One day when I was visiting a pastor in the urban core of Kansas City, a person entered the church. He requested that the pastor give him money for food. The pastor handed this man a broom and simply said, “We need some work done. If you clean up our lobby, I’ll buy you lunch.” Leviticus 23:22 says, “When you ...
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee was interviewed by the Baptist Messenger about his faith and how it impacts his role as Governor. As a previous business owner, Governor Lee mentored inmates who were leaving prison. Because of this experience, Governor Lee established a criminal justice initiative that is designed to help Tennessee inmates with re-entry and sentencing guidelines. In addition, his ...
For years, a friend of mine went every Tuesday evening to a specific bakery to collect their leftover bread. He delivered the bread to a homeless shelter for their breakfast the next day. This bakery could have marked down the price of the bread and sold it the next day. But, rather than squeeze every dollar of profit out of ...
In the Midwest, Mid-August is a time for schools to start back-up. College kids are planning to head back to school, while kindergartners are excitedly preparing for their first day. This can be a hectic, exciting, anxious, and/or sad time for parents with school-age children. A family friendly workplace may want to be sensitive to the needs of their employees ...
In a CNBC article, Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, claims that their Artificial Intelligence system now predicts with 95% accuracy employees that plan on leaving the company. To gain these insights, it requires IBM to track each employee’s activities and behaviors very closely. Although it’s easy to see the value to IBM’s productivity, it makes me wonder how the employees ...
Steve and his partners lead a property management company for multifamily properties. One of their tenants committed suicide, shaking Steve and his partners to the core. Realizing that other tenants may also feel hopeless, the partners decided to do something about it. They partnered with a nearby local church to begin hosting periodic cookouts for their tenants. Their hope is ...
AB May, a home service company in Kansas City, won the Global Healthy Workplace Award in Bergamo, Italy, last fall. This international award is for organizations that have well-being at the center of their culture. AB May has many great well-being programs, but Glen and Shirley Posladek noted that all the winners of the Global Healthy Workplace Awards deeply care ...
As Kathy, Jeremy, and I entered the diner we immediately observed chaos. The only waitress was the owner’s wife. She had 25 tables either full of people or empty dishes. After Kathy and I cleared a table for ourselves, I watched as Kathy went into action. She approached the owners and boldly said, “I used to be a waitress. I’m ...
Vicki Heath, a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, befriended Tracy Sharp on a flight to Houston. On that flight, Tracy, a woman with Down Syndrome, shared with Vicki her dream of being a flight attendant. Vicki began calling Southwest personnel for approval to help fulfill Tracy’s dream to become a flight attendant. Weeks later, on a flight from Sacramento to ...
Sometimes work can be lonely. Socializing can seem inappropriate, or hard to navigate between sexes. A Harvard Business Review article reports that “eighty-one percent of women feel excluded socially at work.” This revelation can be discouraging, but then I’m reminded of the story in John 4. An ostracized Samaritan woman was at her workplace; a well, drawing water alone. In ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
