I once attended a meeting where a professional services firm was making a pitch to help my company work through a certain business issue. They had prepared a little presentation to introduce their firm and set up the discussion. As the first power point slide went up on the screen, I could not believe what bullet point number three said: We will be vulnerable with you I knew instantly what this guy was thinking: by being vulnerable with us, by sharing... Read more
A few months ago, my wife texted me, “Don’t forget to buy Megamillions tickets!:)” Upon learning of the $656 million jackpot, we couldn’t help ourselves from fantasizing about a potential windfall. We’d quit our jobs. Pursue our dreams. Finally, we’d do what we loved. When the lottery numbers were drawn, ours, of course, did not come up. I like my job, but other creative passions run deep that I don’t have the luxury of pursuing. There are bills to pay,... Read more
Several executives were standing around my office the other day, debating what to do about a particular employee. Not that someone was in trouble – rather, this person had performed an outstanding accomplishment, one which had a substantial impact on our bottom line. They were discussing how best to acknowledge this. A special luncheon in her honor? A handwritten letter? A big “thank you” message written in the sky? We decided the best thing was for her manager to sit... Read more
Years ago, I worked for a computer maintenance company, leading a team of college students who received and cleaned the computers. Often, the problem with a computer was simply that it was too dirty. Disassemble it, run its circuit boards through a sonic dishwasher, and it was as good as new. These were the days when circuit boards were the size of dinner plates. The leads reported to department managers who all reported to the site manager. The site manager... Read more
I recently overheard a conversation where a middle-aged, mothering woman was asking a scrappy-headed and pockmark-faced young man in his mid-twenties how he liked his job. “It’s okay,” he said, staring down at his unlaced black Skechers. “Pays the bills, right?” she prompted with an encouraging smile. “Yeah, no – it’s not so bad. For now.” His “it’s okay for now” response seems to sum up the vague sense of detachment experienced by a large swath of working folks these days.... Read more
I was on speaker phone the other day with a colleague, Bruce, closing up several items regarding some new deal activity. After five minutes or so, the business part of our conversation was over, so I fired up my computer, opening several application windows in anticipation of the call winding down. Hello, excel! Hello, email! Good day, internet! What’s up? I was itching to get back into productivity mode. I started clicking through a spreadsheet analysis, attended to a few emails that needed... Read more
The other day my friend asked a rather blunt and personal question: “Do you think it is God’s will for you to be at the company you’re with right now?” What I wanted to say was, “Well, duh. I’m working there, aren’t I?” In other words, how else could I have possibly ended up in this place unless God had somehow greased the wheels? I don’t know how all this stuff works, theologically speaking, but I have to give him... Read more
A friend confided that, lately, he goes home from work every day feeling like a failure. He is in charge of a sales organization that has been slipping ever since he took over a few months ago. The pressure from upper management is tremendous. It seems like everything is stacked against him – the tough economy, internal politics, the negative morale of his people — yet every day he comes to work, sucks it up, and fights like heck to... Read more
New Study Suggests Prayer Is So Boring People Prefer Painful Electric Shocks It has been a weird few weeks in the news regarding prayer. Folks got riled up over 15% discounts for public prayer in a North Carolina restaurant, over the end of the discount for public prayer in the same restaurant , over exercise groups praying together in a Georgia mall, and at rallies to defend public prayer at the same mall. What a mess. Jesus modeled a different kind of prayer—mostly... Read more
I recently attended a Strategy conference featuring some fancy Harvard Business School professors at a swanky California seaside hotel. During one of the luncheons, I struck up a conversation with the gentleman seated next to me, a sturdy-looking man who worked for a large charity organization in the Midwest. The word “Grace” was prominently emblazoned on the logo on the front of his blue denim shirt, as it represented the first half of his organization’s name. We chatted about the... Read more
Shrinking the Camel
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