That’s my wife Lisa posing with the “Big Bear” at Build-A-Bear Workshop. For the last twenty years, Lisa worked in banking, but when she decided to leave the banking world, she said, “I want to work at a fun place.” How ironic, the Build-A-Bear motto is “The Most Fun You’ll Ever Make.”
Build-A-Bear Workshop offers guests the opportunity to make personalized stuffed animals, including adding smells, sounds, and outfits. But it is so much more. Lisa has a loving, caring, kind, and joy-filled spirit, and with every animal stuffed, there is a story.
Lisa has many stories, but one of my favorites is about a young lady making a bear in remembrance of her Dad, who had passed away. She had saved his final message to her on her cell phone, allowing her to record the message and place it inside the bear. After she recorded it, Lisa had to test it. She placed the device inside the bear and pressed the button to play the sound. Upon hearing her Father’s voice, the young lady began to cry, and Lisa placed her arms around the girl and cried with her. This human encounter at work was a life-giving moment.
Most of us do not see work as life-giving, and for many, work is seen as death-bringing instead of life-giving. Let me say this empathically, GOOD work is life-giving.
Good work is good for the worker, the people they work with, the leaders, the clients or customers, families, communities, cities, and society as a whole. God was a worker, and He created work as an integral part of humankind and civilizations. When we do our work well, it is rewarding. Not just monetarily but physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. Work is life-giving!
At Doing Good at Work, we encourage and equip individuals, businesses, organizations, and non-profits to do life-giving work. This starts by treating people well and moves to create work environments conducive to living and working well. This life-giving endeavor produces life-giving results.
“Work is Life Giving” is a simple but powerful idea. I invite you to join others as a participant in the Doing Good at Work movement. Participants receive bi-monthly communications on the first and third Mondays and additional ideas about doing good in their community. They also have the opportunity to DO MORE GOOD by becoming a “Good Buddy.” If you know that people matter, click HERE to join the movement.
People Matter,
Boomer
Dr. Boomer Brown, Ph.D., is the CEO of Doing Good at Work. Doing Good at Work is a 501(c)3 organization that functions like a business. We desire to “Make People Better” because we know better people make better businesses, and better businesses make a better world. Learn more: https://doinggoodatwork.com/