Guest post by Executive Leadership Coach, Dr. Stephen Payne. So, you just heard the jarring news that your job is being eliminated. Or perhaps you have made the “Big Decision” to change your job or career on your own. Either way you are starting one of life’s major transitions. Before rushing to polish and upload your resume, stop and think about what God might want for you. As you begin to plan for your networking, researching and resume-building activities, consider these... Read more
It seems like happiness is a hot topic these days. I have been seeing it pop up everywhere lately. There is the blogger/book called The Happiness Project, a recent article at the Christianity Today blog on “How Money Makes Us Happy“, more articles on happiness at The Atlantic, and Guardian magazines, and just yesterday an email subject headline in my inbox that said “Can HR Software Make You Happy?” Seriously? So it is only natch that sooner or later, some observant and clever consultant... Read more
I have a friend who jokes that he’s going to quit his executive position and take a job as a school bus driver. “Why would you do that?” I asked. “Because,” he said, “That job would be so much more straightforward. At 6:15 a.m., I get in the bus. I know exactly where all the stops are, which kids to pick up at what time. Then I drop them all at the school before the bell rings. I go from A... Read more
Remember that fish-shaped thing, that cute little symbol that is supposed to be associated with Christianity? It is called the Ichthys,which is really an anagram made up of five Greek letters that mean “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” The Ichthys apparently dates back to the first and second century, when Christians had the misfortune of being hunted down, tortured and killed by Roman rulers. These fish symbols were like a secret code, letting them know when they were safe among other believers.... Read more
One thing I have learned from those bloodthirsty media journalists is that if you want eyeballs to land on your website, then use a sensationalist, attention-grabbing headline. So. As luck would have it, I recently came across an enticing opportunity for making such an alarming claim when I saw a new survey published by U.S. Catholic magazine last week to coincide with Labor Day. The focus of the survey was on the readers’ perceptions of the intersection of their faith and their work. Surprisingly, the magazine reports that 81% of... Read more
When I first started the Shrinking the Camel Blog, I joked with a friend that I was creating a new market niche that didn’t quite exist yet. Although my friend smiled and nodded encouragingly, now I am fairly certain that what he was actually thinking was more like, “Good luck, Sucker.” What I had meant at the time was that I was frustrated by the lack of compelling content I saw on internet sites around the idea of integrating faith,... Read more
This, my friends, is the last of the summer reruns. I ran this story several months ago and broke it into four separate posts. Today, however, I have taken the liberty of running it as one long, meandering, 3,000+ word Epic post, because it is one of my favorite pieces that I’ve written. Consider it a time-consuming gift. So, you might want to get that cup of coffee before sitting down to read it. Or, you could print it out and read on your train commute in to... Read more
This was originally supposed to be a featured at The High Calling Blogs website a few days ago, but it got buried, undoubdetdly because the word “stripper” is used. Well, we here at STC are certainly not prudes, so I am giving this post full frontal exposure. When I was an earnest young Christian man, I considered the possibility of pursuing a career in the ministry. But God said “No,” so I bravely pursued other options, and eventually pursued business. At first, the prospects... Read more
From time to time I will indulge myself in the tacky genre of self-help-leadership-development books. Usually I skim through the pages quickly to see if I can find one or two ideas of substance that might come in handy later on, perhaps some catchy quote I can rip off to make me sound smart and sophisticated at an upcoming business conference cocktail reception. I’ve discovered that if you want to appear smart in business, you really only have to be... Read more
So much has been written on the subject of leadership over the past thirty years that sometimes I honestly wonder if there is anything left to say. Popular authors and motivational gurus like John Maxwell have found so many clever ways to slice and dice and list and repackage their critical leadership advice that I am just about left speechless. Apparently, these trusted career advisors have discovered that there is an infinitely unfulfilled market of poor suckers like you and... Read more
Shrinking the Camel
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