Principles You Won’t Learn at Harvard

Maybe you’ve seen the cozy Christmas TV commercial featuring two young girls and their competing hot cocoa stands. It’s a feel-good moment when they learn to work together, and the message from Hobby Lobby is about the joy of Christmas. What you may not know is that David Green, founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby, began the business some 50 years ago with a $600 bank loan and one principle: “God owns the business.” That principle and prayer helped build the arts and crafts mom-and-pop operation into a national chain with 50,000 employees, nearly a thousand stores, and an annual gross income of eight billion dollars. Oh, and one other principle that would make a business executive faint… Hobby Lobby gives away 50 percent of its profits. This is a “Made in America” story you rarely hear. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, David Green (not related to the host), and his co-author Bill High, founder and executive chairman of The Signatry, talk about their book, “Leadership NOT by the Book,” explaining how a business can be based on faith and still be successful. Green is living proof. Hear how he also stood his ground in a culture war that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.