day 958: Fitting In

 "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again?

One of the most overused words when recruiting and assessing new people for a company is the word, "fit". The word is invoked over and over, even when no one really knows what it means. Someone only needs to say to others after interviewing a candidate, "He just doesn't fit", and that will either start a debate or it ends the conversation and the candidate is rejected. The feedback that goes back to the candidate is just as vague; "There just wasn't a fit". Hiring is hard, of course, but there is more than just trying to finding fit like the trial and error of finding the right piece in a jigsaw puzzle. Every company has a culture and "fit" is certainly important, but knowing how to define the attributes of the culture to a level of specificity so that there can be a true definition of "fit" is typically where companies fall short. That leaves vast room for the continued guessing game of who fits and who doesn't. At that point, we continue on with always trying to circle in on what is "fit" and what is not. Probably the best definition of what is fit and what is not comes from the attributes that the successful people in a company take on, reinforce, and evolve towards. Since we hire in the likeness of ourselves it only makes sense that a homogeneous culture gets created and everyone ends up being more like the same. And so, "fit" becomes defined. This insular evolution, without discipline, can leave a company one day wondering why they have lost a creative edge, lost their external customer focus, or worse yet, have fallen into group think and can't make decisions. Companies can benefit by being open to people who "run against the grain" and push the envelope in their thinking and background. Companies can benefit in expanding their definition of "fit".

Those of us who are believers and spend our days on the job trying to live out our purpose, run against the grain each day and in our own way, should be defining our own "fit". We read in Matthew 5:13 that we are to be different and if don't then we have thrown away tremendous opportunity; "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless." We all want to fit in the companies where we work. What God is saying is that we can both fit in our companies and also be different. And we can be assured that the saltiness and flavor that God wants us to have can be the exact ingredient that others on our job need to see to view the reflection of God in what we do. Today, as you think about your role and fit within your company and job, remember that the salt that you can bring can be a needed expansion of the definition of "fit".

Reference: Matthew 5:13 (New Living Testament)

day 820: When It Rains It Pours

"You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Let your light shine so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven."

When I was growing up, I always found it curious that Morton Salt's logo was a girl with an umbrella standing in the rain and the theme was, "When it rains it pours". I never quite understood it as the idiom typically references when one bad thing happens and then another comes, that with the trouble piling up we say, "When it rains it pours". What did this have to do with salt? Also, doesn't salt dissolve and become lumpy and clogs a shaker when it gets wet? So, I never got it. I have learned that in the early 1900's that having salt that didn't clump or solidify was a novel thing and Morton was trying to tell us that their salt flowed freely, and I suspect too freely some times against expectations. There are all kinds of ways that company's position themselves and what we want to do is to ensure that our positioning is as clear and concise as we can make it. In this age of 140 characters we have to be sure that we get it right and tight.

When Jesus told us that we are the salt of the world, those who were listening at that time would not have thought about salt being able to flow freely. That is a new definition for us and one to consider in our time. While we are to be the salt of the earth to be a part of stopping the decay that is all around us, and through our examples we also add positive flavor to the world around us, we can now think about how we are to be sure and freely flow our faith to others. We should not let our faith get clogged in the shaker of life. Maybe this is what God is saying to us today? He's trying to shake us up to get us flowing freely so when we let him reign, we pour Him out of us.

Reference: Matthew 5:13-16