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Name: Leadership Not by the Book
Author: David Green, Bill High

David Green, Bill High

12 Unconventional Principles to Drive Incredible Results

Brief summary

Leadership Not by the Book challenges conventional leadership approaches, urging us to embrace faith-based principles and authenticity. It presents a unique perspective on fostering trust and driving success in business and beyond.

Topics

Leadership Entrepreneurship Success Self-Help Career Progress

Table of Contents

Leadership Not by the Book
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What’s in it for me? Learn how faith-based, people-first leadership drives extraordinary business success.

When you hear about a company that grew from a $600 garage startup to a multibillion-dollar retail chain, you might assume it followed the usual path – scaling through aggressive expansion, strategic hires, and data-driven decisions. But Hobby Lobby’s success story doesn’t fit the mold. Built on a foundation of Christian values, the arts and crafts company operates on a set of principles that often challenge conventional business thinking. It closes every Sunday, gives away half of its profits, and places spiritual discernment at the center of major decisions. These aren’t side values – they’re core strategies.

What makes this approach so unusual is how consistently it works. The company thrives financially, but it also cultivates loyalty, clarity, and long-term resilience. At its heart is a belief that business can serve something greater than itself, and that leadership grounded in faith, simplicity, and generosity can drive real results.

In this Blink, you’ll learn how those principles shape every part of Hobby Lobby – from decision-making and risk-taking to employee care, team empowerment, and long-term planning. You’ll see why focusing on mission over money, people over process, and values over trends can build both strong companies and lasting impact.

Let’s dive in.

Real leadership starts with giving up control

One of the most unconventional leadership decisions you can make is to stop thinking like an owner. In other words: treat your business as something you manage on behalf of someone else – specifically, God – and be willing to act on what you believe He’s telling you, even when it goes against logic or convention.

This mindset has guided every major decision at Hobby Lobby, the multibillion-dollar craft retailer built on values that often defy standard business logic. Instead of treating success as something earned through strategy or scale, Hobby Lobby’s leadership views it as a result of obedience. That includes moments where the business gave away money it didn’t have, like a $30,000 donation made when Hobby Lobby was still small and barely breaking even. The decision didn’t come from a budget – it came from prayer. And it opened the door to a company-wide culture of giving.

Years later, when COVID-19 shut down operations across the US, Hobby Lobby once again responded with prayer. While competitors panicked and scrambled to cut costs, the founders paused three times a day to ask for guidance, furloughed staff with continued support, and reopened stores where local rules allowed. Despite 40 percent less inventory, it ended the year with record sales.

The principle is simple but demanding: if God owns the business, He gets the deciding vote. That means carving out time for quiet decisions, being willing to walk away from what looks profitable, and building a culture where listening matters.

Generosity works better than profit as a business goal

The idea that a business can thrive while giving away half its profits sounds unrealistic – until you see it in action. One of the central principles here is that generosity isn’t a cost to manage; it’s a strategy for growth. At Hobby Lobby, this approach has become standard practice, based on the conviction that wealth is a tool, not the goal.

It started with a simple tithe – ten percent of profits set aside for giving. Over time, that commitment grew to 50 percent, and the business only grew with it. What makes this principle unconventional is how directly it’s tied to a faith-based understanding of ownership and stewardship. Instead of asking how much profit can be kept, the question becomes: how much can be used to do something meaningful?

Great businesses take risks for bigger reasons

Playing it safe is easy to justify in business. But one of the most counterintuitive principles in values-based leadership is that the safest move is sometimes the one that looks riskiest – especially when the goal is something larger than profit. Hobby Lobby’s approach makes this clear: the real bottom line isn’t money, it’s impact, and that means you sometimes have to make bold, uncertain moves that prioritize purpose over predictability.

This principle became personal when leadership faced a turning point in a period of early growth. Success had brought confidence, and that confidence led to overextension. As a result, the business nearly collapsed. It was only through a period of deep financial loss and personal humility that the leaders realized the core issue wasn’t bad luck or a bad economy – it was pride, and a dependence on the illusion of control. Recovering meant rethinking risk not as something to avoid, but as something to be guided by faith.

Think in generations not fiscal years

Imagine running a business not with the next quarter in mind, but with the next 150 years as your time horizon. That’s the principle behind long-term stewardship, and it shifts leadership from growth to legacy. It means asking not just how to build a profitable company, but how to build a company – and a family – that can still stand for something meaningful long after you’re gone.

At Hobby Lobby, this thinking shapes how the company approaches both governance and giving. Leadership plans with a long horizon, asking how the business can stay true to its purpose across many generations. It’s designed a structure that preserves the company’s values, even when future leaders may be generations removed from its origins. Ownership is guided by a mission-focused framework. Leadership roles are based on character, gifting, and alignment with purpose, rather than inheritance.

Leadership should feel like family not finance

At Hobby Lobby, leadership decisions often start with a simple idea: treat the workplace like an extension of the home. This principle is about leading with the same values that support a healthy family – prioritizing people’s well-being, creating stability, and encouraging long-term growth in every part of life. Two guiding beliefs shape this approach: build the business with family-centered practices, and focus on what’s best for the people behind the work.

Employees are supported in ways that reflect care beyond productivity. The company closes on Sundays to protect time for rest. Wages start well above the national minimum, and many policies are designed to reduce pressure rather than increase output. This isn’t about perks – it’s about building a culture where people know they matter.

Trust means letting people lead

One of the clearest signs of real trust in a team is when leadership steps back and lets others take the lead. That’s the focus of this principle: don’t just listen to your team – defer to them when they know more than you do. This kind of leadership is based on humility and a willingness to release control, even when the stakes are high.

At Hobby Lobby, this principle plays out in everyday decisions. Leaders don’t pretend to have all the answers. They rely on store managers, department heads, and frontline staff to make calls that reflect deep, on-the-ground knowledge. When a leader sees someone making strong decisions and taking responsibility, the expectation isn’t to double-check them – it’s to get out of the way and let them keep going.

Focus and simplicity drive better results

One of the most common ways leaders lose momentum is by trying to chase too many things at once. The principle here is simple: pick the one thing that matters most, and build everything around it. Closely tied to that is a second principle: choose simplicity instead of perfection. Both are about focus, clarity, and disciplined decision-making.

Hobby Lobby applies this by centering its purpose on honoring God, and using that single focus to guide decisions. It’s not just about having values on the wall. Every product choice, hiring decision, and expansion plan is filtered through whether it serves that core mission. When distractions come up – and they always do – they get evaluated against that standard. If something doesn’t fit, it’s set aside.

Engaged leaders build stronger businesses

Effective leadership doesn’t come from keeping a distance. One of the key principles here is that leaders should stay close to the real work. Alongside that is another principle: lead with full energy and commitment. Both point toward a style of leadership that is active, present, and fully invested.

At Hobby Lobby, executives walk the store floors, ask questions, and watch what’s happening day to day. They want to see what customers experience and understand how employees do their work. This kind of attention might seem like micromanagement, but it’s really about staying in touch with reality and catching problems early. When leaders remove themselves too far from daily operations, they start making decisions that don’t reflect how things actually work.

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What is Leadership Not by the Book about?

Leadership Not by the Book (2022) explores how faith-driven values can shape unconventional yet highly effective leadership in business. It shares principles for building a successful company by prioritizing people, generosity, and purpose over profit. Drawing inspiration from Scripture rather than traditional business wisdom, it encourages leaders to challenge standard practices in pursuit of lasting impact.

Who should read Leadership Not by the Book?

Faith-driven entrepreneurs seeking purpose-aligned business growth
Values-based leaders aiming to inspire their teams
Anyone exploring unconventional leadership principles

About the Author

David Green is the founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby, a retail chain he built from a $600 startup into an $8 billion enterprise. Known for his faith-driven approach to leadership and philanthropy, he is also the author of the bestselling book Giving It All Away...and Getting It All Back Again.

Bill High is a former attorney and the founder of The Signatry, a Christian foundation focused on inspiring biblical generosity; he has co-authored several books on legacy and generosity, including A Generous Life and The Legacy Life.

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Personal Development Management & Leadership Career & Success Entrepreneurship

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