Jonathan Sample
Denver, Colorado
I am a happily married man of 22 years with two great kids. And with 20+ years of senior leadership experience in the corporate and nonprofits worlds, I've travel throughout the Spanish-speaking world and have been blessed with a career that has allowed me to express my creativity and innovation, all the while having the opportunity to develop and grow successful business and ministry operations and people.
SKILLS
Public Speaking
Cross-Cultural Communication
Business Development
Leadership
Digital Marketing
Team Building
Coaching
Spanish
Strategic Planning & Implementation
WORK HISTORY
Latin Outreach
Executive DIrector
Denver, CO
2015–present
Lead a $12 million nonprofit organization of 40+ team members with field operations and partnerships throughout Central and South America.
Reason For Leaving:
Still employed there, but feeling that it may be time to explore "what's next."
Central American Hydro Power
CEO
Mexico City, Mexico
2011–2015
Comprehensive responsibility to secure, finance, engineer, and construct hydro power sties in twelve Central and South American countries.
Reason For Leaving:
Sensed a calling from God to move into nonprofit ministry work.
Motorola Corporation
General Manager
Boston, MA
1999–2011
Progressively larger roles in a Fortune 50 company, from Manager, e-Business Solutions to National Account Manager to Director of Sales, North America to Managing Director, Latin America to GM, North American Consumer Products. Largest workforce overseen was 400 with an annual budget of $52 million.
Reason For Leaving:
Opportunity to lead a promising startup in Mexico City.
ABC Television
Account Manager
New York, NY
1995–1999
Developed and implemented sales and marketing programs for advertisers in the automobile (cars, trucks, parts and repairs) vertical.
Reason For Leaving:
Offered a leadership role at Motorola.
EDUCATION
Vanderbilt University
Master's Degree
1995
MBA
Penn State University
Bachelor's Degree
1993
Business & Finance. Graduated Summa Cume Laude.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Please be sure to click on all 3 tabs.
Please share your faith story.
I was raised in a Christian family and accepted Christ at the age of 6. Having a world-class bible camp near our home in rural Wisconsin, I was heavily influenced by the teaching and exposure to a broad mix of Christians early in my life. At the age of 14 I had what I call a “full conversion” experience in a re-dedication of my life to Christ at this camp. I have trusted God and have followed Christ my whole life.
My current relationship with God is at the most honest and deepest level it has ever been. However, to provide some context, I will tell you that over the past 10 years I have been in the process of shedding much of what I formerly may have believed about God either because it was only tradition-based denominationally or because life brings you to new places and you discover that maybe what I had been following was more influenced by culture and society, even religious movements, than it was a direct result of knowing God as He is! I also want to say that suffering, pain, challenges, and the disrupted world we live in all lead me, as it has millions of others over time, to a deeper understanding of God’s ways. As I say daily; “He is the Lord my God and in Him I will put my trust for all of time.”
What practices or disciplines contribute to your personal spiritual health?
God is very present in my daily life through regular prayer and reading of His Word. I have been an active member, Deacon, and officer in my church now in Denver for 5+ years. I also have taken a one-week silent sabbatical at a monastery each year for the past 6 years to simply unwind and listen to God.
What do you (and your family, if you have one) do for fun?
Well, I love love LOVE fly-fishing and Montana! I enjoy studying new business trends and staying on top of the disruption that is/has been happening with digital technology. My wife and I enjoy travel, long walks, and dinner out with friends. I coach my kids' sports team as much as possible. And I love NFL football and college basketball. I love nature and so enjoy camping, hiking. And oh, did I mention…. fly-fishing!!
What is your marital status?
Married
If married, how does (or would) your spouse view your work in ministry?
My wife, Maria, has always been with me 100% (despite the travel and long hours), and is especially supportive of the work in ministry I have done over the past few years. She also serves in several various ways herself, participating in many short-term mission trips including international locations like Haiti, Nicaragua, and Haitian work in the Bahamas.
What are your top 3 spiritual gifts?
Leadership, wisdom, and discernment
What would people close to you likely say are your strengths?
Decision-making, empowering my team, integrity, personal relationships, understanding of business and finances
What would people close to you likely say are your most needed areas of personal growth?
This certainly isn't a unique answer, but I'm pretty sure they would say patience. I need to be more aware that people comprehend and work at a different pace than I normally do. This is something that I'm (at least now) aware of and constantly working on.
Who have been the most influential people in your life? From which voices or leaders are you currently learning and growing the most?
My Christian family modeled their genuine faith at home (most of the time.) My mentor, Bob Briner. My five accountability partners and long-time friends which I currently maintain. Christian and non-Christian authors and thinkers like Andy Crouch, Tim Keller, Dietrich Bonhoffer, C.S. Lewis, Henry Blackaby, Simon Sinek, Seth Godin and Patrick Lencioni.
What is your denominational or church network affiliation? Has that changed in the past five years? If so, list previous affiliations.
I was raised in the Free Methodist Church and have attended several other denominations over the years (Baptist, Presbyterian). I am currently deeply involved in leadership at a non-denominational Bible church.
What is your current employment status? Describe the exit from your most recent position.
I am employed full-time as the CEO of a nonprofit ministry. I left the corporate life a few years ago based on a clear calling from God, and while I'm thankful for my career there, it was the best decision I have ever made.
Describe your leadership style.
A warm, open, fun and friendly environment. Businesslike, but not corporate. Professional, but with heart. I have a complete open door policy...when my door is open (which it is except when I’m in a meeting or on an important call), come by and talk, ask questions, make suggestions. I like to take my direct reports out individually once a month for coffee, lunch or breakfast, getting them away from the office environment where we can get to know one another and talk about whatever it is we need to talk about, or just about life and ministry and family.
Rate yourself from 1 (Unstructured and Free) to 10 (Highly structured and tightly organized)
If we spoke to your last few supervisors, what leadership coaching would they likely offer you, to improve your performance?
Probably slow down. I'm driven and like to move things forward, not at breakneck speed, but sometimes without taking the necessary care to bring others on my team with me.
What has been your greatest disappointment or regret in business or ministry?
There is a lot to unpack here, but in brief, I never set out to lead the Hydro Power startup myself. I always wanted it to be a team effort with my partner (and good friend), who had the technical expertise. We launched the venture together, but due to some major health issues, he had had to back out shortly after everything was set in motion. I had no contingency plan, and I chose to take too much on personally. The next 18 months were a real struggle...hard on me, my employees and our investors. Looking back, my greatest regret is that I didn't pursue hard enough finding a new partner or partners to help with the business, especially the technical side (and it was highly technical). There were some “emergency” decisions I made that definitely hurt more than helped. It shouldn't have been that way, and it was a great lesson learned. Ultimately, we were successful and honoring to our mission and our investors, but I can't help but feel we could have spared many (including myself) a lot of hurt and grief by making better decisions and relying more on the counsel of others.
Give us an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team. How did you handle that?
Serving as an elder at a large church, it began to become apparent that one of our founding pastors—the man who was the real visionary and motivational leader—had developed some very serious problems that were going to need to be dealt with by the elders and confessed before the church body, which by that time had grown to over 4000. To say that this was a challenging time would be a gross understatement...it was clearly the most difficult thing I had ever faced. This pastor was loved and admired by the entire body and was an extremely gifted and compelling leader.
Because of the issues that he was facing, our other teaching pastor and one of the other key pastor/leaders of the church went into deep clinical depression and were virtually out of commission for about six months. The responsibility fell to me to lead the church (behind the scenes) and the elder board—as a couple of other pastors handled the weekly teaching—through this incredibly difficult and public time.
Ultimately, after many weeks of counsel, prayer and discussions, the elders decided that that pastor needed to step down from pastoral ministry. Needless to say, this could have easily torn the church apart. But, by God’s miraculous grace, the rest of the staff team (about 70) stayed intact and focused, the church continued to grow and giving actually went up! Very few people left the church during this time, although there were many difficult conversations with members of the body who didn’t or couldn’t fully understand what had happened and why the elders decided what they did. Obviously, we had to be respectful of his privacy and family, so we could only tell as much of the story publicly as we felt would honor that.
Give us an example of a time when you did not meet an expectation of your boss, a ministry partner, or a client/customer. What happened, and how did you attempt to remedy the situation?
This relates a bit to my answer above, but when I first came to Latin Outreach, I got way out in front of my leadership team, not understanding how many nonprofits work or think. Fortunately for me, the chairman of the board to whom I reported had made the transition from a C-suite role at a $2 billion company to leading a relatively small ($20 million) nonprofit ten years earlier. His wise counsel made a huge difference in my leadership style. He also helped me see the differences in how ROI is measured, which also helped guide goals and expectations for me and our team.
How would people who work with you say that you respond to criticism?
Even though I'm a hard driver, I'm also a very good listener. I can stop what I'm doing and actually hear what people are saying to me. I think the board chair I referenced above would give me high marks for how I listened and responded, which has been pretty consistent over the past 12-15 years (maybe not so much in my younger years).
Describe the size and structure of the most recent staff team you have led. Include peers, direct reports, and supervisors.
At its largest, my team was about 400 spread out over 12 countries, each with a GM and leadership team. I've also served on several C-suite teams and now lead a nonprofit with a COO, CFO, CDO and VP, Research & Innovation reporting directly to me.
What do you look for when hiring new staff who will report directly to you?
I look for competency, experience and commitment. I have also often “had my eye on someone” for months or even years, seeing that person as being able to excel in a role that they perhaps had never even thought of, and eventually helped successfully move them into that role when the time and circumstances were right. I look for those who will be both team leaders and team players, for people who are decisive and unafraid, yet have a heart of a servant leader, and for people who are empowering, collaborative and engaging.
Share a few principles you follow in supervising your employees.
I really addressed this in the question about my leadership style above. I also follow what I call the "Four Es"—the idea of Equipping, Empowering, Encouraging and Evaluating. Communication is also key; the team needs to understand where we’re going, why we’re going there and how we plan to get there. Meetings need to have a purpose and an outcome; staff meetings, team meetings, one-on-one meetings (both scheduled and spontaneous) are important, as are fun times together.
Describe your ideal work environment. What are you doing on your “best day” (of work or ministry)?
My ideal work environment is driven by a compelling vision, ripe opportunity and a strong sense of team. In terms of physical environment, for nearly a decade I have gone back and forth between my office at headquarters, remote home office and travel. Personally, I enjoy a balance of in-person time with team members in order to build strategy and grow relationship, collaboration and understanding; and work from home, as the latter allows me more focused visioning, research, strategizing, writing, and review time.
My "best day" of work or ministry includes relational time with my team (and others at various levels of the organization, as time allows), prioritization of what's most important for both me and those I lead that day, communicating a unified vision inside and outside the organization, and empowering people towards our desired outcomes.
What languages do you speak? At what level (beginner, conversational, fluent, Native)?
My native English and fluent Spanish. A little Portuguese and French as well.
Is there any content that you (or your spouse) are posting on social media that may be of concern to a ministry organization that is considering hiring you?
No, my wife doesn't really use social media and I only post good leadership and/or Christian content.
Knowing that virtually every company or organization is going to run a background check on your prior to hiring, is there anything that they need to be aware of?
No.