Growing up, we played a card game called “Who am I?” The goal was to ask the cardholder questions to try and discover who or what was on the card the cardholder was holding. You would win when you guessed the correct answer. My grandkids play a different version of this called Hedbanz. They wear a plastic headband with a card inserted with a picture of a person or thing. The headband wearer doesn’t know what is on the card, but everyone else does, providing clues one at a time to help the headband wearer figure out the mystery before time runs out. For a competitive family (like ours), this can turn into a riot.
These “Who Am I” games are fun, but figuring out who you are in life is not a game. Most of us (if we are honest) connect who we are with what we do and how we perform. This performance-based mentality is prevalent in all things (families, school, sports, work, church, salaries, and more.) Performance-based thinking can lead to perfectionism, the belief we have to be perfect to be accepted, which can lead to unhealthy ways of living.
I have a friend who owns an international company that makes cams. He says the goal every day is to make the perfect cam. He always follows that statement by saying we have never achieved that goal, but we make it our daily aim. He knows he is not perfect, and the people he leads are not perfect, but they are trying to follow the processes, eliminate human error, and make the best possible product. I call that obedience to the system.
Obedience is humbling oneself, respecting authority, and obeying the standards through word and deed that help you actualize excellence. What you do every day is not about performance but about obedience. Instead of a performance-based mentality, I live an obedience-based mentality. What standard do I use? I use God’s standard identified in Matthew 5:48: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” That is a tall order because I will never achieve perfection in my human strength. So how am I to live? I try to obey what God has revealed in the Bible. I love God and others, do the just and right thing, walk humbly, ask for forgiveness when I fall short of the standard, give forgiveness to others, practice grace and mercy, and strive for excellence in all I do. That is a good business and life plan to make you better.
Doing Good at Work educates, equips, and empowers individuals, businesses, organizations, and non-profit leaders to live obediently. Living this way requires particular teaching, training, and equipping to achieve the highest results. We help leaders become obedient leaders who empower others to live in obedience. Do you want to be a better people leader?
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REMEMBER: Better People make Better Businesses, and Better Businesses make a Better World.
Living Obediently,
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/