Faith as Usual Tag

24 Jan

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog, Integrity Ideas by

INTEGRITY IDEA: Recall Your Faithful Purpose COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Practices COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): Highly Covert or Highly Overt STAKEHOLDERS SERVED: Kingdom Most Integrity Ideas are practical actions toward implementing a bigger WHY for the organization. "Recall Your Faithful Purpose" is implementing practices to remind your stakeholders about your WHY--your organization's Re-Imagined Purpose...

03 Jan

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

Giving generously from wealth is a very good thing both for faithful leaders personally and for the businesses they lead, but faithful integrity and business a better way demand more.  Many organizations do important and excellent work helping faithful leaders understand the importance of being generous with their wealth.  However, by itself, the message of "give generously" can draw a...

20 Dec

Posted at 11:00h in Integriosity Blog by

Sometimes good-intentioned faithful leaders sprinkle faith "reindeer dust"--overt faith symbols and practices--believing that it is faith/work integration.  It isn't bad, and it can be very good, but by itself it is not leading with faithful integrity through business a better way toward Biblical flourishing.  By itself, sprinkling "faith" reindeer dust without transforming how the organization actually does business is what...

06 Dec

Posted at 05:30h in Beautify the World, Glorify God, Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Restore by

Over the last four years, we have been laying out and expanding on a model for moving toward what we call Integriosity®--leading with faithful integrity through business a better way and toward Biblical flourishing.  It is time to pause, take a breath and look back over the last 200 posts as we did after 100. We hope this is a...

08 Nov

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

A faithful leader who wants to lead with faithful integrity in alignment with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities must avoid "doing an Ahaz".  You might be asking, "Who was Ahaz?"  The better question is "What's 'doing an Ahaz'?"  The best question is "How do I avoid 'doing an Ahaz'?"  Ahaz was one of those "did not do what was right...

01 Nov

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

The first step on the ancient path from the "as usuals" of business as usual, work as usual, and faith as usual to "a better way" is RENEW, and the first step of RENEW is reordering disordered priorities to "Keep First Things First".  The last of the four first principles embedded in the word Integriosity is Humility, and it is the key to understanding the...

11 Oct

Posted at 11:20h in Integriosity Blog by

Don’t worry--this is not about the U.S. Southern border, Eastern European borders or Middle Eastern borders.  It is about the border between the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of God.  Kingdom border protection is trickier than geographic border protection because a faithful leader resides in both kingdoms and the border exists in the heart of the leader and...

27 Sep

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

ESSENCE:  The first step on the ancient path from the "as usuals" of business as usual, work as usual, and faith as usual to "a better way" is RENEW, and the first step of RENEW is reordering disordered priorities to "Keep First Things First". When "all the Law and the Prophets" depend on the commandments to love God and love your...

13 Sep

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

The first step on the ancient path from the "as usuals" of business as usual, work as usual, and faith as usual to "a better way" is RENEW, and the first step of RENEW is reordering disordered priorities to "Keep First Things First". If a faithful leader or an organization is committed to "seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew...

06 Sep

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

The first step on the ancient path from the "as usuals" of business as usual, work as usual, and faith as usual to "a better way" is RENEW, and the first step of RENEW is reordering disordered priorities to "Keep First Things First". The Bible says unequivocally that "Righteousness" is one of the "First Things" we are meant to...

30 Aug

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

The first step on the ancient path from the "as usuals" of business as usual, work as usual, and faith as usual to "a better way" is RENEW.  It is the start of a four-step process called Integriosity® to help a faithful leader navigate the journey on the ancient path toward leading faithfully with faithful integrity through business a better way. Each step...

12 Jul

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

Side Roads are detours that substitute a lesser "good" for the "best" of transformational heart-change in an organization--transformation of its WHY.  They are detours off the ancient path of faithful integrity through business a better way in alignment with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  Side Roads are not inherently bad--in fact, they are better than doing nothing at all.  Well-intentioned...

05 Jul

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

Many well-intentioned, faithful leaders never find the right path to faithful integrity through business a better way, or stumble off it, because of good-intentioned "faith" messages or approaches that send them in the wrong direction--"bad theology" or, at least, poor communication of good theology which create stumbling blocks that substitute the "good" for the "best".  We have identified five common...

28 Jun

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

Faithful leaders seeking to lead with faithful integrity can get detoured from the ancient path toward business a better way. The world--and our culture--does not want a faithful leader on the ancient path. But the world and our culture are not the only stumbling blocks that can lead a faithful leader with the best of intentions to "miss...

21 Jun

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

Words are important and powerful, and some words can inspire. In 2011, the simple phrase "All In" inspired the N.Y. Giants to turn around a dismal season and win the Super Bowl. This past weekend the world was introduced to a new inspirational phrase likely to go viral--"Play Big". It is the phrase that carried Wyndham Clark to...

22 Mar

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

Leading faithfully through business a better way requires getting across three "gaps": Sunday/Monday, Sacred/Secular and Knowing/Doing. The journey across those "gaps" starts with RENEW--renewing the faithful leader's mind about God's purpose for work and business, which reveals the sacred nature of work and business. Moving across the three "gaps" of faith/work integration equips a faithful leader to see...

25 Jan

Posted at 05:30h in "Leading Faithfully" Basics, Integriosity Blog by

As a faithful leader seeking to lead faithfully, you face a foundational choice between two starkly different options with profound implications. One option is business as usual — business in "the way of the world" or, more precisely, according to "the kingdom of this world." We call the other option business a better way — business aligned with Biblical beliefs,...

05 Oct

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

Does faith/work integration require Overtly faithful practices?  Leading an organization faithfully through business a better way in alignment with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities, requires a continual prayerful balancing of the call to be Courageous through Overtness and the need to be Wise through Covertness. Both the idolization of Overtness and the fear of being Overt may lead to poor...

29 Jun

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog, Integrity Ideas by

From time to time, we are devoting posts to describing specific actions a faithful leader can consider in leading faithfully through business a better way. We are calling these Integrity Ideas. INTEGRITY IDEA: Hire a chaplain to be available for employees COVERT-OVERT CONTINUUM (six Continuums for action): Prayer COVERT-OVERT RATING (several levels from Highly Covert to Highly Overt): ...

22 Jun

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog, Integrity Ideas by

From time to time, we will now begin describing specific actions a leader can consider during the Re-Align step of Integriosity®--actions that will begin to Re-Align the organization with Biblical beliefs, principles and priorities.  We will call the posts "Integrity Ideas". The Integriosity model organizes "heart change" along six Covert-Overt Continuums, and breaks the Covert-Overt Continuums into six gradations that...

15 Jun

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

A life of faith is a life of choices. For a faithful leader, one of those choices is the "O" that drives their leadership.  There are two options--obedience or outcome.  It is a choice between the kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of God. It is one or the other--business as usual or business a better way. It is...

08 Jun

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

Faithful leaders seeking to lead faithfully can get detoured from the ancient path toward business a better way.  We call those detours Side Roads when they substitute a lesser "good" for transformational heart-change in the organization--transformation of its WHY.  In prior posts we identified six: Agonizing, Individualizing, Monetizing, Cosmeticizing, Prosperitizing and Interimizing.   We recently encountered a situation that is leading...

13 Apr

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

We believe words are important and powerful.   Words (and disordered words) can either support or undermine efforts to move an organization's culture toward faithfully "doing right" through business a better way.  Disordered words can affect how leaders shape an organization's culture and view its WHY--the heart of the organization.  For example, "integrate your faith into your work" is just one...

06 Apr

Posted at 05:35h in Integriosity Blog by

We believe words are important and powerful.  The culture of the world is filled with words that blind us to God’s purpose for work--words that reinforce work as a burden to be avoided rather than a blessing of God's creation.  Disordered words that embody the world's priorities rather than Kingdom priorities infect our thinking, which ultimately infects our heart.  For...

30 Mar

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

We believe words are important and powerful.  The culture of the world is filled with words that blind us to God’s purpose for work--words that reinforce work as a burden to be avoided rather than a blessing of God's creation.  Disordered words that embody the world's priorities rather than Kingdom priorities infect our thinking, which ultimately infects our heart.  For...

23 Mar

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

For a leader seeking to lead an organization to faithfully “do right” through business a better way, or a person seeking to "work" in alignment with Biblical beliefs, values and priorities, WORDS MATTER.  We believe words are important and powerful.  The culture of the world is filled with words that blind us to God’s purpose for work and business.  Even...

22 Mar

Posted at 05:30h in Integrous News by

Integrous Founder Paul Michalski was the guest speaker at the monthly Toolbox Ministries-Galleria lunch held on March 9, 2022 at The Houston Racquet Club in Houston, Texas.    Paul's talk was titled The 7 Stages of My Journey To the Why of Work: Understanding the Intersection of Faith and Work....

16 Mar

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

For a leader seeking to lead an organization to faithfully “do right” through business a better way, eliminating organizational silos must be a priority. In this post, we look at “wisdom” and “information” silos. Organizational silos are bad for the leader, bad for the organization and bad for its culture, which makes it bad for the people in the...

23 Feb

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

We believe investors of Biblical faith wanting to invest in alignment with Biblical beliefs, values and priorities need to think BIGGER in a new way--prioritizing "significance" over "size". If they don’t, they are at risk of undermining not only the faithfulness of their own investing but also the ability of faith-driven entrepreneurs and business leaders to run their businesses...

12 Jan

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

In this post we look at some special "culture" challenges that can lead Biblically faith-based non-profits down a seemingly business as usual path. These organizations are born with "faith-work integration" but can have cultures that stray far from God's design for work--good work on the outside with unhappy people on the inside. People tolerate unhealthy cultures in faith-based...

05 Jan

Posted at 06:00h in Beautify the World, Glorify God, Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Restore by

Over the last two years, we have laid out a model for moving toward what we call Integriosity®--faithfully "doing right" through business an better way.  It is time to pause, take a breath and look back over the last 101 posts. We believe these last 100 posts have honored our promise to you from post #001. Integrous is here to help...

09 Jun

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog, Re-Align, Re-Imagine, Renew, Restore by

There are four stages in the process toward Integriosity®, each of which lays the groundwork for the next--RENEW, RE-IMAGINE, RE-ALIGN, RESTORE.  Jumping into RE-IMAGINE or RE-ALIGN before RENEW would be like going out on the field before you learned the rules of the game or the fundamental skills.  Jumping into RE-ALIGN before RE-IMAGINE would be starting the game without a...

02 Jun

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog, Re-Align, Renew by

The fifth key "mind-shift" of business a better way through Integriosity® captures a new way of thinking about the WHEN of faith-work integration--it is getting at the PRIORITY of "business a better way" in the organization being stewarded by faith-driven leaders. The critical thing to remember about Mind-Shift #5 is "THE TIME IS NOW". Once a faith-driven...

26 May

Posted at 05:00h in Integriosity Blog, Re-Align, Renew by

The fourth key "mind-shift" of business a better way through Integriosity® captures a new way of thinking about the HOW of faith-work integration--it is getting at the PRACTICE of "business a better way" through actually implementing a "heart" change in the organization being stewarded. The critical thing to remember about Mind-Shift #4 is "SYMBOLS ARE SECONDARY". In the...

19 May

Posted at 05:00h in Integriosity Blog, Renew by

The third key "mind-shift" of business a better way through Integriosity® captures a new way of thinking about the WHY of business--it is getting at the PURPOSE that flows from, and supports, an organization faithfully "doing right". The critical thing to remember about Mind-Shift #3 is "GREED IS NOT THE CREED". It is the most important--and...

12 May

Posted at 05:00h in Integriosity Blog, Renew by

The second key "mind-shift" of business a better way through Integriosity® captures a new way of thinking about the WHO of leaders pursuing faith-work integration--the kind of PERSON needed to faithfully "do right". The critical thing to remember about Mind-Shift #2 is "YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU DO". Mind-Shift #2 is about seeing yourself first in terms of...

05 May

Posted at 05:00h in Integriosity Blog, Renew by

The first key "mind-shift" of business a better way through Integriosity® captures a new way of thinking about the WHAT of faith-work integration--the very PRINCIPLE that defines faith-work integration.   The critical thing to remember about Mind-Shift #1 is "FAITH CAN’T FIT INTO WORK".  Faith-work integration is about integrating work into faith, not faith into work.  Integrating faith into work suggests a VERY SMALL view of...

07 Oct

Posted at 09:45h in Integriosity Blog, Re-Align, Re-Imagine, Renew by

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"  Guess what--we are done with the bad news, and it is finally time to dig into the good stuff!  We have spent the last 30 posts digging through the rubble of "work".  It is now time to begin rebuilding toward "business a better way" through the framework of Integriosity®....

30 Sep

Posted at 09:45h in Beautify the World, Glorify God, Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Re-Align, Re-Imagine, Renew by

The effort to faithfully "do right" by integrating faith and work can get DERAILED by six problems that can keep the organization in the deep hole of "business as usual" and may even push it deeper. The more of "business a better way" is much harder, but getting out of the hole is necessary and worth the journey....

16 Sep

Posted at 09:45h in Glorify God, Integriosity Blog, Re-Align, Renew by

"Prosperitizing" is when leaders pursue faith/work integration because they believe it will lead to God blessing their business with worldly success--measured in terms of profit and growth.  It is perhaps the most insidious of the various Side Roads because the organization can look like it actually is conducting "business a better way"--but its NOT....

09 Sep

Posted at 09:45h in Glorify God, Integriosity Blog, Re-Align, Renew by

Some faith-driven leaders have been deceived into believing that the integration of faith and work is principally about sprinkling some "faith" pixie dust over the organization to make it look and feel "Godly"--and that leads down the Side Road of Cosmeticizing. "Cosmeticizing" is when an organization adopts overt faith symbols and practices without transforming how it actually does business....

02 Sep

Posted at 09:45h in Glorify God, Integriosity Blog, Re-Align by

We have explored the five common Placebos of what we call faith as usual that can lead well intentioned leaders to stumble down faith as usual Side Roads in their effort to integrate their faith and their work. After Agonizing and Individualizing, the third of these Side Roads is Monetizing.   Side Roads represent responses to Placebos advertised as the Red Pill that we believe...

26 Aug

Posted at 09:45h in Glorify God, Integriosity Blog, Re-Align by

We have explored the fivecommon Placebos of what we call faith as usual that can lead well intentioned leaders to stumble down Side Roads in their effort to integrate their faith and their work.  We have also hinted at the six common faith as usual Side Roads that represent responses to Placebos advertised as the Red Pill but, we believe, actually miss the ancient path...