day 1334: Here Today...Gone Today!

"And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."

It caught my attention that the SAC Capital Advisor trader, Mathew Martoma, who was convicted of insider trading, had his MBA from Stanford rejected. He had earned that degree in 2003, but Stanford has now taken that degree back.  I actually didn't know that a university could do that, but it makes sense to me.  By breaking the trading laws, Martoma proved that his education didn't sink in and he never learned the lessons taught.  I suspect he is learning his lesson now.  This is a stark reminder that what we think we have today, can be taken away from us tomorrow if we don't respect and honor that with which we know and keep in trust. A brand's reputation can be tarnished forever if we don't care for it and cherish it closely. An employee that we need, can can leave at a moment's notice because we overstepped our boundaries and didn't do all we could to keep them happy.  A partner won't  renew because we didn't treat them like a real partner. A customer never comes back after the salesperson refused to truly listen to them. The old adage is, "Here today, gone tomorrow".  In today's world, it's more like, "Here today, gone today".

Thankfully, "Here today, gone today", is not God's way.  His way is "Here today, here eternally". That is, if we believe in Him with all our heart, mind and soul. God asks us to give all of ourselves to Him and in return He will do the same with us.  As we close this workweek, let's reflect on how, where and when have we given our all and where have we instead, held back from Him? The things of this world are so temporal.  Whether it be jobs, relationships, activities, health, interests, and what feels ordinary around us. To stay on solid footing and to be who God wants us to be for Him, we need to prioritize less those things that are only here today, and instead focus more on those things that are here forever.

Reference:  1 John 5:11 (New Living Translation)

day 1146: An Outfit of Humility

"The Humble will see their God at work and be glad. Let all who seek God's help be encouraged."

I didn't pay much attention to J.C. Penney before they hired Ron Johnson away from Apple and started one of the great experiments in retail history.  Ron, along with Steve Jobs, had built what no one else imagined with their retail empire of Apple and they had done so by breaking all of the rules of retail and thinking something totally different.  And, they succeeded wildly.  The Board of J.C. Penney wanted some of that magic for their brand so they hired Ron and off he went.  But, there was a difference.  The culture of Penney's was not Apple.  Ron had to not only sell a business plan to his Board and consumers, he had to win over the staff of J.C. Penney all the way down to the store level.  Case studies will be written at Harvard and Stanford about this one and what went wrong.  Did the Board not have enough courage and patience to see the experiment through?  Did Ron have it wrong and what worked at Apple would never work at a clothing retailer? Or was it that that the DNA of Penney's that dates back to the founder, as a man of humility was so strong that any leader without that same value would fail with the rank and file?  We may never know the whole story, but let's never count out humility, or lack thereof, as a driver of success and failure. With wholesale change, there has to be both those who lead from the front and those who lead from the back.

If we want to be different and have our faith shine brightly in the workplace, then just just don an outfit of humility and wear it to work for a week and watch what happens.  Humility is the simplest of characteristics to embrace and embody, and yet one of the hardest for most who are successful and striving to achieve.  Let's be careful to not get too full of ourselves as pride is just as obvious, if not more so, than humility.

Reference: Psalm 69:32 (New Living Translation)