Description
Question
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3m0q2d8Dq4
Reply
As a Christian, I really appreciated Jeff’s perspective on God’s view of business. While I disagree that profit should not be the number focus, I do believe that the other things he mentions are just as important. He believes that the first question should ask is “How do best deploy these resources to serve” (Van Duzer, 2010). As a small business owner, I find that question very valuable. At first, when a business is first getting off the ground, it is important that they are resources to use. That is why I still believe that profit comes first. For example, when I was first starting a real estate remodeling company, I had hardly anything and first needed to figure out how to become profitable. After a few years, when I had made some money, I was able to step back and figure out ways to help others. We found some skilled labor that really needed jobs and paid them a fair wage so they could benefit their families. We took time to help refurbish houses for families with disabilities. We donated to a Down Syndrome network to help families in those situations. All this was possible because we first made a profit and then it allowed us to give do good.
One particular topic that I liked was the importance of bringing meaning to a business. Employees want to feel like they have purpose and are not just there to collect a paycheck. In his research John Baldoni says that reinforcing purpose helps workers buy in, gain motivation and be more productive (2013). Most of us have probably experienced mindless work that we are just there to get paid and we usually don’t last in those type of careers. Any human, especially Christians, want to have a bigger purpose beyond themselves. This is especially true in our work where Jeff says we spend over 100,000 hours of our lives (2010).
References
Baldoni, J., & Tinkham, M. R. (2013). Lead with purpose: Giving your organization a reason to believe in itself: The official voice of perioperative nursing the official voice of perioperative nursing. AORN Journal, 97(4), 493-494. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1016/j.aorn.2013.01.005
Van Duzer, J. (Director). (2010, May 18). Why Business Matters to God [Video file]. Retrieved September 23, 2019, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3m0q2d8Dq4