SeekFirst

SeekFirst Developing innovative solutions to help
organizations bring order out of the chaos of growth. His new book, BUILT FOR CHAOS, releases in April 2023.

Gary Harpst has been recognized as being one of the Top 100 of the nation’s top thought-leaders in management and leadership by Leadership Excellence magazine.

05/28/2026

LeadFirst built something. SeekFirst is what we built.

A tool for leaders who are done losing the day to noise, scattered priorities, and teams that aren't quite aligned.

The name means exactly what it says.
Seek what matters. Put it first. Do it together.

We're opening early pilot access free for a small group of leaders who want to win the day.

Early access → https://www.seekfirst.win/join-the-waitlist?utm_source=socials&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=join

05/24/2026

Trust is built when actions match promises.

People quickly lose confidence in those who say one thing and deliver another. True integrity is both character and competence, being honest, accountable, and capable of delivering results.

Just like in football, success depends on every team member knowing their role and showing up consistently for one another. When accountability becomes part of the culture, trust follows naturally. 💯

One of the most counterintuitive truths in organizational leadership is this:Order is easier to create than keep.The sta...
05/23/2026

One of the most counterintuitive truths in organizational leadership is this:

Order is easier to create than keep.

The startup phase has a natural urgency that creates focus. Everyone knows the mission. Everyone is fighting for survival. Alignment happens almost automatically.

Then success comes. Growth. New people who weren't shaped by the founding culture. More complexity, more opportunity, more distraction.

Most organizations celebrate when they create order. The ones that last build the discipline to sustain it, through every new hire, every growth phase, every season where the urgent threatens to displace the important.

What did your organization do this week to sustain the alignment you've worked hard to build?

Being is a higher standard than doing. You can paint pictures and not be an artist. You can hold the one-on-ones, run th...
05/15/2026

Being is a higher standard than doing.

You can paint pictures and not be an artist. You can hold the one-on-ones, run the planning sessions, execute the reviews, but still not be a leader in any meaningful sense of the word.

Because the people around you know the difference. They know whether the one-on-one is genuine care or a procedural box. They know whether the values on the wall govern decisions or decorate them.

Process skills get organizations built. Character determines whether they last.

At LeadFirst, we develop both: because the organizations worth building are led by people who became someone worth following, not just someone who ran the right process.

Most organizations don't collapse all at once.They erode through small compromises, deferred conversations, and quietly ...
05/13/2026

Most organizations don't collapse all at once.

They erode through small compromises, deferred conversations, and quietly loosening standards.

Song of Solomon 2:15 has named this dynamic for thousands of years: it's the little foxes that spoil the vineyard. Not a predator you see coming. The small ones that move in while everything still looks healthy.

Benjamin Franklin understood the same principle when he said of the new republic: "A republic, if you can keep it." Creating something great is one challenge. Keeping it is a different discipline entirely.

As you head into this week, the question worth asking isn't whether your organization is growing.

It's whether the small things are being caught early enough to protect what's been built.

What little fox has been quietly working in your organization, and what would it cost to leave it one more week?

Most organizations are good at managing performance.Fewer are good at caring for people.Step 2 in the LeadFirst framewor...
05/12/2026

Most organizations are good at managing performance.
Fewer are good at caring for people.

Step 2 in the LeadFirst framework is Soul Care, what caring people do.

⬜ Take real interest in people as people
⬜ Be there in times of need
⬜ Show kindness at work and at home
⬜ Support life outside the office

This isn't a culture program. It's a conviction.
"Love your neighbor as yourself" in a business context, that's one of the most demanding standards you can hold.

Faith-driven leaders are hard about building cultures that love people. Because that's what stewardship looks like.

Want to Go on an Adventure?In this scene in 'The Hobbit', Gandalf asks the Hobbit a question:"Want to go on an adventure...
05/09/2026

Want to Go on an Adventure?
In this scene in 'The Hobbit', Gandalf asks the Hobbit a question:

"Want to go on an adventure? ...It will be good for you and amusing for me."

Tolkien, the author, says that Gandalf represents a messenger from God. His question is the same question God is asking you. “Do you want to go on an adventure with me?”

God seldom promises success in the world's eyes, but He promises He will be with you, and you will grow to know Him in ways you never could otherwise. 'All' it takes is the faith to trust Him with all your life, including your business.

This is an adventure we have been on for over forty years. Nothing has been more challenging and rewarding.

The adventure continues!

Faith-driven leaders aren't soft on business performance.They're the most serious about it because running a healthy bus...
05/08/2026

Faith-driven leaders aren't soft on business performance.

They're the most serious about it because running a healthy business is an act of stewardship.
The LeadFirst framework:

🟣 Whole Business Care-profitable growth, good jobs, happy customers, sound management. What only healthy businesses can do.
⬜ Soul Care - taking real interest, being present, kindness at work and at home. What caring people can do.
🔺 Spirit Care - forgiveness, renewal, hope, strength. What only Jesus can do.

You can't build from the top down.

A healthy business is the foundation that makes whole person care possible.

05/07/2026

Every growing organization eventually falls into the same trap.

You hire more people. Add more layers. Build more processes. And somewhere in that growth, the simple clarity that made the early organization so powerful gets lost.

Built to Beat Chaos names this dynamic the Growth Deception:
"Headcount increases linearly, but communication-related challenges grow geometrically."

Every organization survey from every client we've worked with identifies communication as its number one weakness. This is not a technology problem. It's a complex problem, and complexity is the natural byproduct of success.

George Bernard Shaw had it right: 'The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.' Growth amplifies that illusion. More words, less understanding.

The organizations that stay aligned through growth are not the ones that communicate more. They're the ones that build systems to sustain clarity as complexity increases, intentionally, systematically, and with the humility to admit that what worked at 20 people won't work at 200.

How have you adjusted your leadership system to account for the communication complexity your growth has created?

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