» Pride

Who Cares?

David Roth — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:37:46 +0000

I love today’s blog post from Seth Godin! Especially this point…”Caring, it turns out, is a competitive advantage, and one that takes effort, not money.” One of our Core Values at WorkMatters is Excellence. It is also one of the Seven Pillars of Faith at Work. Excellence is so often found in the details. Enjoy Seth’s wisdom below:

Unless someone does, things start to fray around the edges.

Often it’s the CEO or the manager who sets a standard of caring about the details. Even better is a culture where everyone cares, and where each person reinforces that horizontally throughout the team.

You’ve probably been to the hotel that serves refrigerated tomatoes in January at their $20 breakfast, that doesn’t answer the phone when you call the front desk, that has a shower curtain that is falling off the rack and a slightly snarky concierge. This is in sharp relief to that hotel down the street, the one that costs just the same, but gets the details right.

It’s obviously not about access to capital (doing it right doesn’t cost more). It’s about caring enough to make an effort.

If we define good enough sufficiently low, we’ll probably meet our standards. Caring involves raising that bar to the point where the team has to stretch.

Of course, the manager of the mediocre hotel that’s reading this, the staff member of the mediocre restaurant that just got forwarded this note–they have a great excuse. Times are tough, money is tight, the team wasn’t hired by me, nobody else cares, I’m only going to be doing this gig for a year, our customers are jerks… who cares?

Caring, it turns out, is a competitive advantage, and one that takes effort, not money.

Like most things that are worth doing, it’s not easy at first and the one who cares isn’t going to get a standing ovation from those that are merely phoning it in. I think it’s this lack of early positive feedback that makes caring in service businesses so rare.

Which is precisely what makes it valuable.

Who Gets the Credit?

David Roth — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:19:36 +0000

Each of us have been given a specific role in our work. For some of us, it’s clearly defined. For others, it seems to change every day. But we each have our gifts and abilities that we bring to the job.

Some of us are really good at what we do. Our impact is real. Maybe even visible. And it’s human nature to be proud of our accomplishments. We may even be tempted to make sure our accomplishments are known. To make sure…we get the credit. Why? We have ego’s. We have house payments. We have goals and aspirations.

But our friend Paul, gives us a great visual image of how that needs to look if we are focused on our Relationship with God at work. He encourages us to plant. He encourages us to water. But he is very clear about who makes things grow!

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 1 Corinthians 3:6-8

In our self-centered world, it’s hard to do our jobs with excellence, then give God all the glory. If we are to “succeed”, we need some of that glory. And indeed, this story tells us that we will be rewarded! That reward may not be what we expect it to be, but we will be rewarded nonetheless!

Let’s PLANT. Let’s WATER. And let’s let God GROW.

The Road Not Traveled – Q5

tturpin — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 03:01:47 +0000

Question 5 from Terry Turpin’s Eight to Five message – Am I living my life like it’s all about me?

There’s no doubt about it – we live in a narcissistic culture these days. The world encourages us to be self-centered and egotistical. You can even find t-shirts and bumper stickers that say, “I Love Me.”

Our first reaction when thinking about this may be to compare ourselves to the extreme cases – professional athletes, celebrities, reality TV stars (if there is such a thing) – in order to make ourselves feel better about our “minor issues.” However, the inwardly focused mentality is everywhere, and one of the easiest places to observe it is in the workplace.

If I’m not careful, this is what happens to me: I wake up in the morning and think about My day; I ask God to help me with My issues; I get into the office and focus completely on My to-do list; I wonder how certain events are going to affect Me; I make sure My needs are met; I respond to others depending on My mood at the time; I leave at the end of the day gauging success on whether My day was good.

While none of these thoughts or actions are wrong in and of themselves, the Me focus across all of them is the slippery slope. I’m capable of doing an entire day at work without considering anyone else. Busy schedules, pressing deadlines, multiple priorities, big goals, and a host of other things can pressure us into a get-things-done mode that puts us first and everyone else squarely in second.

In John 4:1-42, Jesus gives us an example selfless love for others. Jesus had been traveling several miles in the heat of the day, and he had finally sat down to rest by a well. When a Samaritan woman approached the well, instead of ignoring her and focusing on his own fatigue or maybe where he was headed next, Jesus engaged her in a life-changing conversation. Over the next minutes and hours, Jesus poured His truth into her, and as a result, an entire town was given new life.

^“39Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹And because of his words many more became believers. ⁴²They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” John 4:39-42.

Jesus ended up delaying his journey by two days in order to stay in the town and share His truth with many. Can we simply take two minutes? It doesn’t take much more than that to stop by someone’s desk, send an email, or make a phone call to provide the encouragement that someone may desperately need today. It might even lead to an opportunity for you to share the Gospel with that person – and that is, after all, what we are called to do.

Click here to listen to the Terry Turpin podcast.

Terry Turpin, partner and COO of Acumen Holdings, LLC

Day 26–Worse off than the Fool?

Sam Bates — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:37:18 +0000

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Proverbs 26:12 (NIV)

After reading this chapter a couple of times, my mind was continually mulling over this verse. Well, actually, this verse and the one about the dog returning to it’s own vomit….But I digress. Anyway, the verse speaks clearly about the chances of one who thinks is he or she is wise….not good. Here is a great example of one who seems to think he is wise in his own eyes.

There are some who truly see themselves as having all the answers, not needing anyone else’s council or advice. We all have worked with a few of these types. They ooze pride and arrogance in a smug self-centered way and end up looking pretty ridiculous. Often they bumble around because they are not willing to seek the counsel of those they work with. I thought the fool had it pretty rough in Proverbs, but King Solomon thinks this type of person is worse off than the fool.

Lord, we can often be so full of ourselves and think we really are special. Somehow we have concluded we don’t really need anyone else to make it in this world. We ask your forgiveness for this worse than foolish mindset and for power to destroy the Enemy who buries these lies in our minds. Amen.