Faith at Work
Bright moments in presumed darkness
Earlier this week, I was walking to my Wednesday morning men’s group. About eight of us gather each week to read, discuss and explore our faith. Walking out my door I suddenly remembered I failed to get the key from the church office the day before.
Oh, cr#*! Oh, sh@&! Oh, (every expletive I could muster)! How are we going to make this work? It’s 35 degrees at 6am on a Wednesday morning, and there are seven other guys depending on me to open up the conference center by 6:25am. And most importantly, have the coffee ready.
So began my search – I figured there would be someone available at the church since the 6:30am Mass was soon to start. Or a sexton would be there opening up the rest of the church. Or by some miracle, the conference center door was left open by a previous guest. Predictably, none of these were the case.
After my fourth trip in and around the church, I let it go. “Give it up pal”, was all I could say. I began walking across the street to post a hand-written sign directing folks to go a half-mile down the road to a local coffee shop. I figured we’d start about 20 minutes late, but at least we’d meet. I had given up faith in getting into the conference center, but I was determined to have our men’s group happen.
That’s when Jim appeared. He’s one of the church administrators. I see him regularly, but never on this side of the church and certainly not at this time of the morning. I stopped to ask him if he knew of anyone who might have a key. He smiled, reached into his pocket, handed me a key to the conference center and said, “I guess it’s your lucky day Preston”. It was 6:21am.
Luck?
I struggle at times to understand why, in the moment we give up control, what we want actually appears; or at least a close version of it.
A friend once shared with me a definition of faith that I’ve never forgotten:
“Faith is the willingness to move forward without any visible sign it will work.”
Yet this is exactly the opposite of what our culture promotes. The business world is constantly seeking measurements, metrics, data, analytics and historical financials to prove whether or not to take a step forward. In other words, to prove faith?
I spent some time on LinkedIn Answers yesterday and responded to a question inquiring what “the best ROI metrics to use in analyzing an investment in social media” would be. It dawned on me that in our quest to research this information, we’ll end up expending more resources trying to find the right answer than actually investing in our objective.
What if we were to actually practice faith in business? What if we were to take on making bold promises for a future we want to have without seeking evidence if we could actually get there? For most of us, this not only goes against “conventional wisdom”, but is completely scary.
Alas, perhaps that’s what true leadership really is – making bold promises, inspiring others to take action in service of that future, and holding the vision of what’s now possible once that future is realized.
Leadership Practices:
- Write out your most outrageously delicious goal on a piece of paper.
- List all the doubts, judgments and fears you have about making that future a reality.
- Commit yourself to one or the other: the future you just created or your doubts, judgments and fears.
- Enroll at least five people in your future – ask them what they’re first step might be if it where theirs.
- Create a list of one action per day you’ll take to make that future a reality.
- Ask for support when you feel you’re about to get stuck, not after you get stuck.
- Relish in the joy of obtaining that future.
I once heard of a man who unrelentingly tried to sell his fried chicken recipe to restaurants; all of whom turned him away. Based on his ROI, he was destined to fail.
Ever heard of Kentucky Fried Chicken?
Gobble-gobble,
- Coach Preston
