In this episode of the RKD Group: Chat podcast, Scott Bjork, the President and CEO of Memphis Union Mission, shares his unconventional journey to nonprofit leadership, emphasizing the importance of faith in his work. He discusses the lessons learned from his diverse career, including his time in the trucking industry, and how these experiences have shaped his approach to leadership. Scott highlights the significance of integrating faith into daily operations and the value of personal connections with both staff and clients.
Kate McKinley
Hello and welcome back to RKD Group: Chat. In today's episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Scott Bjork, the president and CEO at Memphis Union Mission in Memphis, Tennessee. Scott's journey to becoming a nonprofit CEO was indirect, and as he even puts it, a little unlikely. But through many twists, turns, and a constant faithfulness in the Lord's plan for him, Scott has now been a successful nonprofit leader for more than two decades. I so enjoyed my conversation with Scott and love how he was able to reflect back on his different career paths and life experiences to share really valuable stories and advice for anyone who may not be quite sure where they want their careers to take them. Let's dive in.
Scott Bjork
Well, I think at the outset, I would want to say I probably am the least likely person to end up as a CEO in a nonprofit, to be very candid.
I had no earthly idea what I wanted to do when I was in school. So in college, I took courses just for the sake of taking courses. I took a lot of different things, but one of the things that really intrigued me was always finance. And so, I went ahead and got my NASD registered rep registration, passed that exam, but it was really a great experience by the way, but it was really tough making a living in the seventies trying to sell securities. Interest rates were 13, 14%. Nobody wanted to talk to you. So, great experience. So, I spent several years as a self-employed contractor, enjoyed that, and then was recruited by a trucking company where I spent 14 years on the operations side. I think that really helped me there because I learned to work with men.
And I enjoyed that experience, but then I was getting restless and wanted to do something different. I Wanted to kind of get back to some roots that I had in the past. And so, after about 14 years, I left that and went into the business brokerage business. I ended up in middle-market mergers and acquisitions, representing sellers on the sell side.
I enjoyed that experience. I think I really … what was fun about it was learning all of the diverse businesses and how they ran, how they operated, on diving into their financials, learning to recast those. In other words, to put certain assumptions in place and work with the financial statements. I learned too what drove the bottom line in a lot of businesses. But what I learned from all those different, seemingly unconnectable experiences is the truth of what God's word says. And He says that all things work together for good to them that love him and are called according to His name. So He can take and package up all of these things together for His purposes. And that's what I learned. I learned that sometimes God allows us to do different things so that He can prepare us for something that He has for us in the future.
Kate McKinley
I loved how Scott said that all things work together for good at the end of that clip. And I think his career is a perfect example of that. While he humbly admitted he's an unlikely CEO, all his experiences led him to a calling to pivot his career into the nonprofit space.
Scott Bjork
I like to cook. I've always liked to cook. So, I remember one evening, I was outside in our backyard. I was grilling, and it was one of those cool, crisp fall evenings. It was black except for the brilliance of the stars out there. And I remember it was always my habit to spend a few moments in prayer, sometimes alone outside. And I remember praying for the Lord and just saying, “You know, Lord, I'm happy with what I'm doing, but if there's something that you'd rather I do with my life, I'll be glad to do it if you just show me.” And that was a very sincere prayer. And so, as I look back, I can see how my first steps here at the mission were as a volunteer. My wife and I became donors. Then I was asked to serve on the board. I was asked to chair the finance committee. I became the treasurer. And so, you know, I was asked if I would consider coming on in an operating role. Actually, I was offered the job of VP of operations. And I remember saying at that time, I'll pray about it. And my wife and I did, and I realized something, how true it is, you know, the saying, where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
And we have been giving to the mission, but you know, our treasure is not just our financial ability to give. It's also our time because time is a treasure for most of us. We don't have a lot of spare time. And I was willingly giving my time. I really enjoyed that. And so, when I finally said yes, I didn't know if it was going to be for six weeks, or six months or six years.
And that was 24 years ago, Kate.
Kate McKinley
This idea of everything working together for good continued to be a through line in our conversation as I asked Scott to reflect back on what the transition from the for-profit world looked like for him.
Scott Bjork
Well, I think if I look back, you know, I was very fortunate, Kate, starting out with a little bit of a finance background. And then later on, when I was doing M&A work, mergers and acquisition work, I really had to get into the fine detail.
So I can see how those two parts of my career have really been a great help here. When I was a contractor, I was used to dealing with, you know, bid submissions, all of the things that go into that. And ultimately, you know, we've been through quite a bit of renovation as well as new construction here. I mean, we just wrapped up two phases of almost $36, $37 million.
So having that background, knowing how to read blueprints, has been very, very helpful. I think my time working for the trucking company, that really helped me learn how to work with men. That's who primarily here in our men's emergency shelter we work with, you know, and hiring supervisors and training them, et cetera. So I just, I just see all of those experiences being a huge plus in what I'm doing today.
Kate McKinley
As you've heard Scott mention, faith plays a huge role in his life, and he attributes his faith to his success as a leader. During our conversation, I asked Scott to share more about how he sees his faith intertwined with his day to day as a professional serving at a faith-based organization.
Scott Bjork
Well, I don't think there's really a need to balance it. I think the two become one, Kate. I know in my own life, it has just been such a huge benefit to me to know the Lord. I get up early in the morning. I get up, like this morning, I was up about quarter to five. I spend about 30 minutes, have a quiet time with the Lord in prayer. And Kate, you know, when you can speak with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords one-on-one and you can unburden yourself to Him, it doesn't get any better.
There's no such thing as a bad day after that. So I think, I think the two go, go hand in hand. I realized, Kate, this is not my ministry. It's not mine. This is the Lord's ministry. All I am is a steward, you know; the resources are all his. You know, scripture teaches us that everything in the heavens and earth is yours, Lord. So He owns it all, you know, personally.
I realized that it is the Lord that lays on the hearts of our donors to give. So it really takes the burden off of me. And that He uses, you know, for example, RKD Group, Milwaukee Direct, He uses others in that process. But my role in that process is to constantly bring beforehand the needs of this ministry here.
You know, Kate, as a Christian, we're constantly reminded that, you know, Jesus said this, He said, “In as much as you do it to the least of these, my brethren, you do it to me.” So if we call ourselves a Christian, if we say that we're men and women of faith, the way we serve people and the way we treat people is a reflection of the way we would serve or treat our Lord. And so, I think those of us in the nonprofit world that say we are a faith-based nonprofit, we need to be the ones to set a very, very high standard in the way we do things. I remind our staff all the time that if Jesus was our guest, would we do it that way? That should be the question that's constantly on our minds.
Kate McKinley
Moving away from this big picture conversation, I wanted to spend some time understanding Scott's day-to-day and what makes him successful at the mission.
Scott Bjork
Well, first of all, Kate, I think I would have to say that my day-to-day has changed a lot over the years. I think, you know, just as in business, you know, nonprofits change that evolve over time. When I first came to work here 24 years ago, most of my time was focused on operational and financial issues. You know, working with our staff, hiring good staff, training them, encouraging them. That, over a period of years, kind of moved, if you will, because we did some facility studies and things. And then I began to spend a lot of my time―we had to replace our women's facility, so I got into that fundraising capital campaign mode there, which, you know, for everybody that's been in one, they know how much time that takes, but you still have all your daily things that you have to get done.
But, you know, you really look forward to some of these, these changing or evolving positions. I would say, when we got into this whole, well, let me back up and say this: Working with our board, we put together a long-term strategic plan, which was meant to be about 20 years. And so, I spent a lot of time trying to work that plan. Part of that plan was property compilation in this particular area of town that we're in. So I negotiated about, I think, about 21 individual parcels of property that we acquired and closed on those. So that takes a little time to do. And in that process, we began to work on a master site plan. I began to spend quite a bit of time with our architects and engineers, all the while still doing things that I need to do every day. And of course, getting into a major capital campaign, trying to raise, you know, $20, $25 million. You know, that takes a little bit of time, but it, it's all fun, you know? It's all good stuff.
So, my day looks like this: I leave my house about seven. I get to our administrative offices at about 7:25, 7:30. I briefly spend some time meeting with our director of development; he and I spend five, ten minutes in the morning together. A lot of times it's just, “Hey, how was your walk?” You know, and that sort of thing. We see each other every morning and, you know, kind of a habitual sort of thing. And then he's handing off to me all the receipt letters that they, that his team processed the afternoon before. So this morning, for example, one of the first things that I did was I signed about 265 thank-you letters.
And, that is something that I do every day. I think my record one day was about 900, but I signed every thank-you letter. I don't care if it's for a dollar, and I could, I could spend 30 minutes talking about that, but it's the right thing to do. And as a result of that, I get to know who our donors are. I recognize them, and I know who's giving to us. And I probably signed, our director of development says, over a million receipt letters.
So that's part of my day. Then, you know, just fielding calls, talking with our directors, things like that. So, I don't want to say there's a typical day. I tend to get bored real easy. So I'm kind of glad that in my role, you don't have typical days too often.
Kate McKinley
Just from the way Scott talks about his day, you can tell he has such passion for what he does. And I especially appreciated that he spends a few hours every day signing letters and really diving into the heart of their mission. I asked him to speak on that a little bit more here.
Scott Bjork
Well, that's a good question, Kate. One of the ways that I did that for over 20, almost 21 years was on Tuesday nights, I went out to our long-term recovery program and did a class out there.
for the guys.
And so, I had curriculum. I had about 26 weeks of curriculum that I developed, and I would go out there, and I would spend an hour with the guys out there every week. And I enjoyed doing that. I had to stop doing that, actually, just for personal reasons, family reasons, but I really enjoyed doing that.
I love walking through the mission and just saying hi to the guys. It's, it always amazes me how many of them know my name, and I don't know all of their names, you know, but when you’ve got 300 guys in the building, it's just kind of fun to walk through from time to time and say hi.
And then we're very fortunate here, when we built this new facility, one of our key desires was to have our own little staff dining room. So our staff here, we have lunch together every day, and it's wonderful because it's kind of an impromptu staff meeting all the time, you know, but we have a good time with each other, you know?
But, you know … and then I try to, you know, keep current on things. I've had the opportunity over the years to pray with many of our donors when they've called and said, “Hey, I've got this going on or this going on.” And I'll say, “Hey, can I pray with you?” And, you know, they're very touched. But we, we also have to remember that, you know, the way we thank our donors, you know, it, it plays into much more than that. I'll give you an example. One of the things that I love doing, our development department sets these up, but I love giving our donors tours, you know, and I'll spend, on a tour, usually about two hours, and we'll sit and visit. I can, I can share this with you, but one, one of those donor tours, one of our long-standing, I would say frequent donors, okay, he wanted to bring his mother for a tour. And I said, wonderful. So we picked the afternoon to do that. I took both of them through all of our facilities, showed them everything. We sat down in our conference room and visited and everything. And then guess what happened, Kate?
She sent us a check for $100,000.
So, one of the things that we do here, we're working with a company that helps us with this, but we have a planned-giving program that we're planting seeds, if you will. I think the last count―I could be wrong, so don't quote me―but I think we've had about 65 individuals let us know that they've put us in their estate plans.
And I know that some pundits will say that for everyone that she know about, there's probably two or three more out there. There might be, you know, could very well be. But I think, if we're thanking our donors consistently and, you know, we're talking to them or sending them something, when it comes time for that codicil to their will or it comes time to sit down and do that, yeah, let me leave my Memphis Union Mission.
Kate McKinley
As you can imagine from a two-decade career, Scott has many incredible stories and highlights from his time at Memphis Union Mission. So I asked him to share just a few for those listening.
Scott Bjork
I remember, I think I'd been here about, maybe, three years or so. And we had just completed a facility study so that we could triage, if you will, what we need. The mission, you know, all of our locations, had been through a number of years of facilities neglect, if you will. I'll just say that. Friday afternoon, probably about 3:30 or so, and Memphis has this tendency to kind of start slowly shutting down on Friday afternoons, you know, it's just kind of a local thing, I think. But my phone rang, and it was a well-known attorney. And my heart raced. I thought, my goodness, are we going to get sued or what? And he said, Mr. Bjork, I want to ask you a question. And I think, here we go.
Then he said, I have a client, and I'm thinking, great, we're gifts. And he said, he wants me to ask you a question. If he gave you a million dollars, what would you do with it?
I said, sir, if he gave us a million dollars, I would use that to seed and launch a capital campaign to replace our women's facility.
And he said, I'll get back with you. And he called me back a couple of days later, and he said, that was a very good answer. My client is going to give you a million dollars to do that. So you know what I learned from that, Kate? Again, you know, I'm not in charge. You know, God is.
I'll share it with you, another one. Back in 2010, we were just bursting at the seams here. And, matter of fact, this was before we had done that long-term strategic plan. But when I say we were bursting at the seams, we were operating just one facility, our men's emergency shelter, at over 300% of capacity. We had many nights where we had literally 150, 200 men sleeping on the floor on mats. And so we were really just pressed.
So we began to look at other properties, and we found a property that we thought would be perfect for us. And fortunately, we put an offer in on it. It was accepted, but our offer was contingent on a customary due diligence. We hired an architectural firm to work with us to do the due diligence, and it came back: There was environmental remediation. There was all kinds of things. And I was in the, in the architect's office listening to them describe this, and they were going to come present to our board meeting the next day. And I remember just being sick to my stomach, knowing that this is not something we should do.
And I didn't sleep that night. We had our board meeting the next day. And I remember they came in and presented for half an hour, and nobody said a word. And then the chairman of our board thanked them for their report, excused them, and he said, ladies and gentlemen, we have a decision to make. And one of our board members said, I move that we discontinue pursuing this acquisition. There was a quick second, a quick vote, and I realized right then and there the truth of God's Word. Remember what He says, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in all things with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.” I had so much peace. I knew that was the right decision, and I knew that God had something better for us. And I realized, why did I stay awake all night learning about this? You know, how foolish of me.
I can tell you, for me, some of those other experiences are just getting a phone call from a former guest or client, thanking us for, for what we've done for them.
Kate McKinley
Scott's clearly had a very successful and fulfilling career. And so, I wanted to spend some time getting to know some of his keys for success along the way.
Scott Bjork
Well, I would say some of those keys are―if I could share this with other people to encourage, that is―to invest your life in something you're passionate about. We only have one life, but if we're passionate about something, we're going to enjoy going to work every day. It's not going to be work; it's something that we love to do. I think that we've got to believe that we can make a difference. We've got to believe that our life counts. You know, my prayer to the Lord all the time is, Lord help me finish well. You know, you've given me so many things, so many blessings, you know, and I just thank him for all the education I've had, schoolteachers, et cetera.
But I think, too, one of the things that I would pass on to others is pursue your own personal mastery in everything that you do. I think I realized a long time ago that the pursuit of mediocrity is always successful. So if we aim low, we're going to hit it every time, you know? If we aim high, we may not hit it every time, but it's better to fall a little bit short than not to do that.
I would say for myself―and I'll pass this on, I did this, probably in my late 20s, early 30s, but I joined one of these executive leadership book clubs. Matter of fact, the original one that I joined was called the executive program. I don't think it's in existence any longer, but what it ... what it forces you to do, the one that I was involved with for years and years and years, I probably have, and I'm not exaggerating, maybe about 300 books that I bought through that program. But what it does, they would send me two books a month, and I would read those books. At that particular time, you didn't select them. They just sent them to you. And you paid the bill, obviously, right? But the advantage to that in your career is that you're learning things that you don't know when you're going to use it.
I think what we all have to realize is that we are responsible for our own personal mastery, not the organization we work for, but we are. And I think what happens with a lot of people is whatever, wherever school that you're happy with, whether it was a bachelor's degree or a master's degree or a doctorate or whatever it is, okay, that's where a lot of people stop learning because they're never challenging themselves beyond that. But what I found is so beneficial is that when I'm meeting with a donor or a volunteer, I can talk their language. Hire people that are smarter than you, that are wiser than you, that have more experience than you. Enjoy working with them. Learn from them. Encourage them. Grow with them.
I never had any fear. I'm always looking for the, the best you can find out there. Some people are, are afraid to do that. They'll make me look bad. No, hey, listen, on our staff, I've got it; I've got a guy on our staff with a doctorate. I don't have one of those, you know? I hired him. I mean, I've got all these people on my staff that have master's degree, our business or our CFO, he's got a CPA. Yeah, I've taken accounting, I know my way around that, but I'll tell you what, he can teach it.
So, you know, get yourself surrounded by good people and then get out of their way. That's what I do, just get out of their way and let them do their job, you know, and encourage them.
Kate McKinley
This episode has been full of so many valuable pieces of advice and takeaways from Scott's experiences and stories. I so enjoyed my time with him and hope that you can take away as much from this conversation as I did.
As we close out this episode, I'd like to leave you with one final piece from our time together as Scott shares his advice for those who may still be uncertain where their career journey is leading them.
Scott Bjork
You know, I happen to be a Christian, and I don't make any bones about that. I would say, the first thing would be to pray about it. Say, Lord, what is it that You want me to do with my life? And personally, I just say this, Kate: I don't think God cares as much what we do for a living as He cares how we do it. See, I think how we do what we do is more important to Him, okay? Because if our desire is to be a witness to others, if our desire is to serve others, He'll honor that.
One of the things, you know, I think God sometimes has a sense of humor, okay, because I know people who get master’s in nonprofit management, all the rest of this stuff, right? But this is what I've seen in my own life: God sometimes doesn't take the smartest, or the brightest, or the most educated or the most experienced and put them in those positions. He takes men and women who make themselves available to Him. And then He gifts us either with what we don't have, or He surrounds us with people that complement us.
That's been my experience, is to look back and realize He put me in this role. I mean, if I had known what was involved, I probably would have said no, you know? I mean, I was hired to be VP of operations. That was my, my comfort zone. And the then president/CEO, literally, a couple of days later resigned.
I wasn't expecting that, you know, and he was a wonderful guy, wonderful person. But I was not expecting that, all of sudden, this was going to fall in my life.
And so, that's why I say, I think God has a sense of humor because it just really made me realize how much I have to trust him. So I just say, you know, commit your life to the Lord and just say, “Lord, you know, what would you like me to do?” He's not going to have us do something that we won't love or enjoy or, you know, there's an old saying, you know, there's joy in serving Jesus. Well, there really is. It really is, you know, when we see people's lives changed, there's joy in that. And if there isn't joy in that, then there's something wrong with us.
So I just encourage your listeners, look, I'm just a normal guy that, and I’m just still thinking, slap me, you know, how did I get here?
Group Thinkers is a production of RKD Group. For more information, including how you can partner with RKD to accelerate growth for your fundraising and nonprofit marketing needs, visit rkdgroup.com.