day 1337: Going Direct

"Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

Part of the power of the internet is that we can go direct to consumers without having to go through third parties, like retailers, brokers or dealers.  But, not all industries are allowed to do so. The most glaring is the car industry where a manufacturer can't sell directly to consumers but must have a car dealer in the middle to make the sale.  I don't know where this practice came from, why or who it protects but it is causing problems for Tesla as they try and expand across the U.S. with their electric cars.  We might take for granted how great it can be to build a direct relationship with our customer and consumer, but we shouldn't.  If we were the music, book or movie industry we would try anything to establish and keep that relationship.  Who really knows our customers/consumers?  It's Amazon. It's Apple.  It's Best Buy, Target, etc.  Where we can, go direct, go with all humility as this is the best relationship to have.

Who at work have we built direct relationships with that really matter?  With the boss?  With co-workers?  With those who work for us? I hope the answer is all of the above.  Direct relationships can yield real and life-changing conversations.  Yesterday, a colleague who who I have invested alongside and known for a while, opened up about an experience that he recently had. It was a very deep conversation and it contained the opportunity for me to share some of my own life story and faith. I reflected last night on the times in the past that led up to our ability to talk so freely and honestly and yesterday was the result of many, many earlier direct conversations of accessibility and openness. Jesus modeled this for us.  He proved that in being man and God that He was and is always there for anyone who seeks Him. When we allow others to come direct to us, we are modeling His love and grace.  Think about it today and see where going direct can be fruitful.

Reference: John 14:6 (New Living Translation)

day 1100: Where You Sit Is Where You Stand

"But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken."

There has been even more talk about Yahoo!'s decision to remove telecommuting from their benefits for workers.  BestBuy followed suit last week with the removal of their flexible work program called "ROWE" (Results-Only-Work-Environment).  I remember back in 2005 when they introduced this program.  It was designed by two employees and it became a very positive PR and recruiting tool for the company.  The program was written up in every business magazine and was received very positively for BestBuy's forward thinking and innovation in the workplace.  Now, less than 10 years later, the new CEO is debunking the whole program and calling it a "failure". All of the accolades are being refuted by new management, once again proving that where you sit is where you stand.  Now that BestBuy does not sit in the seat of success, they are looking inwardly to change. I didn't have any problem with Yahoo!'s decision to bring back the telecommuters, but I will say that BestBuy's declaration that a set of leadership principles that allowed people to focus on results and productivity and hanging that out as the problem with the company, might be stretching it a little too far. We have to be careful in how we conceive and deploy broad-based leadership and work programs as indeed times and needs do change, but it's never good to be caught looking like you are going from guardrail to guardrail for each of these changes can bring a loss of credibility for leaders and for the next program.

We can rest assured as believers that God's plans will never change.  That is one thing we never have to worry about.  He sits and stands in the same place today as He has forever and all He is asking for us to do is to stand with Him. Are we standing with Him today or are we sitting someplace else that is causing us to change our stance?  As we go to work today and do all we can to bring glory to Him, let's consider where we are sitting and standing. If we don't like either or both, then let's use today to start making the necessary changes.  He will guide us and lead us to the right places if we only lean on and ask Him to be there with us.

Reference: Psalm 33:11 (New Living Translation)