Faithfully "doing right" through business a better way requires an alignment of Purpose, Values and Culture arising from a commitment to Biblical beliefs, values and priorities that leads a person or organization, instinctively, to do the right things, in the right ways and for the...
Once a leader, armed with a RENEWED understanding of God's purpose for work and business, RE-IMAGINES the Purpose and Values of the organization they lead, the final (and most difficult) step is to Re-Imagine Implementation of that purpose and those values throughout the organization by...
Once a leader, armed with a RENEWED understanding of God's purpose for work and business, RE-IMAGINES the Purpose of the organization they lead, the next step is to Re-Imagine Values. Re-Imagined Purpose forms the cornerstone of the organization, but Re-Imagined Values complete the foundation....
When a leader, armed with a RENEWED understanding of God's purpose for work and business, begins to RE-IMAGINE the organization they lead, the process must include Re-Imagining Profit--the most difficult and most important element of Re-Imagining Purpose. It is the most difficult because Profit...
When a leader, armed with a RENEWED understanding of God's purpose for work and business, begins to RE-IMAGINE the organization they lead, the process must include Re-Imagining People--the role and treatment of the people in the organization. Re-Imagining People requires leaders prayerfully to discern what...
When a leader, armed with a RENEWED understanding of God's purpose for work and business, begins to RE-IMAGINE the organization they lead, the process must begin with Re-Imagining Vision--the organization's WHY. Re-Imagining Vision requires leaders prayerfully to discern a WHY that expresses the heart God...
The core of Integriosity® is ALIGNMENT--aligning the organization's purpose and values with core Biblical purpose and values, then cultivating an organizational culture of Shalom that is aligned with, and reinforces, the organizational purpose and values. The RENEW stage of Integriosity provides the tools for...
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 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...
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 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...
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...
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...
A leader can't align the purpose and vision of an organization with God's purpose for work and business until that leader has a sound understanding of work and business from a Biblical perspective, which is the purpose of the RENEW step of Integriosity®. Until an organization's...
A key element of the RENEW step of Integriosity® is re-ordering disordered priorities by looking at Biblical principles for work and business. It is important to go back to first principles by asking what the Bible tells us are the keys to everything else....
Why Work Is Necessary: The Implications of Genesis 2:5 This article first appeared on April 15, 2021 in CU: The Magazine, published by Christian Union....
The last of the four first principles embedded in Integriosity® is Humility, and, in addition to being the key to understanding the "HOW" of the other three "first things" (Righteousness, Love and Kingdom), it is a key to Wisdom. Pride, on the other hand, can keep the leader of...
The last of the four first principles embedded in Integriosity® is Humility, and it is the key to understanding the "HOW" of the other three "first things", including Kingdom. Humility in pursuing the Kingdom flows from knowing who we are in relation to God--it means recognizing the "smallness of our...
The last of the four first principles embedded in Integriosity® is Humility, and it is the key to understanding the "HOW" of the other three "first things", including Love. Humility in Loving Others flows from knowing who we are in relation to other people. By embracing Imago Dei, Humility leads...
The last of the four first principles embedded in Integriosity® is Humility, and it is the key to understanding the "HOW" of the other three "first things", including Righteousness. Humility in Righteousness flows from knowing who we are in relation to God's creation and His plan. In fact, living sacrificially--a key...
The last of the four first principles embedded in Integriosity® is Humility, and it is the key to understanding the "HOW" of the other three "first things"--Righteousness, Love and Kingdom--and it is a key to Wisdom. In fact, we believe leadership without Humility is antithetical to leading an organization to faithfully "do...
Profit is NOT bad. In fact, we believe PROFIT IS NECESSARY for an organization (other than a non-profit organization) to be obedient to the Creation Mandate, because it is necessary for sustainability, for the flourishing of owners and to further the bigger "WHY" of the organization....
Love is the first "Generosity Priority" embedded in Integriosity®, and we have seen how the generosity and service aspects of Love lead us to the purpose of work and business (maximize flourishing by Humanizing, Beautifying, Glorifying), but there are also respect and sustainability aspects of Love that are inherent in the Creation Mandate. Biblical sustainability is about faithfully "doing right" by caring...
Putting together the puzzle pieces of the last several posts, we see that the first principle of Love leads us to the same purpose for business as emerged from the first principle of Kingdom--the BIGGER purpose of work and business is to HUMANIZE people, BEAUTIFY the...
An organization is a merely a collection of people working together toward a common purpose. As such, it derives its purpose from their purpose. Organizations such as businesses have intrinsic Kingdom value because they are a creation of God's image-bearers that provides the platform...
The nature of work in God's design is that it is how we use our skills to obey His commandments through SERVICE. People are more fully human when they are working in alignment with God's purpose for work--a vehicle for living out the Creation Mandate and the great commandments to love...
Being created in the image of God is not just a great t-shirt slogan--it has important implications for how we live and what we need in order to be fully human. Embedding the Biblical principle of love your neighbor in the culture and heart...
Keep First Things First means going back to Biblical first principles, and one of the four principles embedded in the word Integriosity® is the "Generosity Priority" of LOVE. "All the Law and the Prophets" depend on the commandments to love God and love your...
The book-ends of a BIGGER GOSPEL reveal the purpose and relevance of work and organizations in God's grand plan and an even greater purpose for Redemption through Jesus. Creation and Restoration teach us that humans need work and organizations to be "fully human"; work...
For a leader to lead an organization to faithfully "do right", they must recognize that what they believe about "where we are going someday" profoundly impacts "how we act today". God's restoration plan for His Kingdom means work and business have relevance in God's...
For a leader to lead an organization to faithfully "do right", they must recognize that what they believe about "where we are going someday" profoundly impacts "how we act today". A Restoration understanding of heaven means the "very good" creation that left plenty...
For a leader to lead an organization to faithfully "do right", they must look to Creation to understand the necessity of work to God's plan for His creation. The world was actually created to need our creativity and productivity in order to flourish....
For a leader to lead an organization to faithfully "do right", they must look to Creation to understand the importance of work to the humanity of those they lead. God created work for humanity as a GOOD THING before the Fall, and people are...
A leader can't lead an organization to faithfully "do right" without understanding and embracing a BIGGER GOSPEL, because without going back to Creation, we can't understand Who We Are, and more importantly, we can't understand Who Other People Are. It is only when we understand...
It is impossible to understand God's purpose for work or business without looking at Genesis and understanding the Creation Mandate (a commandment about our purpose on earth), God's love for all creation and our role as its stewards. As stewards, we have global responsibility...
Many faith-driven leaders are operating out of a narrow and incomplete vision of God's story--missing the beginning and end of a grand four-part narrative (Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration). Because the purpose and relevance of work and business are found in Creation and Restoration, we do...
Faithfully "doing right" is more than "doing good"--it means "doing right" by God, and that means "living generously through loving others and stewarding creation". There are many organizations that promote "giving generously", but what does it mean to "live generously"? It requires "vertically integrating" generosity...
Faithfully "doing right" with integrity needs a WHY, and the WHY of faithfully "doing right" needs to have integrity in the form of "authenticity" (with authenticity having four components: identity, sincerity, consistency and transparency). In other words, the organization's WHY must be more than a pretty...
Faithfully "doing right" requires considering more than just WHAT you do. It requires also considering HOW you do it and WHY you are doing it. Faithfully "doing right" requires doing the right thing, in the right way and for the right reasons....
Faithfully "doing right" is much more than "doing good" or being ethical. The key to understanding faithfully "doing right" is recognizing that "doing right" needs an object--by whom are we to "do right". We believe a faith-driven leader is called to "do right"...
Faithfully “doing right” is much more than “doing good”. In this post we begin exploring the "Integrity Priority" of Righteousness by considering what “doing good” can mean in business (and it can mean many different things, none of which are the ancient path of...
A key element of the RENEW step of Integriosity is re-ordering disordered priorities. It is important to go back to first principles by asking what the Bible tells us are the keys to everything else. And then we have to "Keep First Things...
Management matters. WHO leaders of an organization “show up as” and HOW the organization “does what it does” can have intrinsic value in God’s Kingdom before even considering the services it provides or the products it produces. And the WHO and HOW are...
"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...
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...
"Interimizing" is putting off "doing right" until the business is "doing well"--exalting a worldly concept of "success" (profit) over a Biblical concept of "success" (human flourishing). A leader that swallows The "Success First" Pill and adopts an "interim strategy"--Interimizing--may never get around to faith/work integration....
"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...
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...
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...