Faith Venture

Much of ancient philosophy and certainly the writings collected in The Bible are there to teach us how to live. We probably took courses in philosophy and religion if we went to a university. The professors probably taught it as either history or an intellectual pastime.

This post’s title comes from Proverbs 19. People are still people, no matter how sophisticated or rich we become. During the past couple of weeks we’ve witnessed more cases of people in power acting like emotional children. And the effect was devastating.

Yahoo! is one of the oldest and most respected brands on the Web. Yet lately it has had trouble finding a chief executive officer to lead it to new progress. Then it settled on a guy by the name of  Scott Thompson. Then, oops, it came out that his resume said he had a degree in computer science. That gave him technical credibility in Silicon Valley where he felt he needed it (evidently). Trouble is–he never earned such a degree. Well, he won’t be poor. He was paid $6.2 million for his four months at the company. But he is far poorer in both wealth and reputation.

Then I read about the technology products retailer Best Buy. Seems the CEO of that company had an inappropriate relationship with a female employee according to news reports. Those reports appeared just after he resigned after a quarter of poor financial performance. Although nothing was said at the time, the assumption was he resigned due to performance. Over the weekend, new appeared that the founder and chairman of the board resigned as chairman because he knew about the relationship and did not tell the internal audit committee.

Have you ever lied on your resume? Or stretched the truth when seeking a job? I have a weird educational history–partly because even though I have a college degree, I’m mostly self-taught. I try to be very careful when describing my background (even though my last three positions didn’t really require much, but when I had engineering jobs, well…).

It’s all about how you live your life. Do you live with-God to the best of your ability? Or do you live in a trail of deceit?

So, how many sermons or homilies have you heard on ethics where the speaker will inevitably get to, “money can’t buy happiness”? Michael Norton, a researcher at the University of British Columbia, decided to try some experiments. He started with Canadian university students and eventually took the research global.

He spoke at a TED conference (Google it, you hear some great short talks and learn a lot). Let him describe his results.

Oh, the answer is yes–but only if you spend it on others.

Here’s a link to the video.

I was listening to Bill Hybels, senior pastor of Willow Creek, talk last weekend about commitment to serving the poor and disadvantaged. He suggested reading Isaiah 58 every day for a month. Among the things that God says is, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?”

This message came just after I had listened to at least three talks over the past couple of weeks from people who had visited “third world” countries recently. The reports included descriptions of the results of modern corporations moving manufacturing and production operations to these countries that have corrupt governments with few regulations. Nothing prevents the companies from taking shortcuts in processes. They dump wastes into rivers resulting in water unfit to support life. People were thrown off land that had supported them perhaps for generations and who now had no food and no means of support.

As a manufacturing professional, I’m grieved that we take advantage of people so easily and flippantly. Ethics apply everywhere. In fact, ethics is also good business. Being careless with waste and environment is a sign of sloppy, wasteful thinking. Actually, long term profits and success result from doing just the opposite of managers who take the easy way out.

Most of us will not be making those decisions. The question remains, when faced with decisions or choices about whether to grab a short-term easy benefit or whether to help other people in the long run, I, for one, hope that I choose the latter.

And for reinforcement, I’ll be reading Isaiah 58 daily for the month of May. Just to write it in my mind.