When I hear the term “Faith in the Workplace,” I sometimes cringe a little bit.
I don’t like that term. Or, I should say, I don’t like the brand.
Mostly because it conjures up images in my mind of one-dimensional, self-absorbed Christians quoting scripture and tearing up their workplace on a warpath of conversions and “sharing your faith,” even if others don’t really want to hear it. Which, in my opinion, is inappropriate. And rude. It’s like having business autism.
I don’t necessarily want to associate with that.
I know, that’s harsh. And for sure, probably 90% of those who identify themselves with the Faith in the Workplace movement are not like that at all.
So although I was not interested in this particular kind of faith in the workplace movement, I wasn’t about to abandon my faith at work, either. Read more…
The Down Side of Networking: Trading Up
Not long ago I attended one of those industry conventions – you know, several days of no-holds-barred! sessions and seminars followed by informal networking opportunities which are lubricated with heavy appetizers and alcohol.
It’s really fun.
This is generally a good idea, to mingle with complete strangers, since I like meeting people and making new friends and connecting with potential business contacts. We’re all in this together, is how I see it.
But on this particular occassion, I found myself randomly mingled with a fellow who thought he could have done better.
“What company are you with?” he asked. I told him. He tilted his head and scrunched up his eyebrows, calculating whether or not I should be on his target list.
“And what is it that you do there?” he continued. Standard introductory networking questions. No problem. I explained my role and the reason I was at the conference, trying to sound smart and legit. As I was speaking, he seemed to immediately lose interest, and started scanning the room.
Read more…
Turning Fifty: Shaken, Not Stirred
I turned forty-ten a couple months ago.
There.
I still can hardly bring myself to acknowledge that sinister number “5″ that wants to push its way into the front end of my particular age bracket – the evil digit that signifies another looming decade ahead. Or one that has past.
Whatever.
I have noticed that some of the other guys that I work with seemed to breeze right past the big five-0 in their shiny new convertibles (we have had a lot of that going on around here lately) without a second glance in the rear-view. I surveyed some of them in hopes of finding someone to commiserate with, yet nobody is quite as anxious as I am.
“I still feel 18!” exclaims the 53-year old head of sales and marketing, who is incredibly fit and trim and annoyingly happy.
“I never really thought about it.” says another oblivious 51-year old executive.
Denial is what I’m calling it. They’re all in denial. Read more…
It’s Okay to Feel Stupid Sometimes
Have you ever been in a meeting, minding your own business, maybe thinking about what you might want to have for dinner that night, when suddenly you realize all eyes have turned on you, looking for an opinion?
Except that you have no idea what they were just talking about?
It’s not that you weren’t paying attention. No, you really were trying to follow the conversation. It’s just that, well, perhaps you are new to the project. And these people have been throwing around some god-forsaken set of acronyms and industry-slang shorthand because they are all so familiar with it.
But you don’t have a clue what they were talking about, so you drifted off for a moment.
In situations like this when it seems as if I am in over my head for a moment or two, at first I get all sweaty and red in the face as I think to myself how inept I am compared to these geeks. Surely they must think I’m an idiot and a big loser from the ivory towers of downtown Corporate. And how will I ever find the time to learn all of the technical details that they toss around so casually? I even become slightly envious of these subject-matter-experts, the way they have such deep experience in the matters we are discussing, these things that I have never really paid any attention to, nor cared much about at all, up until now.
There’s a name for this, when you come to realize that you don’t know something. It’s called “Conscious Incompetence.” This condition is a step up from “Unconscious Incompetence,” where you are in a state of blissful ignorance because you don’t know what you don’t know. Therefore you don’t care.
But I have my own non-theoretical term for this conscious incompetence phenomenon, when it happens to me.
I call it, “Feeling Stupid.”
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Photo by A Simple Country Girl.
How One Hour a Day x Three Years Can Change Your Life
What if you committed just one hour a day to work on that dream project you’ve been thinking about all those years?
That’s what Geoff Edgers did.
Edgars was a 38 year old arts reporter for the Boston Globe who had reached that enviable point in life where he was settled down with a good job, a nice house and family. But he couldn’t shake this dream he had to make a movie.
Not just any movie. He was obsessed with the band, The Kinks, and had this crazy idea that he could reunite them by making a movie about the legendary founding brothers, Ray and Dave Davies. The problem was that he knew nothing about making movies, nor did he have any money to do it. But he decided to spend an hour a day working on it.
Three years later, he had a movie documentary in the can, called “Do it Again.” It premiered at the International Film Festival in Rotterdam to smashing reviews.
Of course, there are about a hundred thousand little details and obstacles and victories between here and there, but the point is, he took a risk, made a commitment, started something, and saw it through to completion. But not in a way that would have broken apart his entire career and family. He spent an hour a day for three years.
“If you wonder if you could write a book or run a marathon, don’t waste a minute calculating your chances. Instead, spend an hour a day on your dream. It’s how I suddenly found myself on a bridge in London, cameras rolling, wondering what took me so long.”
Breaking it down.
Okay, so let’s say he spent one hour a day, say six days a week (I’ll give him credit for resting on the Sabbath), over three years. With two weeks off per year, that’s 150 weeks.
1 x 6 x 150 = 900 hours.
That’s the equivalent of about four months full time.
If you think about, that’s a lot of hours to get something done. Read more…
Is it Taboo To Talk About Your Beliefs at Work?
Last week I heard a story on NPR about academic scientists who felt they had to hide their religious views from their peers.
Elaine Howard Ecklund, a Rice University assistant professor of Sociology and author of the book “Science vs. Religion,” surveyed 1,700 scientists at elite universities about their belief in God. At the onset, she anticipated the same results you and I would have – that all scientists (especially professors at elite universities) would put God in the same belief-bucket as Santy Clause and Tinkerbell. To her surprise, she discovered that nearly half of them said they were religious.
However, when she did follow up interviews, she found they practiced a “closeted faith.”
“They just do not want to bring up that they are religious in an academic discussion. There’s somewhat of almost a culture of suppression surrounding discussions of religion at these kinds of academic institutions.”
Hmmm. However dysfunctional that may sound, I can actually understand how a scientist’s confession of belief in God might be taboo at a secular university, since atheism is all the rage among scientific academia. The peer pressure must be enormous. Besides, it’s nobody’s business, what you believe on your own time. Why make a big fuss over your faith if it’s going to cause a Spanish Inquisition?
But it got me thinking about how this applies to business settings. As far as I know, there is no such unwritten standard that CEOs , Vice Presidents and business leaders must adhere to some godless business or economic theory in order to be respected and effective in their jobs. Business is agnostic – it doesn’t matter what you believe; it’s just a spider web of organizations, people and transactions operating within a range of economic, ethical and regulatory parameters.
To continue this discussion, please click here to read my post at The High Calling Blogs.
Photo by Colin Stebbing. Used with permission.
How Do the Best Leaders Respond to Negative Events?
How many times has this happened to you?
Tell me - when it happened, what was your immediate response?
(Most likely answer: “Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.”)
Trust me, you’re not alone – we’ve all been there.
As leaders, our response to the events around us is more important than the events themselves.
One of the biggest challenges we all face as leaders is dealing with negative events. A bad situation at work can quickly unravel us from a place of calm, confidence and spiritual connection, down to the dredges of an emotional meltdown.
Our natural subconscious inclination is to react to negative events with equal negativity. We’re just wired that way, like cave dwellers still living in the wild. A perceived threat usually evokes a colorful palette of emotional, knee-jerk reactions. Some of my personal favorites are revenge, depression, and raging insecurity.
Well folks, that is obviously not the most spiritually healthy response for well-groomed leaders like you and I. Plus, we’re in a business setting now, not a prehistoric jungle. Our instincts for fight or flight will generally not lead us to the greater good for ourselves, or for the organization. Read more…
Your Work is Worship
One Sunday morning a couple of years ago, my church announced a new program discussing “Faith in the Workplace.” Although I had never thought much about this subject, I was intrigued and decided to check it out, along with many other career-oriented congregants.
My church is located in a bucolic, historically-preserved town that happens to be a stone’s throw from the pharmaceutical Mecca of the Northeast, and is also within commuting distance from both New York City and Philadelphia. Needless to say, we are a church community filled with our fair share of corporate management-types.
Once the appointed day arrived and the group had settled in to their seats, the speaker opened the session by asking a very simple question:
“What is the purpose of your work?”
A very simple question, indeed. However, this particular cross-section of intelligent, successful, ambitious men and women from my very sophisticated church were immediately stumped, and sat in embarrassing silence for a few moments.
The speaker prodded us a bit, and one by one we began to speak up, mumbling something in hopes of having the right answer.
“Um, to provide for my family?” offered one brave soul, rather tentatively.
“To make money,” another coughed out.
“To be a good steward!” shouted one suck-up from the back, who was really only repeating something he had heard in last week’s sermon.
The speaker was quick to chastise us for our limited spiritual vision, and pointed out that the purpose of our work was instead to glorify God.
The purpose of my work is to glorify God?
I knew that. I had just forgotten about it.
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Photo by Kicki.
Jesus, Joni Mitchell, and Me (A Confession of Faith)
I reconnected with an old friend recently via the miracle of internet and email. It had been 30 years since we had last spoken.
Her name is Margaret, but I always called her Madge, and sometimes, Midge. Back in the early 80’s, when we both attended the same college, Madge was the resident Bohemian eccentric avante-garde artsy dance major. She was a deeply spiritual woman, too, with piercing green eyes and long flowing chestnut brown hair like, just like Boticelli’s Venus.
I looked up to her back then, and loved to make her laugh. There were some good memories.
The other day I noticed her email address listed in a tiny sidebar of the monthly e-alumni update, announcing some theatre production she was involved with.
In a moment of reminiscent weakness, I shot off an email that said “MADGE! It’s me, BJ Moore! I’m married and living in Pennsylvania with two beautiful daughters. What are you up to?”
Midge responded right away with a message typed in a huge 56-font blue that said, “BJ MOORE! !!! I AM TRULY PSYCHED TO HEAR FROM YOU!” It was like 1981 all over again, me sending an email from the dorm across the quad. Except that we didn’t have email in 1981.
Turns out Madge is a hard-core Catholic, which I respect, because I do not feel hard-core anything at the moment. Sometimes I wish my core were harder, and I envy those who are able to fully engage in their faith with relentless passion and a rock solid conviction, no questions asked.
To continue reading, please join me over at The High Calling Blogs.
Taking Notes
I’ve noticed that the best and brightest business professionals have been looking very writerly lately. They seem to have all migrated away from using plain notebooks and folios, and are now bringing these very expensive-looking leather bound diaries to meetings.
I first noticed this with my Executive Coach. As we spoke, he would take notes in this elaborate-looking oversized notebook that, by the looks of it, may very well have been scarfed from an ancient European monastery.
Then, darn it, my CEO started bringing one of these supple beauties to keep track of all the brilliant ideas I was proposing in our conferences together. I had this impulsive urge to grab the thing and hold it to my nose to get a good snuff of that musky grain leather scent. But so far, I have resisted.
And now, just about every meeting that I attend where the likes of sales professionals, investment bankers, accountants or lawyers are involved, I see someone pulling out a gorgeous 9 x 11 fancy book to take their notes in.
Have all these business professionals become closet journal-writers?
It used to be the only people I knew who would spring for those big journally-looking things were the writer-journal-wonks (like me). I’ve got them strewn all over the house in drawers and bookshelves, stuck in between the couch cushions, for anyone to read my private thoughts. No wonder the cleaning people give me that startled look when I run into them. “Oh jyes, chello, meester Moore!” they say with a sly grin and sideways glances. And then it dawns on me: They’ve seen everything! Oh well. Who cares.
Apparently, journals notebooks are now the trendy thing for corporate professionals to be using for note-taking.
I think it makes them look smart and bookish, rather than all business. It says, “I may be speaking in business gobbledygook right now, but in my other life I am a deeply reflective and well-tempered intellectual.”
Maybe that’s why it’s catching on. I, for one, don’t mind this trend at all.
And I found out where they are all coming from. Yesterday I joined the club and purchased my first business Notabilia Notebook from the Levenger Company, whose tag line, btw, is “Tools for serious readers.” How can you not want to drop some serious coin on that? I chose red. I even had my initials monogrammed on the corner.
I am certainly not going to let everyone else in my business professional world get away with this. I mean, come on. I’m the one who’s the writer here!
