day 1234: Working in the Grey

"Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children"

There is a fascinating conversation happening in the music industry about the morality and ethics of the streaming of music on services like Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, and now iTunes Radio.  Streaming of music by licensed services is fully legal.  But, that has not stopped many from crying out that even though these services are legal, they are not moral or ethical. Why is this?  This past weekend I was hanging with one of my friends who is as hard-core of a music person as you will find.  He and his wife attend live music events at least three times a week. He knows more about bands and who is doing what than I can keep up with.  However, this hardest of core music fans no longer buys music.  Why?  Because, he can stream what he wants to hear, any time he desires.  That behavior, for the creator of music becomes the moral and ethical dilemma to streaming.  It's an interesting and nuanced conversation that is worth more thinking.  We can, and do face these dilemmas in our work as well.  Any time we are faced with something where we have to consider compromise, or are challenged with what doesn't feel right, even though it is legal to do, then we need to think hard about our decisions and actions. And we must realize that we are not alone.  Our customers, employees, partners, and consumers are all watching what we do as well.

As believers, we are not exempted from these decisions.  In fact, we may be more challenged because we should be driven and led by our values and principles. What are we to do?  There are no clear answers, but we are taught that when we find ourselves confused or feeling lost in what we should do, then we are to "imitate God".  Yes, this is why we ask ourselves what Jesus would do. Our challenges at work are seldom black and white. When in the grey, remember that we can rest assured in the imitation of God.

Reference: Ephesians 5:1 (New Living Translation)