{"id":8548,"date":"2012-08-24T12:57:43","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T18:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?p=8548"},"modified":"2012-08-24T12:57:43","modified_gmt":"2012-08-24T18:57:43","slug":"the-business-secrets-of-monks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/","title":{"rendered":"The Business Secrets of Monks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"
Monks\u2019 Bread from the Abbey of the Genesee in New York (photo courtesy of the abbey)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Back at work after a trip to upstate New York to drop Son #1 off to school, I find myself contemplating something that may seem odd: \u00a0the business secrets of monks. The reason is that while in New York we visited the Abbey of the Genesee<\/a>, a Cistercian monastery in the rolling countryside south of Rochester. A question posed by Son #2,\u201dWhy do the monks bake bread for sale?\u201d \u00a0led to a column I\u2019m currently writing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll share that essay with you at a later time, but as I was browsing the web looking for other monasteries that support themselves with small businesses, I came across an article on the Business Secrets of the Trappists<\/a>\u00a0from Forbes Magazine<\/em> (not a publication one typically looks to for spiritual inspiration, I realize).\u00a0It\u2019s written by August Turak, a businessman and entrepreneur who is a frequent guest at Mepkin Abbey<\/a>\u00a0in South Carolina. While he goes there primarily for spiritual reasons, he\u2019s also learned many business lessons from the monks, who operate a business raising chickens and mushrooms. In the secular world such enterprises are typically low-profit and quickly fizzle out, but this monastery\u2019s business is thriving. The answer, Turak writes, is because their business model is based on the sixth-century Rule of St. Benedict, which says that manual labor is an essential part of spiritual development. Writes Turak:<\/p>\n

What is most amazing is that all these accomplishments represent the part-time effort of a couple of dozen elderly men living and working together mostly in silence. They attend church services six times a day and spend hours in solitary prayer, contemplation and sacred reading. Because their mission is to live a life of silent contemplative prayer, they work only part time.<\/em><\/p>\n

All too often our organizations fail to reach their potential because people spend too much time looking over their shoulders. What is so striking about Mepkin is that the monks are never looking over their shoulders. They are passionately committed and totally focused on the task at hand, and they know that their brothers are doing the same. As a result, they are highly efficient and get an enormous amount done in the four hours a day they dedicate to earning their living.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet if we allow ourselves to be impressed by the monks because they manage to accomplish so much\u00a0despite\u00a0their single-minded dedication to their mission, we make a common but cardinal error. It is\u00a0because\u00a0of their focus on mission that they operate a multimillion-dollar business with a degree of frictionless efficiency that would drive most profit-driven executives to distraction with envy. And if we are willing to learn from the monks, our secular corporations can do the same.<\/em><\/p>\n

As a freelancer whose income is often precarious, I was particularly struck by a line that comes later in the piece: \u201cEvery day, regardless of booms and busts in the larger economy, the monks risk their lives and livelihood faithfully serving their principles while trusting that business will take care of itself.\u201d It reminds me of a saying attributed to St. Teresa of Avila: \u201cI take care of God\u2019s business and he takes care of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the article focuses on business lessons, it\u2019s clear that the author believes that these pieces of wisdom apply to our larger lives as well. His words on the impact of faith also ring true to me:<\/p>\n

One day I asked [the abbot] how he and Mepkin managed to get so much accomplished with so few resources. He smiled and said, \u201cWe just trust the process. This is a 1,500-year tradition, and we trust the process.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Mepkin\u2019s success comes from faith. Not just the kind of faith we usually associate with theological beliefs, but the kind of faith that is implicit in the word\u00a0<\/em>faithful. The monks faithfully behave in a way that may not seem entirely rational to the casual observer or even at times to themselves.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jesus said that if we seek first the kingdom of God, everything else will take care of itself, and that is the kind of faith that drives Mepkin. In a wider sense, the monks attack each and every day with the faith that if they \u201clive the life\u201d of service and selflessness, the necessities of life will somehow be provided.<\/em><\/p>\n

This way of life is not limited to monasteries, Christians or even believers. The old adage that good things happen to good people is true, and in my own business life I\u2019ve seen it pay off in magical ways. However, the trick that the monks have mastered is that this secret cannot be manipulated. Our faithfulness must be authentic, and our motives pure, if we are to pass the tests of daily life. Paradoxically, it is only when we no longer care about \u201cwhat\u2019s in it for me\u201d that the formula works.<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the years, I\u2019ve watched in awe as people from all over the world, from all walks of life, believers and atheists, step forward to help the monks live out their mission. The brothers never ask for this help, yet it seems to flow effortlessly. The secret to Mepkin\u2019s business success is that through faithfulness the monks have learned how to let success happen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mepkin\u2019s mood of higher purpose is so seductive that people step forward to help and go away feeling as if they got the better part of the bargain\u2026Faith at Mepkin is not just about theology. It means faithfully living out the mission regardless of where it leads and how scary things get.<\/em><\/p>\n

It makes one wish these monks were running Wall Street, yes?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back at work after a trip to upstate New York to drop Son #1 off to school, I find myself contemplating something that may seem odd: \u00a0the business secrets of monks. The reason is that while in New York we visited the Abbey of the Genesee, a Cistercian monastery in the rolling countryside south of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2582,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[348],"class_list":["post-8548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-spirituality","tag-faith-and-business"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Business Secrets of Monks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Back at work after a trip to upstate New York to drop Son #1 off to school, I find myself contemplating something that may seem odd: \u00a0the business secrets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Business Secrets of Monks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Back at work after a trip to upstate New York to drop Son #1 off to school, I find myself contemplating something that may seem odd: \u00a0the business secrets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Holy Rover\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-24T18:57:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/files\/2012\/08\/1319565238_640_480-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lori Erickson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lori Erickson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/\",\"name\":\"The Business Secrets of Monks\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-24T18:57:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-24T18:57:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933\"},\"description\":\"Back at work after a trip to upstate New York to drop Son #1 off to school, I find myself contemplating something that may seem odd: \u00a0the business secrets\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Business Secrets of Monks\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/\",\"name\":\"Holy Rover\",\"description\":\"Practical Advice for Spiritual Travels\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933\",\"name\":\"Lori Erickson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lori Erickson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/author\/lerickson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Business Secrets of Monks","description":"Back at work after a trip to upstate New York to drop Son #1 off to school, I find myself contemplating something that may seem odd: \u00a0the business secrets","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Business Secrets of Monks","og_description":"Back at work after a trip to upstate New York to drop Son #1 off to school, I find myself contemplating something that may seem odd: \u00a0the business secrets","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/","og_site_name":"Holy Rover","article_published_time":"2012-08-24T18:57:43+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/files\/2012\/08\/1319565238_640_480-1.jpg"}],"author":"Lori Erickson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lori Erickson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/","name":"The Business Secrets of Monks","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-08-24T18:57:43+00:00","dateModified":"2012-08-24T18:57:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933"},"description":"Back at work after a trip to upstate New York to drop Son #1 off to school, I find myself contemplating something that may seem odd: \u00a0the business secrets","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2012\/08\/24\/the-business-secrets-of-monks\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Business Secrets of Monks"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/","name":"Holy Rover","description":"Practical Advice for Spiritual Travels","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933","name":"Lori Erickson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Lori Erickson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/author\/lerickson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2582"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}