The Accidental Executive by Albert M. Erisman

We continue to count down the Top 100 Books for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs with…

The Accidental Executive

by Albert M. Erisman

For people in the workplace, there is a great deal to learn from Joseph in the book of Genesis. He spent time both at the top and at the bottom–as a leader and as a slave in Egypt. In this new book about faith and work, author Albert M. Erisman shares lessons learned from the frontlines of business, government, and education, and how they connect to Joseph’s life. Through the author’s own work experiences and interviews with business leaders across the world, you’ll learn that Joseph dealt with issues that are still common in the business world today. Studying his life can offer guidance and encouragement in any workplace.

Click on the book cover to check out the Reviews and Purchase at Amazon

‘Faith and Entrepreneurship’ Initiative launched at Miami University of Ohio!

We’re excited to echo the great news from the higher education sector!

The Farmer School of Business of Miami University of Ohio recently launched its Faith and Entrepreneurship research initiative. The b-school is helping lead the research into the integration of faith & entrepreneurship in a wave of latest research looking at the market effect of religion.

We look forward to reading and learning from their content. Of course, we will be sure to share with you, our FDE community!

Please read the official press release below:

Miami University is pleased to announce a new research initiative in the Top 10 nationally-ranked entrepreneurship program within the acclaimed Farmer School of Business. The initiative, entitled “Leading the Integration of Faith and Entrepreneurship” (L.I.F.E.), will be based within the Center for Social Entrepreneurship. LIFE’s goal is to develop a research program focused on how faith affects the entrepreneurial process, including funding, identity, leadership, legitimization and motivation.

Dr. Brett Smith, Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Founding Director of the Center for Social Entrepreneurship, explained, “While more than 80% of the world claims to have a faith-based affiliation, we know relatively little about how faith impacts the entrepreneurial journey. L.I.F.E. will develop scientifically rigorous and practitioner-relevant knowledge at the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship.”

Farmer School dean, Marc Rubin, added, “Initiatives such as L.I.F.E. add to the uniqueness of the educational experience for our students while also adding tremendous benefit to both academicians and practitioners.”

L.I.F.E’s research, open to all faiths and inter-faith examinations, will build on the Farmer School’s leadership position in the areas of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. Increasing interest in this area from schools, such as Princeton University’s faith and work initiative, and entrepreneurial organizations, such as OCEAN’s faith-based startup accelerator, suggest the early stages of an important movement. Miami is positioned to be a thought leader in this emerging arena of faith and entrepreneurship, just as it was when it launched its Center for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006.

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[Photo credit to Miami University of Ohio]

Discovering God’s Purpose for Your Work

This Tuesday, we heard from Sanyin Siang of The Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics. Her words still stick with us today— her identity and value are found first and foremost in what God says is true of her—that she is a beloved child of God. To continue with the theme of ‘identity’ focus from our great podcast this week, we turn to WorkMatters for a great article from David Roth.

David Roth has been the president and CEO of Workmatters since October, 2003. Workmatters is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in Northwest Arkansas in 2003 with a mission is to help people pursue God’s purpose for their work. Since then, Workmatters has been used to impact thousands of leaders in Northwest Arkansas and across the U.S.

Here’s the beginning of his thoughts…

Last Friday, I had the privilege of sharing these insights at the Workmatters Leadercast event in Northwest Arkansas. (If you were there, this will serve as a powerful reminder of the thoughts that were shared).   

Can I be real with you about your work for a few minutes?

Regardless of how much you love your work, or dislike your work, or if you are somewhere in between, the reality is that work is hard!

Let me paint a powerful picture of the reality of work: you will spend half of your life working! Let me give that some perspective. If you work for 45 years (8-5 job), you will invest approximately 11,500 days of your life working!

So, with that reality noted, you now face one of the most important decisions of your life … What is the purpose of that half of your life going to be?

Read the full article below!
DISCOVERING GOD’S PURPOSE FOR YOUR WORK

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[Credit to WorkMatters for the cover photo]

Henri Nouwen’s Story about ‘The Flyer and the Catcher’

Trust is something every entrepreneur struggles with.

Whether you’re trying to trust yourself, your employees, or God, letting go of the desire for control never seems to get any easier. Today, we have a parable from Henri Nouwen on this very idea. While the story itself may seem simple, the truth is clear. We hope it encourages you on your journey this week.

Henri Nouwen’s Story about ‘The Flyer and the Catcher’ by Jean Wise

Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart – “Intentionally Re-Balance Your Life”

This content was originally published by WorkMatters here along with RightNow Media (RNM).

— by WorkMatters

Balance is a challenge for anyone trying to excel in career, family, and other pursuits. But to live our faith well, we have to manage the tension of these competing roles. How do we make sure that we are investing our time in the right areas at the right times?

In today’s short video, Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Walmart Stores, Inc., shares his perspective on how to intentionally and deliberately pursue your highest priorities.

Watch the video or read the transcript below and consider this work application.

Work Application:
Are you giving too much time to things that are not top priorities?
This week, try to identify something you can deliberately give up so that you can more intentionally pursue your top priorities.

Watch the short 2-min clip below!
Also, the transcript is available below the video 🙂

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Transcript:

INTENTIONALLY RE-BALANCE YOUR LIFE

Doug McMillon One of the questions

I get asked a lot is about life balance, or work-life balance. No doubt, it’s a challenge for everybody. Everybody that I’ve ever met who’s pursuing a career has got that kind of re-balancing that we go through from time to time to try and get it right. I think your spirit and your faith are obviously a very important part of that equation. You know, your health and all of those things. Those dimensions of who we are as people need to be factored into the equation. In my case, it’s a real priority to me to have a strong relationship with my family. I have not been perfect in that area, but I’ve learned over the years that it’s important for me all the time to be pursuing my spouse, to be courting her. If you don’t, you can get off track. And to be pursuing my children and have strong relationships there. Those were priorities to me, and Walmart, my career, fulfilled a lot of other things that I wanted – competition, teamwork – those kinds of professional things that I was pursuing. And I didn’t need a lot more. You know, my family and my career have been important to me, along with my faith. Being intentional and deliberate is an important part of balancing your life. An important part of being who you want to be, and deliberately, choicefully giving things up that aren’t as important to you is something that all of us need to be thinking about. If you don’t, you’ll get distracted, spread too thin, and what’s most important will suffer. You will look up at some point and regret how you’ve invested yourself. For anyone, I think what you are in pursuit of is, “What’s the right mix for me? What are the things that are most important to me? What are the priorities that I have?” You will get off track, just like I do, and like everybody else does. Every once in a while you will need to re-balance, stop, and think about “How am I allocating my time? What am I pursuing? What am I thinking about?” So that when you look back in time, you feel good about the balance you created in your life.

[Special thanks to Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash for the cover photo]

Seeing the Gifts God Has Given Us

At the end of every podcast, we like to ask our guests to share what God has been teaching them in this season of life. This week’s guest is Sanyin. She is a CEO Coach, Author, and the Executive Director of the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE) at Duke University where she helps leaders launch and create value by focusing on mindset, behavioral change, and team and culture building

1 Peter 4:10

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

I’ve just gone through the book of Acts with my church. There’s a lot there. And so some of the things I’ve been thinking about in relation to that is the sense of control. And this relates to leadership, too, because the more successful we become or the more validation there seems to be, the more we start to think that we actually have control over everything.

But that’s such an illusion. God has control, we don’t. And it’s about being in the moment and being responsive to what he’s calling us to do. And part of that is also just really being appreciative of the gifts that we have around us. This is also in 1 Peter. How often do we take the gifts we have in and around us for granted until we can’t anymore? How often do we think about that? You know, our children’s health. That’s a gift.

And I think when we see more of the world as these gifts given to us by God, we’re going to have a sense of wonder. And with that sense of wonder, the sense of gratitude will turn to a sense of stewardship. And we are stewards. We’re stewards. So how do we want to be good and faithful stewards? 

So those are some of the things that have been occupying my mind quite a bit as we’re going through the Book of Acts and as I think about the world and the things I’m struggling with. Asking myself how do we be menders, how do we be stewards, and how do we retain the sense of seeing the goodness and the beauty that God has gifted us. It’s all around us.