How To Keep Selling While Saying You’re Sorry

Last updated on: April 20, 2010 at 5:14 am By JBW

Hello, Corporate America? We have a little problem. No one seems to trust us anymore. According to the 2009 Edleman Trust Barometer, nearly two-thirds of the public (62%) have less trust in corporations than they did a year ago. To rub it in further, only 38% said they trust business to do what is right (a twenty percent plunge since last year, by the way), and a paltry 17% said they trust information coming from a company’s CEO. Yes, this is... Read more

Figuring Out Success With the Amish

Last updated on: April 13, 2010 at 5:08 am By JBW

Today’s guest post is by Erik Wesner, who is an Amish researcher and author of the just-released Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive. You can also find Erik at his blog, Amish America. I’ve spent a lot of time these past few years with the Amish. I first encountered Amish outside of Arthur, Illinois, a rural community where the corn towers overhead and buggy traffic can outnumber the cars. I was working for a Nashville publisher,... Read more

The “Leadership and Spirituality” Event is Coming Up!

Last updated on: April 8, 2010 at 5:36 pm By JBW

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t made much of a big deal about my upcoming speaking event at Princeton Seminary’s “Leadership and Spirituality: Revealing Your Greater Purpose.” Instead of drawing attention to myself as the much sought-after luncheon guest speaker, I tactfully posted a couple of very compelling articles that politely hinted at the event. No, I did not go all social-media obnoxious with the thing, I just trusted that the right (smart) readers would connect the dots: “Huh. This is great stuff. Hey! I’m a leader,... Read more

Your Greater Leadership Purpose at Work

Last updated on: April 6, 2010 at 4:59 am By JBW

Last week I spoke to a group of men at my church on the subject of “Spiritual Engagement at Work.” To kick things off on a positive note, I opened by asking the following question: “How many of you feel a gaping disconnect between your spiritual lives and your work?” Without hesitation, all twenty hands in the room sprung into the air like pistols at a shoot-out. So. This is a problem. But I am not really surprised. Because most of us go through our entire careers without... Read more

Believing the Unbelievable

Last updated on: April 3, 2010 at 9:24 am By JBW

(This is a re-post from last year. Happy Easter, everyone!) I have spent the past few months reading through the gospels again, a little bit each morning. Despite of the rush of my daily schedule, those few minutes of quiet contemplation always help to keep my spiritual wits about me as the hectic day unfolds. I’ve finally just about completed the last one, the Gospel of John. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually read through these holy books in their entirety – probably not since... Read more

The Last Laugh

Last updated on: April 1, 2010 at 7:30 am By JBW

When was the last time you laughed so hard that you almost peed in your pants? I know, that’s probably not an appropriate question, coming from a business professional. And it is most certainly off-topic from this blog’s usual subject matter of spirituality and work life. But, dear reader, I believe it is a worthwhile question for us to consider on this first day of April. Really, when was the last time you just threw your head back and busted a gut? I... Read more

When Is Negative Feedback Too Negative?

Last updated on: March 30, 2010 at 5:22 am By JBW

Last week I went out to dinner with my two teen-age daughters, who are now 18 and 15. The older one was telling me how she had confronted a friend about an annoying behavior: her tendency towards a know-it-all show-offiness in almost every conversation. Apparently it was not just my daughter who was irritated by this particular girl. A much wider circle of friends – the whole school, practically! – recoiled from this competitive, one-upping attitude. They talked about her behind her back. The girl was developing a very poor reputation, and my good-hearted... Read more

What to Do When You Are Completely Overwhelmed at Work

Last updated on: March 25, 2010 at 6:06 pm By JBW

A few weeks ago I was asked by the President of my company to go and fix an area of the business that wasn’t doing so well. I’m talking here the organizational equivalent of two-headed beast with six horns. There were so many moving parts and levels of complexity involved with this situation that there was not one person over the past 15 years who had been able to get their arms around it. Yet however dysfunctional it was, we still managed... Read more

Your Dream Career! Or Not.

Last updated on: March 23, 2010 at 4:56 am By JBW

Here’s something for you to daydream about: what if you had been given a substantial chunk of money when you were 19 years old, and then were told to go follow your dreams? How would that have changed your life? That’s just what happened to Peter Buffet, son of super-legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffet, as told in his forthcoming book, “Life is What You Make It.” Peter received a $90,000 inheritance when he was a student at Stanford University in... Read more