ESSENCE:  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 game-plan.   The last 34 posts have been building the pillars of the essential bridge of a RENEWED mind that allows us to move from “business as usual” to “business a better way”.  One key element of that bridge-building process has been re-ordering disordered priorities as to the WHAT, WHO, WHY, HOW and WHEN of faith-work integration.   Let’s take a wide-angle look back at the pillars of the RENEW bridge as we step off on the other side.

It has been a long journey, but we have crossed the most important bridge in the path of Integriosity^®–the bridge from RENEW to RE-IMAGINE.

• • We began our journey with a few posts laying out the basics of Integriosity (#001-#006).
  • We then spent 30 posts (#007-#036) digging through the rubble of “work” to understand: the need for a better way, several attributes of business as usual, the problems inherent in business as usual, several attributes of work as usual, five Placebos we call faith as usual and the Side Road detours down which they can send the leader seeking the ancient path of faith/work integration, and the problems inherent in getting stuck on a Side Road.  These posts were summarized back in post #037–our last waypoint.
  • Our most recent 34 posts (#038-#071) have been building the essential bridge of a RENEWED mind that allows us to move from “business as usual” to “business a better way”.  At Integrous, we believe it would have been a waste of time to explore RE-IMAGINE or RE-ALIGN (the second and third steps of Integriosity) without a solid understanding of the Biblical principles that form the foundation of “business a better way”.  Crossing to RE-IMAGINE also required five “mind-shifts” to reveal misconceptions that frequently send leaders down a Side Road.

Refresher on the Pillars of the RENEW Bridge

Here is a quick refresher on the first step of Integriosity–RENEW:

• Biblical Principles
  • Management Matters (#038)
  • Keep First Things First
    • Overview (#039)
    • Righteousness
      • Levels of “Good” (#040)
      • More than “Good” (#041)
      • More than “Do the Right Thing” (#042)
      • Need for Authenticity (#043)
      • Living Generously (#044)
    • Kingdom
      • Bigger Gospel (#045)
      • Lessons from Creation – Why We Are Here (#046)
      • Lessons from Creation – Imago Dei (#047)
      • Lessons from Creation – Work is Good (#048)
      • Lessons from Creation – Work is Necessary (#049)
      • Where We Are Going – A Restored City (#050)
      • Where We Are Going – We Have a Role (#051)
      • Role of Work Business and Redemption (#052)
    • Love
      • Loving Generously – Faithful Presence (#053)
      • Loving Generously – Being “Godly” (#054)
      • Loving by Serving – Nature of Work (#055)
      • Loving by Serving – Nature of Business (#056)
      • Loving by Serving – Purpose of Work and Business (#057)
      • Respect and Sustainability – God’s Limits (#058)
      • What About Profit? (#059)
    • Humility
      • A First Thing (#060)
      • A “HOW” of Righteousness (#061)
      • A “HOW” of Loving Others (#062)
      • A “HOW” of Pursuing the Kingdom (#063)
      • A Key to Wisdom (#064)
  • Four Principles and Eight Keys (#065)
• Five Key Mind-Shifts (#066)
  • Mind-Shift #1–The “WHAT” of Integration (#067)
  • Mind-Shift #2–The “WHO” of Leaders (#068)
  • Mind-Shift #3–The “WHY” of Business (#069)
  • Mind-Shift #4–The “HOW” of Integration (#070)
  • Mind-Shift #5–The “WHEN” of Integration (#071)

At the beginning of our RENEW journey (post #039), we said a key element of the RENEW step of Integriosity is re-ordering disordered priorities.   We think that is a good note on which to wrap-up the discussion of RENEW, because the five key “mind-shifts” of RENEW are really about re-ordering disordered priorities–keeping first things first.    C.S. Lewis wrote:

Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first and we lose both first and second things.

Here is how the “mind-shifts” reorder our disordered priorities:

• • The WHAT of Integration:  Faith 1st, Work 2nd
  • The WHO of Leaders:  Faith-Identity 1st, Career-Identity 2nd
  • The WHY of Business:  People 1st, Profit 2nd
  • The HOW of Integration:  Heart 1st, Symbols 2nd
  • The WHEN of Integration:  Obedience 1st, Success 2nd

Integriosity = Renew, Re-Imagine, Re-Align and Restore

As you hopefully recall, there are four stages in the process toward Integriosity, each of which lays the groundwork for the next.  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 game-plan.   The last 34 posts have focused on what we believe are God’s purposes for work and business, as well as the key Biblical principles that shape the WHAT, WHO, WHY, HOW and WHEN of faith-work integration.  With these tools, it is time to move to the implementation steps of Integriosity:

• RE-IMAGINE – with a renewed understanding of God’s purpose for work and business, begin to re-imagine your leadership and your organization aligned with it’s bigger “Why”.  Re-imagine the purpose, vision, values and culture.
• RE-ALIGN – with a re-imagined image of your leadership and your organization, begin to take the concrete steps to re-align your organizations purpose, vision, values and culture to reflect and support your re-imagined image.
• RESTORE – lead your organization as a partner in God’s restorative plan for His Kingdom by intentionally pursuing and curating an organizational culture of Shalom and enriching your communities by being a Faithful Presence.

We believe it is time for business a better way in alignment with Biblical values and priorities–it is time to begin faithfully “doing right” through Integriosity^®.

SPOILER ALERT:  The Biblical principles and “mind-shifts” that formed the foundation for RENEW will be key ingredients in the process of RE-ALIGNMENT.

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM):  When I think of “renewing your mind”, I think of law school.  The actual “law” we learned was largely (entirely?) irrelevant to the actual practice of law.  In fact, it was even irrelevant to taking the bar exam.  Preparation for the bar exam was entirely based on a bar review course.  So, what is the point of law school?  Why do wanna-be lawyers need to spend three years (and a lot of money) to get a law degree if the law they study is irrelevant to their actual practice of law?

Because the real point of law school is to “renew your mind”–to teach you to “think like a lawyer”.  You know, the way of thinking that drives everybody around a lawyer (e.g., parents, spouses, children, friends) crazy (other than other lawyers, of course)!  It is training in analyzing and dissecting factual situations and applying legal principles.  Just as the real power of a liberal arts education is training you to learn, the whole point of a legal education is training you to think in a new way.  You are unlikely to be a good lawyer without that training, and you are unlikely to stay on the ancient path of “business a better way” without understanding God’s purpose for work and business.

I think the best description of the law school training process came during a short monologue in the classic movie The Paper Chase, with John Houseman playing the role of fictional Harvard Law School professor Charles Kingsfield.  The movie clip is below.

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Photo Credit: Original photo by Jerry Zhang on Unsplash
(photo cropped)