day 188: Ready For Anything

There is always someone on a team that when someone says, "Are your ready?", they answer, "I was born ready". They are usually the cowboy and the daring type. It's a misnomer that one could be born ready. Readiness comes from preparation, practice, repetition, and from experience. Especially in our work lives we have too many examples of people thinking they are ready for an assignment or task only to find that they fail or are in over their head because they don't have the experience or preparation to be up for the challenge. While the adage "nothing ventured...nothing gained" is true, I still hate to see the failure that people have because they and someone else thought they were ready for something that they just weren't yet. That type of failure can end up haunting someone throughout their career and can stunt their confidence for years to come. Everyday we are getting prepared and readied for something that we will face in the future and we should be taking into account each day's learning and cataloging it for the future. Many times those readying experiences are not pleasant. They are come from the school of hard-knocks and we learn what not to do next time as much as learn what to do. And because of that we should not let the hard-knocks in life and at work get us down, but instead use them to add to our capability and strength for the future. We use these moments in our lives to strengthen our faith and to be sure that we are placing our trials and problems in the right hands, the hands of God. We see this in the book of James where we are told that we must build our endurance in order to be ready for anything. Without the endurance to withstand the challenges and trials that will be put in front of us, then we will never be fully ready. James 1:2-4 says; "Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith it tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything." Today, you are facing something at work that is a trial and a challenge for you. It may be something that has been lingering for a long time and you know that you need to invite God to work with you today to help you get it straightened out for once and for all. You may not have had the level of faith yet to let Him take it and for you to follow His direction, but today can be that day when that amount of faith is in you. Today can be the day of building the endurance necessary for you to be ready to face anything. He wants to give you that level of endurance. All any of us need to do is let Him and let our faith build in his assurances that all the endurance and strength we will ever need is ours for the taking. Count the blessing today of knowing that God truly wants us to be ready for anything.

Reference: James 1:2-4 (New Living Testament)

day 187: Window Office Views

Every company has some form of hierarchy and perks, even companies who say they don't, still do. A reoccurring perk that can be found in a company is where does one have their desk and chair located. While many of the technology companies and start-ups abandoned offices years ago for open cubicles and an open environment, even there where your cube or desk is located comes with title and stature. In an office environment the most coveted location is the "corner office". In that location you get at least two sides that have windows. I have gotten in my career a chance to visit some pretty cool corner offices and what makes them stand out usually is the view that you have either overlooking a city, sitting just above street level or looking out over the countryside. Regardless of what company, the window location is usually prime. I once worked in a manufacturing factory location where my office didn't have any windows and I can remember days where I had no idea what was happening outside and I had to get up and walk outside or go down the hall to a window office just to get a glimpse for perspective. I find that being able to look out the window and take in the activity, whether it be city or open landscape, can be good for opening up one's mind. And, when you look out and take stock of what you see, you can see God's creations which should always be a trigger and reminder for us of the true bigger picture. One nice reminder whenever I see a bird and think about God putting that bird here on this earth is the verse out of Psalm 91:4; ""He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings..." Today as you work and during the times when you get a moment to look out the window and let your mind wander for a moment, look for one of God's creations and then put that small creation in perspective to you and what you are doing for God and what He is doing for you. Like that bird on the sill or in the air, God has put his feathers and wings over each of us to give us protection and covering. The view from the window is all about perspective and as we know, the perspective we take and have about our work and life can and should be different from others. Today, take your covering from God and your broader perspective and see if you can share with it someone else who may be looking and in need for a little of both, and who may just need a new window view of life.

Reference: Psalm 91:4 (New Living Testament)

day 186: Employee Satisfaction

Many companies will once a year or so put out an employee satisfaction survey to evaluate the culture and see how the employees are feeling about working at the company. Larger corporations will go to far extremes to gain recognition on lists that detail the best places to work. These are good things to do to highlight the strengths and weaknesses in the culture so that if a company is committed, they then know what to focus on to improve. Yet, all of this does not guarantee that people will be any happier in their jobs or feel any more fulfilled in their work. More books than any of us would ever want to read have been written on the subject and still on any given day, any one of us go goes to work not satisfied and wishing we were doing something else other than being in the job we have. It is sad when this is a day-in and day-out attitude for anyone. I believe a lot of what makes this happen is that the person who is unhappy in their job and work (or with work overall) is like this because they don't have a good internal understanding of what they want from life, and their work as a subset of life. They may be chasing one dream and feeling like they are going nowhere in what they do day-in and day-out. Much of what Purposed worKING is all about is trying to help us all align ourselves with a higher purpose and understand that the work we do can fit within that purpose and be a means...not the end. We are told in Matthew from Jesus Himself that none of us can be happy when we have our priorities wrong. In Matthew 6:24 He says, "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other." This is where many of us go wrong. We elevate our jobs, and also the financial rewards that come from that job, to become the focus and the ends, versus the means. Then we look at our lives in totality and we become frustrated and angry that we have to spend so much of our time with our work and before long we begin to just hate what we do. There is not an easy solution to this so I don't want to be trite, but God is giving us the antidote when He tells us that we just need to get our masters lined up in correct order. Today you may be wishing you were anywhere but at work. You may feel like your job is a daily weight around your neck and that you are trapped. Try today turning the tables on those feelings and looking at your job as a place and an opportunity to do the best you can to be an example to others of bringing glory to God in all you do. Take the time to build a new relationship or get below the surface of an existing relationship with someone in the office and then see if the reason you are working where you work might be to be there for someone else in their time of need. Every day is a new day when you think about the real and long-lasting opportunities within your job. Be positive and excited about what those might be and realize that when your focus is there, you are getting back to serving the one true Master.

Reference: Matthew 6:24 (New Living Testament)

day 185: Recruiting

I have spent most of my professional career either recruiting people into companies or ensuring that other people can recruit well. Being great at recruiting can be a competitive advantage for anyone in a company and certainly can make the difference between having a good or bad person within the organization. We don't pay enough attention to this critical skill and not enough of us keep our skills practiced and on the cutting edge. I continue to believe that the front-line recruiter is one of the most critical positions in the company as they are many times the first person that someone would meet within the company and many times the last. Either way they have a big impact on the perception of the company or organization by the outside world. They also can truly impact the culture of the company by the type of person they bring into the business. And since we all recruit in the likeness of ourselves, then we should make sure that the best people are the recruiters; the ones with the strongest set of values and principles to ensure that only the best kind of people are being screened in to join the company. I also believe that people work for people, not companies and that the first-line recruiter can truly influence people to join a company many times just by who they are. How many times have I heard something like, "If the company is made up of people like your recruiters, then I think I will like this place." So, it is good to be thinking about what kind of recruiter you are and also who is recruiting for your Company. I love the verse in Luke how Jesus recruited Matthew to be one of his disciples. Luke 5:27-28; "Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector name Levi sitting at his tax-collection booth. 'Come, be my disciple! Jesus said to him. So, Levi got up, left everything and followed him." He said only, "Come, be my disciple" and Matthew left his current job, took a new job with Jesus and and followed Him. The ultimate recruiter, Jesus was. Matthew followed Jesus not because of great promises or perks or a big salary. Matthew followed and joined Jesus just because Jesus was Jesus. People will follow you, just because of who you are. They will follow and join you because you are the type of person that they admire and want to work along side. Let your values be strong and pure. Let your example be one that is one to be followed. May you be able to "recruit" with your full ability, day in and day out.

Reference: Luke 5:27-28 (New Living Testament)

day 184: Time For More?

You've been in your job for awhile now. You know what you are doing. You are good at what you do. When assigned a project or task you nail it and do a great job. As you look at what you are capable, you believe you can take on more, and more importantly, you feel like you are ready and maybe overdue. You wonder what you need to do to be asked to do more in your job? There is no easy answer to this question, other than when we are in this space we need to be sure that we are truly able to take on more and the best way to know that we are is to prove it in the results of our current work. Too many times we want to take on more but we haven't really completed what we have on our plate, but we think we have. We go forward and raise our hand to do more and our bosses say, "well, what about this and what about that?" And then we end up flat-footed, thinking that we had just done something good but feeling bad that we might have actually let someone down. Proving by completing and producing results is not just a work thing, it is a Biblical principle. In the parable of the talents we hear the master say to the servant who had invested and returned the talents beyond expectations; "The master said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!" This parable is of course sending us the larger and more powerful message of what God wants to be able to say to each and every one of us when we reach his throne in heaven, but there is no reason to not use the same message to understand how we are to approach everything we do in life, including our work. We each have our own talents that we have been given and we have put them to work in our chosen professions and jobs. When the time comes to take on more, it should be because we took a little and made a lot so that we did it the old fashioned way, "we earned it". Be good and faithful, you servants. All and more will come to you if you remain steadfast.


Reference: Matthew 25:23 (New Living Testament)

day 183: The Ultimate Retirement Party

You don't hear of that many retirement parties happening these days. Sure, they are still there but since the average age of retirement has pushed back and with the economy chill causing people to need to stay in their jobs longer, there aren't as many retirements happening as there once was. Nearly everyone I know who has officially retired from work has some bittersweet feelings about the event. On one hand they are excited to have the freedom and capacity to pick and choose how to spend their time. On the other hand, they know they will miss the camaraderie that comes from work and the fulfillment that comes from getting work done. They also worry about the loss of the self-esteem and redefinition of who they are...after they leave their job. After 30 plus years of defining yourself as someone who does a job for a company, it is hard to find the words for who you are after that all stops. Many people after retirement find themselves, like the pro-athletes do, coming out of retirement and taking one more job or some other type of work because what they had envisioned post their work-life, was not what they thought it was. This happens all the time. I personally think this is because the vision that a person had for what life would be like after working was not clear and they hadn't set their personal goals against that vision, so when they got there they weren't sure this was where they wanted to be. So they retreat back to what they know...work. As believers, I sometimes wonder if we aren't the same way with our vision of heaven and our ultimate retirement party. Today, my wife and I, and her family, will be burying her Father, Aldo Preti. A true worker on many levels; retired executive, Catholic Deacon of 36 years, Father, Grand-Father, minister to the sick and hurting, teacher, gardener, builder, tinkerer, etc. He was never short of work to be done; as he defined work. And he was a great example of a man who brought His purpose to all the work he did. My Father-in-Law has already had his retirement party with God. We are given God's promise that he has gone ahead of us to make all of those preparations for us; "...I am going to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am." Knowing that God is preparing my ultimate retirement party and my ultimate retirement plans is one of the most exciting things I can imagine and we all should take a moment to reflect that at the end of this road we have something marvelous and miraculous to anticipate. We can look forward to the ultimate retirement party. In the meantime, let us all enjoy the work that God has given us to do here on this earth. Let us try and take each moment that we put of ourselves into our jobs and find joy in the achievements and the accomplishments, but more so in the examples and points of touching others along the way so that they may see that we work with one purpose; to bring glory to God in all that we do.

Reference: John 14:2-3 (New Living Testament)

day 182: The Hard Truth

I was listening recently to the story of an executive in Hollywood who early in his career would go into script meetings and when the time came for him to pass his opinion he would look at each of the scripts and call them like he saw them; many times telling others that he didn't like one or that he didn't think the company should support one of the scripts, etc. After one of his early days meetings he was taken aside by another studio exec who told him that was not working the way that he was expected. He asked the question, "what do you mean?". He was then told that he was to not be as truthful as he was and that it would be better for everyone if he would just tell everyone what they wanted to hear in the meeting and that then later he could decide to not support a project in private. After he digested what he was being told, he said back, "thank you for that advice but I'm going to try it my way and see how it goes." All of these years later, this executive has risen up the studio ladder and he is now known as the person who people who seek out for advice and counsel before the meetings, a person who others can count on to give it to them straight so they don't waste time or money, a person who others can count on to tell the truth. We run into this all the time at work. It is hard to give people the truth when it hurts or when it runs contrary to what someone wants to hear, or when it might hurt their feelings. Yet, what we don't recognize is that by not giving the people the truth we are actually hurting versus helping them. In 1 John 3:18 we read; "Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions." If we want to be people who really are showing that we love one another, we can start with allowing the telling of the truth to be the most notable action of all. Today, you may be faced with a situation where providing the truth may be hard and controversial. If in that moment, you can think that the true action of love is to let the truth be told, then you will find yourself feeling more confident and courageous to allow the truth to be spoken.

Reference: 1 John 3:18 (New Living Testament)

day 181: Rounding Up

Part of getting anything done at work is knowing your co-workers well enough that you can predict how they will respond to any request or idea. In effective presentation or public speaking classes this would be called, "knowing your audience". It is true, those who are most in tune with the people around them are usually the ones who are the best influencers and can get the most done. If we are not one of those people, we know who that person is and we take our issues to them and get their advice on how to get through to someone or sometimes we ask them to carry the message for us. Being able to know people well enough that you can predict their answers and reactions is a real skill to be developed and honed. Another outcome of this ability is that once you know someone at that level they begin to trust you in return. It's a nice reciprocal. I have also seen that a trait of these people is that they tend to see the best in people as well. They "round up" on others. This means that they aren't always looking for the worst in people, like many people do, instead they look for the best and they see those traits and they build them up and reinforce the goodness in them. If you want to try something that builds trust from others then if you do nothing else, just do this. So many people walk the halls at work worried about where and when the next cutting remark, or the questioning of their ability or performance is going to hit. For many, self-confidence in their jobs is low to start with and then add on the concern that someone is lurking out there just waiting for them to slip, makes for a lot of people walking on egg shells around their co-workers. When someone comes along who will build them up and give them confidence and assurances, then that person becomes someone they trust, listen to and follow. And yes, that same person who rounds up others becomes the one who can influence and get things done through others. Are we not to be the ones who round up on other people? In Psalm 37:31 we read; "Consider the blameless, observe the upright..." Yes, we are to the be the ones in the office who round-up on people not round-down or look for the faults in others. Everyone, other than our Lord, has faults and issues. We don't have to go further than the mirror to find someone with faults. So, as we strive to be the living example of a person for others to want to listen to, learn from and see our purpose then let's start with the simple notion and lesson of "rounding up".

Reference: Psalm 37:31 (New Living Testament)

day 180: Tripped Up?

I was recently on the phone with a friend who is a CEO of a start-up company. He was looking for advice on how to handle a number of situations with his Board, his management team and some contractual issues that keep rearing their head and causing problems. As I listened to him what I heard over and over was that he keeps getting "tripped up" as he tries to manage and maneuver through the day to day things he faces. He got me thinking about how much of our energy is spent at work trying to keep from getting tripped-up by something that we can't foresee. Instead of going forward at full-steam, we instead spend time and energy but ensuring that we are "okay"; so we hedge and walk softly around people and conversations so that we don't get tripped up or taken off of course or task. Because, if we do get tripped up we know that we will spend way more time than we want trying to resolve the new problem. This approach can make us feel not as confident or bold in our work and certainly can add much stress and consternation to our jobs. God gives many promises within His word to help us keep the confidence that we need to be the best we can and bring glory to Him. A favorite of mine is in Psalm 91:11-12; "For he orders his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone. " Yes, God will keep us from "tripping up". He has sent his angels to watch over us to be sure that we are secure and safe in our lives. And yes, this security also spreads over the part of our lives we call work. Today, as you go about the hours that you spend at your job, go forth with confidence that if you have called on Him to be with you in your job (as much as any other part of your life) that He is not only there with you, but also he has sent His angels to watch over you and protect you from harm. Work boldly and confidently knowing that you have support in your purpose and don't spend your hours and energy worrying about being tripped up by others who try and get in your way or distract you away from your purpose.

Reference: Psalm 91:11-12 (New Living Testament)

day 179: Attitude Adjustment

If you lined up 10 people at work and asked them how many are happy to be at work, it might look like a baseball statistic. You would be pleased to get .300 and might be ecstatic to get .400. I don't know the reason why, but it seems like people lock their happiness and joy in their glove box before they go into the office. And what is even more interesting is how we each just accept that it's okay for someone to be grouchy at work. We don't stop and go out of our way to cheer someone up. Instead we see the grumpy person and we either just leave them alone or we let them drag us down with them. It doesn't have to be that way. We can be the countervailing force against grumpiness and a down-attitude. All it really takes is a commitment to bring some of our joy and happiness to work and become a positive alternative for others. When this becomes too hard to do or even remember to do, then draw on this verse; "Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." As we work so hard to bring our purpose to work remember that always being joyful is part of God's will for each of us. Today you are going to come in contact with someone who is down on their job, down on others, or just down on life. They are letting you and others know with their words and actions that something is "just not right". While it is counter-intuitive, they are looking for someone or something to cheer them up. Your extra time, your extra words, your extra ear, your extra smile might be just the antidote to what it is that is bothering them today. Your joy can be contagious and bring an attitude adjustment to your office. And from there you may get a chance to add to the conversation the influences in your life that give you the joy that you have.

Reference: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (New Living Testament)

day 178: Delegating Up

We do it all the time, even when we don't know we are doing it. We delegate up with our bosses. "Oh no, I don't do that. I would never do that", you say. Oh, but yes you do. Here is how it happens. You and your boss are having a conversation, maybe it is your weekly one-on-one meeting to go over the tasks and updates for the week. Somewhere in the conversation you mention a problem or an obstacle that you might have run into to get something done. It could be a policy or procedure that has slowed you down or has stymied you from moving forward. It may be an approval that you need to get from another department. It might be that you have run out of funding for this part of the project and you need to figure out how to shift some money over from somewhere else. Or, it might be a problem you are having with someone else on the team, that you haven't had the conversation with yet, or maybe you have had a conversation but nothing got resolved. It could be any of these topics or many more that you are discussing with your boss and she/he says, "You don't worry about that, I'll take care of it." Or, he/she just picks up their pen and makes a note to themselves to follow-up on the item. Either one of those happens and you just delegated up. You let the boss take the ball and run for you. I make this sound like it is a bad thing. It isn't at all and if it was, it wouldn't happen nearly as much as it does. In fact, it is just a part of how work works. However, we do this without much thought but we find ourselves not wanting to delegate up our problems to God even though it is clearly said that we should. We read; "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you." But, still we hold onto our own problems tightly and won't give them up to God to help us out and through our rough times and challenges. Our bosses may reluctantly take the problem but we don't have a problem in handing it off to her/him. And yet God, who doesn't flinch, but instead welcomes the problems and wants to take them from us, we resist and think of last in the chain of support. Today, we all may want to rethink who we are delegating and reorder our delegation chain and start first with delegating up to the highest order first and then working down from there. By the time it gets back down to you, it may already be taken care of for you.

Reference: 1 Peter 5:7 (New Living Testament)

day 177: Landscaping

Part of doing business is creating the environment that we ask people to work within. For most companies they don't have to worry about the outside of the building because they rent office space, etc. But for some the landscaping is all part of the environment that sends the overall message to the employees about how the company is doing. I remember when one of my CEOs asked me if I wanted to manage the facilities department. I said, "no". But, I also said that I would take it on because it gave me responsibility for the "environment", which I thought was important for the overall culture and attitude of how people would feel about the company. Years later a friend was walking on our campus and she commented on how well the company must be doing and I said, "why is that?" She went on to tell me that with her company any time there were any type of expense cuts to be made the first thing to go were the flowers, the grass mowing frequency, etc. Everyone could tell how the company was doing by the condition of the landscaping. There are many signs on how we all are doing in our work, including the attitude and outlook of each of us as we work throughout the day. The reflection of our emotions in how we treat other people and how they see us interacting and responding to challenges and problems is important. In Jeremiah each of us are compared to the impact that we can have as part of the landscaping of our companies and to those around us; "But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank." There is nothing more beautiful, serene and inviting than sitting under a tree beside a riverbank. Imagine that our companies were filled with more of these types of people who were inviting, peaceful, calm, strong and steadfast. We can be and should be those people. We can be that part of the landscaping for others. All we have to do is put our trust where our trust should be; in the Lord with all of our hope and confidence directed towards Him. May today you be as strong and steadfast as the riverbank tree!

Reference: Jeremiah 17:7-8 (New Living Testament)

day 176: Under Armor

I was recently in a meeting where the people in the room were discussing the role that those who create entertainment have in impacting our society and cultural values and norms. It would come as no surprise to anyone that the impact of our entertainment is significant on all us, especially our children. Behind that entertainment are working men and women. We sometimes forget that while they have become celebrities in our culture, they are still people working, doing the best they can in the jobs they have. Among those people are also believers who day in and day out struggle with the output of their work and their own values and principles. As Tim Keller, the Pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City said recently in Christianity Today; "Someone who works in advertising or theater may have to serve for many years at projects hoe for she finds morally ambivalent. Even those who rise to positions of responsibility will find no clearly marked path." And so it is true for all of us who are believers and work outside of the ministry. We daily travel a path through our work lives where the lining is filled with those who would hate for us to succeed at our larger purpose. Yet, we do the best we can to be in this world, but still not be of it. We are careful about how we express our faith around us so that we don't alienate or push people away from us. We work with our highest set of values and principles and we discipline ourselves to be true the teachings and examples of Jesus. I describe this as wearing the under armor of God. God gives us His armor in the Bible for us to wear so that we are protected and carry with us the defenses of His power, grace and spirit. We are called to don His armor in Ephesians 6:13; "Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm." There are many who wear the armor of God under their work clothes and daily they are making an impact on others and for the better. As you "suit up" today for work, think about this and be sure that you have put on your under armor and that you are prepared today for the big and small battles before you. And as you pray today, add in those who work in those industries and positions of responsibility and influence that they too will put on their armor each and every day and fight the good fight so that they may have positive influence over the messages that so influence our culture. Be strong and know that your quest to bring purpose to your work is a righteous calling.

Reference: Ephesians 6:13 (New Living Testament)

day 175: Whiteboards

"In the beginning, God created..." Or we could say, in the beginning, God went to his whiteboard and created. What a vast whiteboard God had that He was able to use and create this world for you and me. Nearly every workplace today has a whiteboard. In some places I have worked we designed the entire conference rooms with floor to ceiling whiteboards. Whiteboards are great for meetings when people are brainstorming and being creative. The board and the pen should be available to everyone and when the idea comes we can get it up on the board, look at it, massage and revise the thought and then even just as important, be able to communicate that idea to others. On more than one occasion, I have had an idea and written on a whiteboard and then brought other people into the room to explain what I was thinking. Whiteboards are a great place for creativity and a great communication tool. However, I have noticed that not everyone feels comfortable taking the pen and approaching the board to have their ideas shared. There is nothing wrong with this, but I would like to explore creativity and our worKING Purpose (to bring glory to God). God proved to us in that first verse of Genesis that He is a creator and given that we are made in His likeness, therefore we are creators as well, or at least He has passed on His creativity to us. While some will immediately say, "I'm not creative, I can't draw or paint, I can't write, I can't act, sing or dance", I think that that is a bit of a cop out. Some of the most creative people I know are the ones who can look at a problem or a challenge and then creatively come to another way of seeing the issue and be the catalyst for solving the problem. There are people in business who come up with one idea after another with creativity that abounds. So, what's my point? The point is that I have seen too many people who will sit in the office all day long and never approach the whiteboard because they don't think they are creative or afraid they won't have a good idea, but when they leave work, they go home, or to church, or with friends, go and make music, plan events, build business plans for other ventures, lead committees and boards for not-for-profits, lead school groups, solve homework projects with their kids, and on and on. But, at work they sit in the back of the room as if they checked their creativity at the door. If God made us all creators, then we should not stifle our creativity at any time. Just because we are at work does not mean that God doesn't want to use our full talents. In fact, it is just the opposite. He wants us to use our full range of talents in the workplace to allow others to see what a great piece of creation He has made. So today, when the whiteboard is there for the taking, don't sit back or hesitate. Lean forward and take the pen and allow yourself to express. Let the creator in you out and be full in who you are. Let God's creativity work through you, even at work!

Reference: Genesis 1:1 (New Living Testament)

day 174: Lost Time

Career decisions are hard. Do we take a new job? Do we stay in the ones we have? Do we relocate for the company we work for or stay put and miss the promotion? Do we hold onto the job we have even though we don't like it because with the way the market is today we don't want to take a chance that we might be going to a company that would be laying off soon? Even in the best of times when there were lots of opportunities, career decisions were hard. And we have all been in some job sometime where we feel like we are wasting our time with frustration and stagnation. In today's job market I see and talk to many who feel this way. They are sitting in jobs where they aren't happy but they feel stuck and they wonder what this is going to do to their careers. Others are taking any job they can get regardless of title or salary and their resumes are now showing regression versus progression and this is causing much concern and consternation. I feel led to speak to those of you who are in these points in your career where you feel like the time is being taken from you and that the best years of your career may be wasting away from you. God gives us a word for this in the book of Joel as he describes the last days. The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost
to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. It was I who sent this great destroying army against you." Of course, what we are going through in our careers is not anywhere to the magnitude of that God says the end days will look like, but the promise is the same. If we stay true in our Faith and dependence on Him, any situation where we feel like the days, months, or years are being stripped and taken from us, He will restore them and do so in a way, where I believe, we will look over our shoulder into our memory and remember those times as growing and learning periods in our lives. Today, if you are feeling lost, trapped or stripped down in your job, take the problem to God. Ask Him to come to work with you today and to open your eyes and mind to what you should do next and then trust fully that He will become the best career counselor that you could ever imagine. He will!

Reference: Joel 2:25 (New Living Testament)

day 173: One Class Workplace

At one Company I worked for one of the long standing corporate values statement was; "we are a one-class society". Of all the statements and values, this was the hardest one to look at each with a straight-face and claim it to be true. With the way companies and organizations are designed, if there is any type of hierarchy, I would say it is nearly impossible to be true to a one-class workplace. Just the fact that supply and demand in the talent space causes certain differences with senior executives versus the rank and file is enough to blow the whole cause and statement. That all said, there is nothing wrong with striving for this type of workplace and in fact I have come to believe that it is not in the title, the position, or the perks that separate one person from another. It is the person and their attitude and approach to other people. It is a dangerous part of human nature that we surround ourselves with others who are only like us and share the same socio-economic status, etc. Before long we find that we are in a clique, whether we know it or not, and we become out of touch or unapproachable to others. This is not always just the executives/well-to-do's and their relationship with others in the company. It goes both ways. The front-line talent feels more comfortable with those like themselves and they don't go out of their way to introduce themselves or sit down for lunch with management. At one place I worked there was an executive area on one of the floors and it was on the main walk through route from one side of the building to the other. All the executives sat on this hall and it was named "mahogany row" because the floor was wood in that hall and the desks and cubes were made of wood too. There was no barrier or reason that you couldn't take that hallway route from one end of the building to another, but guess what, no one but the executives did. No one else felt comfortable making that walk and the executives rarely came out of that area. There was no one striving for one-class at that company. Yet, even if the artificial barriers have been created, it all comes down to the individual person. There are many a CEO or executive officer who are approachable by all and you can find them hanging out with anyone in the Company at any time. These are special people and I believe that is part of how God wants us to be at work. We see this in Romans 12:16 when Paul says; "Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!" Jesus modeled this better than anyone. While anyone else would have been hanging and socializing with those who could help bring influence and stature, Jesus used his time to be with those who were the everyday people, the people of the world. As we think about how we spend our extra few minutes at work let's think about the impact it would have on others if we were to break out of our cliques and reach out to others who are outside of our social circles and share a lunch or cup of coffee. If nothing else, there is much to be learned about others, but even more so, I believe there will be much to be gained from that new interaction and potential relationship. Give it a try today and see what happens.

Reference: Romans 12:16 (New Living Testament)

day 172: Contracting

There are some people at work who are better at negotiating than others. These are the people who know how to get the best deal from the other side of the table and they have learned how to find the last dollar or cent in savings from a project or a vendor. These are also the best people to negotiate contracts as they know how to ensure that as much risk has been removed before signing the deal. And if they are really good they do all of this with the other side of the negotiations feeling good about the deal. All big companies now have this skill set resident within the organization. It just makes sense today to have these experts on hand. Long gone are the handshake and gentleman’s agreement. There was a time that business ran on such but over the years as relationships, integrity and trust eroded and these values became less integral to getting done what needed to get done, business leaders have had to rely on the contract for assurances of what to expect. And even then on both sides of a contract still look for loopholes and omissions so that they can attempt to gain the upper hand or a better deal. In today’s world it seems we are always negotiating and seldom in a moment of peace and productivity. Isn’t it great though that we have a much higher authority that we can count on and trust to never break the contract that was given to us? As long as we enter into the relationship with sincerity and earnestness then we don’t have to worry about the other side trying to take advantage of us. We read about this in Hebrews; “"Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him...Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. " This assurance is the best of all contracts. This is a contract that will not be broken. While we have to protect ourselves and our organizations in the work we do with written agreements and contracts, it does not mean that we can’t live and work as personal examples of the promise that God gave us. If we can become known as a person of integrity who means what she/he says and says what he/she means, then we are role-modeling the behavior and actions of the One we follow. Today, you will be asked to “contract” with others. It will likely not be sitting down to write out what is expected of you, but rather it will be someone requesting assistance, or sending a question over email, or leaving a simple request on your voice mail. How you respond and live up to the contract of your own performance could be the determiner of how someone sees our Christ through you. Let us all strive to stay close to God and be the same example as one who delivers and keeps out promises.


Reference: Hebrews 10:22-25 (New Living Testament)

Working With Adversity

Today is not a usual post of Purposed worKING (and since I am posting on the weekend, we won't count this against the days of the year). As I write this, I am sitting in Hackinsack, NJ. at the bedside of Aldo Preti, my 83 year old Father-in-law, who is dying. We are told that we are in the last days and hours of his life. Among many great traits, my Father-in-law was a real worker. His profession was that of a senior procurement officer for a number of companies. During his time when he served as a senior executive with ITT, he traveled all around the world, which provided many hours of stories, places and times where his children and grandchildren would never travel or experience. He was in Iran in the days leading up to the overthrow of the Shaw; one of the stories that will in indelible to all of us. After his professional career he spent 36 years serving in the Catholic church as a Deacon working in the hospitals visiting and providing support and care for the sick. And now, he is one of the sick. Among the lessons of dying, grief and how we interact with each other in these most difficult of times, it has also been evident to me that death's intrusiveness is something that no matter how we think we are prepared, we are far from being ready. It is only at birth and death that we allow our lives to be totally overtaken for others. I am watching my brother-in laws who both are entrepreneurs and CEOS/Founders of their companies stop their work and spend spans of 24-48 hours in a row around the bedside of their Father. Their work has stopped for more important work. The Founder of Jews for Jesus, Moishe Rosen, wrote in their June newsletter wrote about his own dying (he has advanced cancer)and what opportunities can come from this type of adversity. He says, "Do you remember being a kid on a road trip, continually asking, "Are we there yet?", or "Are we almost there?" Maybe later on you found yourself on the receiving end of such questions, which are almost always asked with impetuous impatience. We need perspective, not only at beginnings, but also at the end of things, as well as in-between, so that we might patiently understand the rate of travel. Adversity has us asking questions to help us determine what is ahead, and what we should do about it. Adversity points out where we have been, and challenges us to realize where we are at. When God asked Adam, "Where are you?" it was not because the Almighty Creator had failing sight or suddenly forgot the geography of the Garden of Eden. No, He was asking Adam to take stock and gain perspective regarding his spiritual condition. In the face of adversity, be it physical or spiritual, God asks us where we are - not because He doesn't know, but because He wants to us to gain perspective, to see if we are where we should be." This week we all face our own adversities. They may not be as acute as my Father-in-law or Moishe's illnesses but there will be decisions to be made about what is important and what is not. When God asks, us, like he asked Adam, "Where are you?", He is asking if our mind, time, energy and perspective are in the right places? As we all work and try the best we can to bring glory to God in what we do, may we also never lose the view of the bigger picture and what God truly has in store for us.

day 171: Rehires

Someone leaves the company for another opportunity and the HR person has to ask, “What is this person’s rehire eligibility?” What that means is if that person ever reapplies or surfaces again for the company, will they be considered as a good rehire or do we stay away from them all together? Many times these are emotional decisions. Someone has left the company at an inconvenient time or walked across the street to work for a competitor and we of course will code them as not eligible for rehire. We are upset with them. Maybe we are even angry. We can feel let down or betrayed. So, at that moment the answer is, “no way, no how are they coming back to work here”. There is a parallel story in the Bible about this. It is the parable of the prodigal son. We know the story of the son, who demands to leave the service of his Father, takes his inheritance with him, squanders it all and then comes home. What happens when he comes home is the heart of the story. The father, who experience loss and was in many ways betrayed, drops what he is doing to run to his son and take him back into his family and his family business. We read this in Luke: "So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him." How do we apply this to our work and those within our companies? I take from this parable that we are to be forgiving and we need to understand that we all are at different stages and do different things at different points of our lives. What happens today does not mean that this is how this person will be the rest of their lives. I will be honest and say that in my work career there have been people who have “burned me” and it was hard and slow for me to forgive and forget. Years later I look back on some of those situations and I wonder what I missed by not being more open to them when they “returned home” to apologize, ask for advice, or seek a position back within the company. I was calloused and did not listen. I was not living the example of the father or our Father. Today you may be faced with the situation where you ave to decide to accept someone back after their failure or their detour away from you. Can we find the heart of the father of the prodigal son and find it within ourselves to give someone another chance?

Luke 15:20 (New Living Testament)

day 170: Balance Sheets

Every business or organization that has financial statements has a balance sheet. Many people don't know how to read a balance sheet, even many who work in a company, but it is an extremely important document to understand. It is on the balance sheet that one can understand the true assets and the true liabilities of a company. They must add up to be the same, thus why it is called a balance sheet. When the liabilities exceed the assets within the company then we see bankruptcy of an organization. So, as an investor and as an employee, keeping an eye on the health of the balance sheet is important. In our work lives we each have our own balance sheets that we must manage. We have our personal financial balance sheet and our time and effort balance sheet. However, there are some areas where we should never seek balance but put as much investment as possible and then let the returns be as they may. These areas are in the seeking and deepening of our love and relationship with God and also the love and caring of others. when we are going about our daily work routines we have the opportunity to give and care as much as he we can and then God will take care of whatever return that comes from this. so, in this case we don't want to worry about a balance sheet, we want to make sure that we are over investing in others even if it seems at the time that it is creating too much liability of time and energy. Jesus tells us this in Luke and while many have taken this to mean just the giving of our money, I believe He was speaking just as much about our love, our talents and our time; "Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full-pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back." We live in a crazily busy and hectic time where it seems every minute of our work time needs to be productive and efficient. There is nothing wrong with that. I have always taken this verse to mean for me that if I have my priorities in the right order and I am finding the time to care, love and support others that the extra time will be given back to me somehow. I can't explain it, but it seems to always work out that way. So, today as you study the company's balance sheet, look at your own and be sure that there is one place where you don't have balance. Over do it with the love of God and others and I am sure that the returns will be more than out of balance and that will be a great thing.

Reference: Luke 6:38 (New Living Testament)

day 169: Trapeze Artists

It's the summer and now is when the circus comes to town. At our summer home in Rhode Island the Big Apple Circus always starts their season in Ninigret Park in July for a week before they go on tour. It's a spectacle and I love to see the performers do their work. The high-wire acts and the trapeze artists are some of my favorites. The precision and trust that happens between the people is amazing. I always wondered if it was a marketing stunt that they are usually families, or is it because to get that level of trust and working together, it takes a sense of family. Maybe it is a little of both. Imagine that if all work took this level of trust how important it would be that we were able to reach to each other knowing exactly when and where the other person was going to be at the time and where we needed to be. Some dangerous jobs do need this level of trust and precision but for most of us our jobs allow us to be sloppy with our hand-offs and our level of trust is low with not very high expectations of each other. Maybe we should start thinking about this differently and begin working towards being more like the trapeze artists. In Ecclesiastes 4:10 we read; "If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble." This sure rings true for the trapeze artist but it should ring true for us as well. Like the person on the receiving end of the swinging trapeze bar there is a sense of timing and expectation that the bar, and the person, who is going to need to be grabbed is coming and will be in the right place at the right time. It all comes together and works perfectly. We should be applying this lesson to our own lives and work. There are others who would like to depend on us to be at the right place at the right time for them so they can depend on a smooth and predictable hand-off and a tight grip from us. It may something as simple as following up on a request or a phone call or email. When we follow through and make the hand-off happen we are reaching out and helping. And beyond that we are creating that swinging back motion of the trapeze bar so that we will never fall alone either. Today, think about this metaphor and the words in Ecclesiastes. Is there someone who is depending on you to be there to catch them so they don't fall? Are you supposed to be reaching out to someone else to help? Let's never let someone fall alone because we weren't there for them.

Reference: Ecclesiastes 4:10 (New Living Testament)

day 168: Synergy

The word synergy gets used frequently in business. We hear it most when companies are merging and the business leaders say, "This deal will create synergy between the two entities". That is usually code for cost reductions and potential lay-offs so the word takes on a negative meaning. It is not a negative word at all. Synergy is a great thing and is defined as; "The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects." That does sound good doesn't it? We all want more of that at work, but why is it so hard to get? It's a great question. It shouldn't be hard at all to get two or more people together to combine their efforts so that the result is much stronger than what the individuals could do by themselves. But, somewhere this breaks down and we can't find the synergy and we instead have to reinforce and teach the importance of teamwork and the leaders of the organization have to spend extra time and efforts to get people to work together. It shouldn't be hard at all to get people to want to work together and to get more done with each other than alone. But, many a company talks a good game about teamwork but when it comes down to it, the incentives and rewards (whether spoken or not) are all about the individual and not the team or partnership. Paul and Timothy tell the people of Philipi what they think synergy should be and we would do well to take their message to heart; " "Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose." We have the opportunity today to be synergistic leaders in our workplace. If we take the challenge of Paul and Timothy to find those who we can align with and we, through our own life example, model what it means to love one another, be in agreement and work together with one mind and purpose, then we will be modeling the life of the One we follow. And who at work will not want to be on your team? What an exciting company it would be if there were people all over the organization modeling these behaviors. As it is said, "it only takes one to get it started". Can today you be the one?

Reference: Philippians 2:2 (New Living Testament)

day 167: Clean Cups

Mondays back into the office are always just a little different than other days. After the weekend away, even though we probably did some work over the weekend, that first day back after even a couple of days away has a feeling of newness. We walk in to our building, say hello to whose we see, ask about their weekend, share our own stories of what we did, then go into our workspace and look around to see what the cleaning crew has moved around over the weekend, etc. We drop off our stuff and then walk down the hall to the coffee bar and we look around for a clean cup, maybe even our own cup that should have been washed over the weekend, and we are happy when there it is, shiny, clean and ready to go to help us start our week.. Sometimes the little things make the day get off to a better start. Our lives are the same way in many respects. We take the weekend to clear our head and clean out the messes that were piling up over the week. We go to church on Sunday and clean up ourselves spiritually so that we can start the week afresh and new, or so we pray and hope. And like that clean coffee cup the work that is shiny on Monday, the work and the world around us gets poured into us and before long we don't feel as clean any longer and we go from day to day just rinsing ourselves out or maybe not even that, but just continuing to add more and more to what at the end of the week becomes a pretty grungy cup. And then we wonder why as the week goes on that we feel further and further from God and that we are slipping from our purpose to bring Him glory. Jesus had strong words on this subject. In Matthew 23 he speaks to the Pharisees about how important it is to clean the inside of the cup versus just the outside. It does no good at all to just clean the rim or polish up the outside of the cup if inside the cup is full of nasty stuff. In verse 25 He says: "First wash the inside of the cup and then the outside will become clean, too." As we head back into the office this week, think about the work that we are doing and the kind of worker God wants us to be and think about the importance of keeping our cup clean from the inside out throughout the week by staying in His word, in prayer and in fellowship with those around you who are also doing their best to bring God's purpose to their work. May your cup stay clean this week!

Reference: Matthew 23:25 (New Living Testament)