Teaching at a Christian univeristy, it's not uncommon for someone to doubt the validity of a business school. I've written before about it here. People think business equals profit and greed, and for a Christian that must mean business is bad. However, suddenly business is hot again and that's because of this nifty little word called social entrepreneurship, which is also known as Business as Mission (BAM).

Social entrepreneurship is when a business uses for-profit means to accomplish a social good. This usually happens in one of two ways. A non-profit starts a for-profit enterprise and uses the proceeds to fund their philanthropic activities. Or a for-profit decides to put some of its business proceeds towards a good cause. An example of the first is the Salvation Army retail stores. An example of the second is Tom's Shoes, which donates a pair of shoes to children in need for every shoe that is sold. 

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My wife, Laurie, and I lived in Munich, Germany for several years. When we got there we discovered that Germans, by and large, do not have built-in closets. In place of closets they use schranks, large pieces of furniture that function like a closet, something like an armoire, only a lot bigger.

They are huge pieces of furniture and for novices, as we were, they are quite complex to assemble. After spending hours putting ours together we realized we had made several mistakes. Thankfully, however, the schrank was functional. Breaking it down and putting it back together again was just out of the question. It would be just too much work. But over time the imperfections of our assembly job became annoying. It didn’t look right and the doors were awkward.

A year later, for a wide variety of reasons, we had to move. Moving is always a lot of work and presents many challenges. But we were excited for one reason: we had a strategic opportunity to re-build the schrank the way it should have been in the first place.

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Have you ever met a single adult who aspired to become a failure? No, everyone wants to succeed. But what is success? Ask a dozen people and you may get a dozen answers.

I once heard that when the late billionaire J. Paul Getty was asked that question, he responded, “Rise early, work late, and strike oil!” Perhaps that formula worked for Getty, but it is not likely to work for you. A friend of mine shared this definition: “Success is making the most of who you are with what you’ve got.” I like that.

Every person has the potential to make a positive impact on the world. Success is not measured by the amount of money you possess or the position you attain but rather in what you do with what you’ve got. Position and money can be squandered or abused, but they can also be used to help others.

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It's a marketing manager's nightmare. A viral video showing exployees doing very customer-unfriendly things behind closed doors. This was the situation that Domino's faced recently when two disgruntled employees aired their dirty laundry on You-Tube.

Maybe more astounding then the video's existence, is the company's response. In what could have been a major crisis the company has responded with quickness, accuracy, and techonlogyically savviness. While the organization surely wishes the video didn't exist, they are getting accolades for making the most of a bad situation.

While organizations are well aware of the importance of responding to bad publicity, we are living in a day in which everyone can face the rulentless scrutinty of the paparazzi's camera. Just ask the Octomom who is trying to parly her new-found infamy into licensing opportunties. Nothing, including the birth of one's children, is sacred. Twitter, Facebook, You-Tube are universally accessible, and without any warning, our trangressions, misdeeds or ill-behavior can be broadcast to the world. 

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Towards the beginning of the year, Steve Jobs announced his temporary leave of absence from Apple, the company he founded many years ago. It's not the first time Jobs has been removed from company involvement. It happened in 1985 too, only to be asked back 11 years later in an effort to save the company from near-bankruptcy. However, this time spectators wonder if Jobs' health condition will prevent him from ever rejoining the organization.

The challenge with the CEO's departure, as the Business Week article articulates, is that many wonder if the company can survive without his blend of driven-innovation, and passionate pursuit of customer-centric products. The company's lifeblood has been the CEO's personality, and the loss of his involvement leaves many wondering who will provide that spirit. 

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 It's commonly acknowledged in business that sometimes the best engineers make the worse managers of the engineering department, just as sometimes the best artists should never be in charge of the other artists. In fact, in any technical field those that have demonstrated mastery in their profession fail at managing their peers. Instead, just like in baseball, sometimes the best general managers are those that were not naturally gifted players. These were the invididuals who played their hardest, studied the game, and learned how to overcome physical deficiencies to still successfully play the game they loved.** They became utility players - reliable in every circumstance but not a star in any position. In business, we say that they are "a jack of all trades, but master of none."

The reasons these jacks may make the best managers is because they realize that they can't control the outcomes of project or endeavors through their own skills and efforts. Those who are naturally gifted in any particular field often expect that they can determine the course of events through their own willpower and talents. Those who have had to work and strive for their place on the team realize that this is not possible for them. (Additionally all that time spent studying and learning what success looks like doesn't hurt them eitheer.) Therefore the jack of all trades realizes that just as they may not be a master in their field, they are also not the master of the work that others produce. Therefore they are gifted at orchestrating the work of others to achieve the success that they know exists. Its a lesson for all of us who are tasked with managing others. Managing them doesn't mean controlling them. It means recognizing that control is limiting, but that as each master excersies their particular skill set, we can work towards acheiving the goals we've set.

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It's probably cliche to observe that many people make and break New Year's resolutions. According to a New York Times article four out of five resolvers will cease to follow through on their commitment within a month. In a society that has a hard time adhereing to vows that promise "until death do us part." it's probably not surprising that annual resolutions don't meet with much success.  As a general rule we've given up reaching for the stars and are willing to settle for a few days departure of our normal habits.

Christians, however, have viewed resolutions differently throughout history. Mostly famously may be "The Resolutions" by Jonathan Edwards, a list of commitments made by a young man desiring a heart for God (For more on Edwards' list, click here). Strengthend by the Holy Spirit, Christians have made resolutions that enable them to more fully pursue God and His will for their lives.

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