Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Now for something totally different

Jamie has said that when it comes to faith, what I like to do every few years is throw everything into the air -- all my assumptions, worldviews, textual interpretations... -- and then start over and see what I end up with. She's seen me go through this process two or three times and I have to admit she's correct.

Interestingly, though, this type of regular creative destruction has been limited to my theology. I've never done that in other areas of my life. Until now.

I have an advanced business degree from a good school, and finished that degree a decade ago. For most of those 10 years I've flowed through my career without questioning most of the assumptions, worldviews, etc... that came with the curriculum.

Over the past year, however, I've finally put some real effort into my vocation and predictably gained more responsibility as a result. And what I've noticed is, much of my training isn't going to help me in my career. And it may even hinder me.

It's not that my training was wrong; it's just woefully insufficient. This epiphany knocked me over the head as I saw expert after expert fail when following the book on corporate management. The same book I was taught from 10 years ago.

I'm throwing it all up in the air. Starting over. And I'm well into the process of creating my new view of how I want to run a business. And it's incredibly exciting because what I see as the urgent needs in 21st Century corporate America happens to match very well with my own abilities.

I realize this is a very different topic for this blog -- most of the "tribe" who follows here likely comes to read slightly subversive religious ramblings. :)

So I won't stick on this topic long. But I may think this out through the keyboard. And who knows, since most of us work at a job, maybe we can even help each other with how half our waking energy is used Monday through Friday.

3 comments:

Bob said...

I love this! I have many of the same feelings. Of course I can see retirement through my windshield! Looking forward to hearing more.

Debby said...

Someday, I hope to have a Monday through Friday job...but I'm sure that you'll have plenty that I can apply to my own journey. *settles back to wait*

Redlefty said...

Debby, what an excellent point. Thank you for breaking me out of my self-focused world, even if only for a moment!

So many people work longer, more variable schedules and hopefully my thoughts will apply in those situations as well.