Empathy and the Executive Sale

Last updated on: November 17, 2016 at 7:40 pm By Guest Contributor

By Timothy Askew; reprinted from Inc. with the kind permission of Timothy Askew. Empathy. Webster’s Dictionary describes it as “the projection of one’s own personality into the personality of another in order to understand him better.” I saw a list of qualities entrepreneurs lack last week. Right at the top was empathy. Entrepreneurs are busy people and it is easy to see how empathy might be treated as a non-priority. This is bad business. However, entrepreneurs are not alone in not making time... Read more

There’s work to do; or, An open letter to my children

Last updated on: November 17, 2016 at 7:46 pm By Guest Contributor

Some may shake their heads in disapproval or approval of the election results, but the bottom line is that there’s work to do, says the dean of Duke Chapel in this sermon, which originally appeared at Faith and Leadership. By Luke Powery Faith & Leadership offers sermons that shed light on issues of Christian leadership. This sermon was preached at Duke Chapel Nov. 13, 2016. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Dear Moriah and Zachary, my beloved children, Don’t get nervous because... Read more

Why the #election is a faith and work crisis

Last updated on: November 14, 2016 at 12:10 pm By Jennifer Woodruff Tait

I’ve told the story before how a chance phone call from Chris Armstrong in late 2013 involved me, a nice moderate United-Methodist-turned-Episcopalian mainliner who was doctrinally orthodox but not culturally evangelical, in the faith and work movement. Even as a not-particularly-liberal mainline type, one of the barriers to involvement in this space that I had to overcome was my knee-jerk reaction to positive words about capitalism. Personally, I’m a Distributist if I’m anything. And education for ministry in the mainline... Read more

Post #Election: A Time to Listen

Last updated on: November 12, 2016 at 2:07 pm By Guest Contributor

By David Spickard After hearing the news this Wednesday morning, I knew we had to change course. The day could not be business as usual. Wednesdays are normally staff meeting days at Jobs for Life (JfL). Our meeting schedule included our normal routine – prayer, Scripture study, and business – but we had to add one more item… Responding to the election. I think it’s instinct to run to others who agree with us. That’s why we’ve seen marches, protests,... Read more

That Eye-On-the-Object Look: Finding Focus in a Distracted World

Last updated on: November 11, 2016 at 11:09 am By Jeff Haanen

The world is a distracting place. Email, Facebook, open office spaces, iPhones, and insanity-inducing apps with red pop-up bubbles nagging for my attention. What would the opposite of a distracted work day look like? Check out this statement by W.H. Auden: “You need not see what someone is doing to know if it is his vocation, you have only to watch his eyes; a cook mixing a sauce, a surgeon making a primary incision, a clerk completing a bill of... Read more

O God of Earth and Altar #VeteransDay #2016Election

Last updated on: November 14, 2016 at 11:52 am By Jennifer Woodruff Tait

I’ve been working on a post* about my complicated post-election feelings and how they relate to vocation and war and capitalism, but it’s not taken shape yet. In the meantime, here’s a complicated poem by G. K. Chesterton about vocation and war and capitalism. Also, here’s a link to another GKC poem and a prayer I put up last Veterans’ Day. (*edit 11/14/16: I’ve written the complicated post now.) O God of earth and altar, bow down and hear our... Read more

Business Anger and Success

Last updated on: October 22, 2016 at 9:40 pm By Guest Contributor

By Timothy Askew; reprinted from Inc. with the kind permission of Timothy Askew. The Bible’s Book of Proverbs 16:32 says this: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” I’ve been thinking again about business and anger this week. (Note my Inc. column of ApriI 25th, “Anger, Forgiveness, and Entrepreneurship.”) It has been important for me to learn to deal with anger over the years. It’s never pleasant. I... Read more

The Christian Call to Work Yourself Out of a Job

Last updated on: October 20, 2016 at 7:27 pm By Jennifer Woodruff Tait

Yup. Works for parenting, too, by the way. 🙂 Read more at the Faith and Work Collective: Those familiar with the New Testament can quickly recognize that Jesus’s model of leadership was to disciple the people around him, so that they could carry on his work after he was gone. He taught them, gave them over-the-shoulder knowledge as they watched him interact with others, commissioned them to engage in similar work, and processed with them their early efforts in this... Read more

The Inner and the Outer Voices of Love: Henri Nouwen and His Friends

Last updated on: October 23, 2016 at 10:16 pm By Jennifer Woodruff Tait

This post is part of a Patheos Book Club on the book Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life by Henri Nouwen. Many years ago, at a difficult time in my life, a friend pressed a little green book into my hand: Henri Nouwen’s The Inner Voice of Love. It was a journal he wrote at a difficult time in his own life, when a very close friendship had broken down (his relationship with Nathan Ball, at that time the director of L’Arche... Read more

These Problems Are Solvable

Last updated on: October 20, 2016 at 5:07 pm By Guest Contributor

Even the most complex social problems can be solved when leaders and institutions are brought together to unleash a community’s own problem-solving capabilities, says the president of Community Solutions. This post originally appeared at Faith and Leadership. Rosanne Haggerty has worked on the issue of homelessness for 30 years, and in that time she’s come to realize that, contrary to public belief, even the most complex problems can be solved. The key, she said, is to help community leaders and... Read more