Practicing the Way
Who are you following?
Everybody is following somebody, or at least something.
Put another way, we’re all disciples.
Who or what am I a disciple of?
Tentative start date: June 7, Bacolod Time.
Read ahead of time.
Check out John Mark Comer’s (available for $1.99 on Kindle) at Amazon. “Practicing the Way: Be with Jesus, Become like him, Do as he did”. Jan. 2024.”
Check your email for the invitation.
Click the link. https://www.practicingtheway.org.
Create an account within the “Family Gonzaga” Group. Provide a password for your account. Check your mail for a confirmation letter.
Log in to your account.
Let’s take the Practicing the Way Course (8 Sessions).
📥 Grab your free resources here:
https://launch.practicingtheway.org/resources/practicing-the-way-course
The Practicing the Way Course Companion Guide. Overview of each session, Practice Reflection, Teaching, Session Summary, Discussion Questions, Practice lecture notes, Practice - applying the lessons, Closing prayer, Resources to go deeper, Practice Reflection - what you found helpful, applications, and other thoughts.
ONE Fatal decision
It all begins with an idea.
Picture this: 2014. GoPro stock hits $93.85 per share. Just 4 months after their $24 IPO, they were worth $11 billion. Revenue was exploding. They owned 67% of the action camera market. But that same day, CEO Nick Woodman made a decision that would destroy it all...
The decision? Going on the biggest spending spree in tech history. Within 18 months, GoPro doubled their workforce from 800 to 1,600 employees. R&D spending exploded to $358.9 million in 2016. But here's the kicker...
The numbers tell the brutal story: Q4 2015: Revenue dropped 31% year-over-year Q1. But Woodman kept spending...
By 2018, reality hit hard. GoPro's market share collapsed from 45% to 28%. They laid off hundreds of employees. Shut down failed divisions. Woodman's salary was cut to $1. But it was too late...
Today, the devastation is complete: Stock price: $0.59 (down 99% from peak) Market cap: Only $93 million; 2024 loss: $432 million; Bankruptcy probability: 47%. A company that once dominated an entire industry is now worth less than a small startup.
So what was the fatal decision? It wasn't the IPO. It wasn't the competition. It was losing focus. The moment GoPro stopped obsessing over their core product and started chasing shiny objects, they sealed their fate.
Here's the lesson every entrepreneur needs to understand: Success isn't about doing more things. It's about doing the RIGHT things better than anyone else. GoPro forgot this. They paid the ultimate price.
But there's a deeper truth here... While GoPro was building a media empire, it forgot something crucial: People don't buy from companies. They buy from people. The most successful brands today aren't built by corporations. Individuals with compelling personal stories build them.
Think about it: • Elon Musk drives Tesla's brand • Steve Jobs WAS Apple • Richard Branson embodies Virgin. When companies focus on corporate expansion instead of personal connection, they lose their soul. And their customers.
That's why we need to discover your personal story ( vocation ). Because in today's world, knowing your personal story is your greatest asset in answering THE question - Where To?
Post Mortem notes:
Woodman gave himself a $284.5 million stock package in 2014. For context: GoPro's entire profit that year was only $128 million. His single bonus was 2.2x larger than the company's total earnings. That should have been the first red flag... But Woodman wasn't done spending.
He launched two massive side projects: • A media division (hired HBO and Hulu executives) • A drone business (the Karma). Both seemed logical. GoPro content was going viral. Drones need cameras. What could go wrong? Everything.
The media division burned through hundreds of millions before being shut down in 2016. The Karma drone? Even worse. It kept losing power mid-flight and crashing. Total cost: $376 million before they gave up in 2018.
Meanwhile, something was happening to their core business, which was dangerous. Smartphones were getting better cameras. The iPhone could now shoot 4K video. Competitors like DJI and Insta360 were stealing market share. But GoPro was too distracted by shiny new projects to notice...