Blue Pill Tag

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...

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...

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...

23 Aug

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

You are probably wondering "What is an RYR?" "RYR" stands for a "Rich Young Ruler".  Don't stop reading just because you are not "rich" or not "young" or not a "ruler"--being an RYR is not about status or circumstances. It is about your heart as reflected in your primary identity.  "Are you an RYR?" is a question every faithful leader must...

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...

19 Oct

Posted at 05:30h in Integriosity Blog by

As businesspeople or investors of faith, we face a choice much like Neo’s in the film The Matrix—two starkly different options with profound implications. The blue pill is business as usual — business in "the way of the world" or, more precisely, according to "the kingdom of this world." The red pill we call business a better way — business...

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...

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...

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...

19 Aug

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 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...

12 Aug

Posted at 09:44h in Glorify God, Integriosity Blog, Re-Align by

We believe there are five common Placebos of what we call faith as usual that can lead well intentioned leaders down Side Roads in their effort to integrate their faith and their work.  The fifth Placebo is The "Success First" Pill, which commonly leads to the Side Road of Interimizing and tempts leaders to delay taking action for the wrong reasons (misunderstanding of faith/work integration and...

05 Aug

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

We believe there are five common Placebos of what we call faith as usual that can lead well intentioned leaders down Side Roads in their effort to integrate their faith and their work.  The fourth Placebo (after The "4-Hour Content" Pill, The "Save or Give" Pill  and The "Add Some Faith" Pill) is The "Bless You" Pill, which commonly leads to the Side Road of Prosperitizing....

29 Jul

Posted at 09:45h in Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Renew by

We believe there are five common Placebos of what we call faith as usual that can lead well intentioned leaders down Side Roads in their effort to integrate their faith and their work.  The third Placebo (after The "4-Hour Content" Pill and The "Save or Give" Pill) is The "Add Some Faith" Pill, which commonly leads to the Side Road of Cosmeticizing....

22 Jul

Posted at 09:00h in Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Renew by

We believe there are five common Placebos of what we call faith as usual that can lead well intentioned leaders down Side Roads in their effort to integrate their faith and their work.  The second Placebo (after The "4-Hour Content" Pill) is The "Save or Give" Pill, which commonly leads to the Side Roads of Monetizing and Cosmeticizing....

08 Jul

Posted at 09:00h in Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Renew by

We started Integriosity #001 by saying that many leaders who are guided by the Bible in their personal lives and sincerely want to live an integrated faith life at work are confused or frustrated or even intimidated. Some have given up. Others think they are doing it, but they are actually missing the mark.  We call the problem "faith as usual",...

10 Jun

Posted at 09:00h in Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Renew by

At Integrous, we believe one of the four key aspects of toxic "work as usual" that leads to "work" becoming something far from God's good and live-giving design in Genesis is Idol and Identity--the idea that "work as usual" means our work has come to DEFINE "who" we are, rather than being a place to EXPRESS "who" we are....

03 Jun

Posted at 09:00h in Beautify the World, Glorify God, Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Re-Align by

We call the blue pill "business as usual", and the last several posts have shown ways in which it is broken.  If a business is just an association of human beings working together (which it is), is it any surprise that "work as usual" would be broken as well in related ways?  Organizational cultures that are broken through toxic assumptions...

27 May

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

Of the various aspects of blue pill "business as usual" that contribute to workplace and worker brokenness, Profit as Purpose is the most significant, but the Scarcity assumption and the Self Interest assumption exacerbate the problems by ignoring why we were created and whose image we reflect.  Together, these factors reinforce manipulative and dehumanizing managerial behavior and work cultures that...

20 May

Posted at 09:00h in Beautify the World, Glorify God, Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Renew by

Profit is not a problem, just like money is not the root of all evil. In fact, profit is necessary for a business operating in a market economy--without it you don't have a sustainable organization or access to financial capital.  But (and it is a big "but"), Profit as Purpose is a problem of business as usual, just like the...

13 May

Posted at 09:00h in Beautify the World, Glorify God, Humanize People, Integriosity Blog by

In addition to Profit as Purpose, Scarcity and Self Interest, the fourth aspect of "business as usual" that we believe leads to workplace and worker brokenness is a "Can We" Culture--an organizational culture in which ends justify means and ethics or the law are seen as the only boundaries (or even obstacles) in the pursuit of the organization's purpose.   A goal...

06 May

Posted at 09:00h in Humanize People, Integriosity Blog, Renew by

In addition to Profit as Purpose and Scarcity, another aspect of "business as usual" that leads to brokenness is "Self-Interest"--the assumption that people are self-interested and will act in their own self-interest. This is closely tied to the scarcity assumption. In a blue pill organization conducting business as usual, with Profit as Purpose and the self-interest assumption, people's behavior...

29 Apr

Posted at 09:00h in Integriosity Blog, Re-Align, Renew by

In addition to "Profit as Purpose", another aspect of "business as usual" that leads to brokenness is "Scarcity"--the assumption that resources are scarce and everything is a zero-sum situation (my gain is your loss and vice versa). Importantly for Integriosity, a scarcity mindset in an organization can have a profoundly negative impact on how people are treated....

22 Apr

Posted at 09:00h in Integriosity Blog, Re-Align, Renew by

At Integrous, we believe there are four key aspects of "business as usual" that lead to its brokenness, and the most important of these is "Profit as Purpose"--the idea that the primary or sole purpose of "business as usual" is the maximization of financial profit for the benefit of shareholders.  This mindset, in turn, flows into several other aspects of...