7 Things I Wish I Knew

For far too long I thought of life as a balancing act. So much time for my family, some for me, some for God, and a big chunk for work. God’s approach is different - He is the ultimate integrator. He takes separate things and makes them one.

In the physical realm, two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom become a single molecule of water. A husband and wife become one couple and eventually one family. The whole Bible is one big explanation of how He is making us one with Him. So how does this integration of faith, work, and family work? You will see more examples in the items below.

Work is holy.

‘Holy‘ is one of those words that we reserve for special use like at church, but it is an everyday idea. Something is “holy” when it fulfills the purpose of its creator. The Bible teaches that furniture, clothing, and many other things are ‘holy’ because they serve a particular purpose of God. 

God created ‘work’ at the beginning, not as punishment, but as provision. God designed people to accomplish things, so all whole-hearted, quality work aligns with His purpose. It is the ultimate integration of faith and work. You are worshiping God by doing good work. Praying for wisdom, strength, and faith can help you overcome challenges in your work. And you can experience the joy of doing what God created you to do. Businesses are a place for holy activity.

Ugly behavior is just a symptom.

God designed people to ‘win’ (‘overcome’ and have ‘dominion’ ). Said more plainly, people don’t just want to win, they need to win. When you experience people who continually show destructive, ill-mannered behavior, it is a symptom of something deeper. They may not understand this deeper cause themselves. When you feel you are not winning, it shows up in everything you do - sometimes consciously and sometimes not. 

Wise leaders are cautious about attacking symptoms. They invest time to build relationships to understand what winning means to those around them. And then they help people make the connection between their behaviors and getting what they want. Attacking the symptoms has the opposite effect --it reinforces people's destructive behavior and creates a feeling of being bigger losers. 

If a leader wants to understand someone and their motivations, they will take an interest in their whole life, not just work. For all of us, not winning at home spills over onto work and vice versa. Wise leaders look at people holistically —which is another example of taking an integrated view of life.

Organizations outgrow their ability to execute.

Healthy organizations grow. But growth changes what is required of leaders. A simple illustration: an organization of 3 people only has 3 potential interactions, but if you grow the headcount to 24 that is an 8-fold increase in headcount but a 117-fold increase in potential interactions. 

Headcount increases are visible, but complexity increases are not. Failure to understand this dynamic leads to failure in training and equipping leaders. The result is a breakdown in communication, increasing chaos, and poor performance.  I witnessed this cycle several times before I understood what was happening to me.

Jesus can do things I can’t.

As a new Christian, there was a lot of emphases (rightly so) on caring for other people — “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. It is the basic rule of human relationships. And failure to practice it causes a huge percentage of our chaos. 

However, as you study the words and actions of Jesus, you realize that there are some things that only Jesus can do (and I cannot). Jesus can fix whatever is broken inside of a person, forgive, restore, and give them a new life and identity. 

I realize I need to feed the poor and care for the sick, but I also need to express the ultimate love by introducing Jesus to those who are interested, so they have the opportunity to experience what only He can do.

What leadership really is.

A leader’s first responsibility is to determine purpose. For the business owner, that means for the whole organization. For the front-line supervisor, it means the mission of the department. At whatever level you can’t make up for a bad purpose by working harder. You must get it right. Admittedly, the purpose needs to be revisited as our life changes at home (marriage, children) or work (promotions, transfers). But it is important to do it well. 

A leader’s second responsibility is to accomplish the purpose. To do that you have to get people to work together. This is an irony that God built into the universe. We are created to overcome, but we can’t do it alone, and working together is not something we are good at. 

Getting and keeping people on the same page is challenging because people are all different in terms of skills and personality. Electromagnetism holds atoms together in the physical realm. In organizations, it is shared purpose and loving relationships hold people together. Leaders need to be experts at facilitating good human relationships among the team all aimed at a shared purpose. 

The unique role of ownership.

It is common in the faith community to refer to ‘stewarding’ our resources on behalf of God. It is a biblical concept and helps us serve with the right attitude. But the Bible also emphasizes that God sees us as “owners” of certain things. It is an important distinction because He wants us to be generous, but you can’t ‘give’ something that you don’t own. In God’s realm, ownership is also closely tied to responsibility. 

In a business, the owner is responsible for defining the purpose of the business and its values. Only the owner has the authority to build an organization that lives by those priorities. The Bible advocates getting lots of input, but getting input from others does not diminish your responsibility. 

The Garden of Eden story is a pointed example where Eve tried to blame the Tempter for her actions. And Adam tried to blame Eve for his actions. God was having none of their excuses. They were each responsible for their own decisions regardless of input. In the end, as business owners, God will hold us responsible for the way ‘our’ businesses operate. No excuses do.