According to business consultant Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc., beginning today – March 16th – lost productivity in the American workplace will increase by at least 3.8 billion dollars over the next three weeks.  The bleeding will only take place on ten of those days, during which keyboards stop clicking, voice mail goes unanswered (of…

This too shall pass away? Abraham Lincoln once told the story of the oriental despot who summoned his wise men and charged them to go away and not to come back until they had formulated a proposition to be carved forever in stone.  When they returned, the proposition they offered him was: “And this too…

The nature of the beast. As devastating as Hurricane Katrina was, a greater disaster might have occurred had the storm made landfall just 150 miles to the west, where a series of flood control structures on the Mississippi River are located.  Begun in the 1950s and built where the River makes a sharp 90° left…

For sure? On October 22, 1707, British Admiral Sir Clowdisley Shovel sailed his fleet into bad weather.  When a sailor reported that his own navigational calculations indicated Shovel’s ships were badly out of position, Shovel had him hung.  No one likes to hear bad news.  Plus, private navigation was considered illegal at that time.  It…

Risky business? Economist Milton Friedman wrote that the social responsibility of capitalism is to increase shareholder profit. Period. That’s why many business people are skeptical when they read about corporate social responsibility, faith and work, or helping those in the workplace discover a sense of calling. They imagine return on investment is put at risk…

Boring. That’s how most men I know describe heaven. The problem is our modern Christmas story sounds a lot like modern fairy tales.

Imagination and meaning. The scientifically studied odds of you changing an unhealthy or life-threatening habit are nine to one against you.1  This revelation unnerved many people in the audience in November of 2004 at IBM’s “Global Innovation Outlook” conference.  The company’s top executives had invited the most farsighted thinkers they knew from around the world…

I enjoyed an unremarkable football career. The most memorable moment didn’t occur on the gridiron. It happened in the weight room – the afternoon I was alone and put too much weight on the bench press bar too soon. I had barely hoisted the bar off the rack when it quickly settled on my heaving…

In an argumentative mood. “Do you have to go to church?” That’s not the way I imagine a business meeting beginning, but since my work is helping organizations navigate conversations that advance faith-centered reform; questions about religion inevitably come up.

On December 11, 1620 the Mayflower sailed into Plymouth. The weather was so bad it took 26 days to build the “Common House” for Sunday’s worship. But the Pilgrims enjoyed no Christmas festivities on December 25, 1620. They viewed it as a treacherous event. Rather, they devoted their first Christmas Day to hard labor, including…