On this week's episode, How to Be Salt and Light in the Marketplace, with guest Chuck Hyde, CEO of Starquist Leadership. Welcome back to Theology of Business. I'm your host, Darren Shear, author of the book Marketing Like Jesus, and the forthcoming book, Your Spiritual Gifts in the Marketplace, which will be released in September of this year. And this is the show that helps Marketplace leaders to partner with God in business to change the world and make a difference in eternity. The Theology of Business Podcast is proudly sponsored by High Bridge Books, which provides professional book publishing and author coaching services for inspiring thought leaders. You can take the next step toward getting your book published by requesting our free three-video author training course at highbridgebooks.com forward slash course. And maybe you don't have a book to publish, but you know someone who does. So if you're interested in becoming one of our affiliates, you can get more information about the High Bridge Books Literary Agent Program at highbridgebooks.com forward slash affiliates. Now on to the interview. Today we're going to be discussing the subject of how to be what Jesus referred to as salt and light in the marketplace. Because no matter what culture you live in around the world, and we have people from about 30 different nations who listen to this podcast, regardless of where you're from or what culture you're in, it's God's will that the church would respond to the darkness and decay in our culture and in the marketplace by being the redemptive salt and light that he's called us to be. And we're joined by guest Chuck Hyde. He's the CEO of Soderquist Leadership, which is a provider of values-based leadership development for organizations of all sizes. And prior to coming to Soderquist, Chuck spent 12 years leading teams and strategic partnerships, uh, strategic projects for Kimberly Clark Corporation. And he earned his MBA from John Brown University in 2008. And I got to give a special shout out to the business school faculty at John Brown University. Evidently, Chuck is one of their pride and joys, so you know, thanks to them for recommending that I have Chuck as a guest on this show. Chuck, welcome to the Theology of Business Podcast.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Darren. Glad to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00Well, I just shared a brief background about you, but tell us a bit more about your background and about the moment or the season of your life when you first realized that God wanted to be a part of your work in business.
SPEAKER_01Well, you bet, Darren. Uh, if if you'll allow me, I'll start with my family. I'm married to my high school sweetheart, and we're going to be celebrating 20 years of marriage on July 1st, so we're pretty excited about that. Congratulations. Thank you. Uh, we have two sons, Charlie, who's nine, who loves to read and enjoys soccer, and Jonathan, who's seven, going on 17. You know, he loves baseball, riding his bike, and pretty much any sport he can get his hands on. So uh we're busy with them. Uh, but that's a big part of my background and kind of tying into this idea of when did I when did I see uh that God want to be a part of my my work in in a in an active way. Um I had started my career as a chemical engineer in in Kimberly Clark and had a number of opportunities to move into operations supply chain roles, as you mentioned, through my 12 years there. Ten years ago, I had made a a uh significant career transition into leadership development when I had a choice, a chance to join Soterquist Leadership. Uh so that's kind of my background. Um the when I really first realized this idea that um God wanted to be a part of my work, it came in my first summer internship in college, actually. Um I had worked for a uh a technical lab doing some uh oil testing of all things, and there was a guy named Don Hannah who had known my dad. Um he was a technical sales uh person and had called on my dad over the years, uh, and uh he just went on and on about my dad and what a great man he was, how helpful he'd been to him. He never shared any specifics, but you could tell there was this sort of deep um impact uh what it meant to him. Uh, and he just wanted me to know that. And it was the first and a small handful of people that began to share that with me, and and I don't know if you know what was necessarily uh creating that that little series of in that time, or maybe I was just getting old enough to to begin to appreciate that kind of thing. But what it um what it began to teach me was uh these people would talk about my dad in a professional context and you know his job and the company that he worked for, but they focused on his character, which really I think was an expression of him living out his faith. And that's really the first time I realized that the importance of how I did my job and you know really what it could mean to people around me. So I was kind of making the decision as I was thinking and anticipating a career. Okay, well, I'll have one of those, but man, it really matters to people around me on how I do that. And that was really the example set by my dad and how people began to share that with me.
SPEAKER_00Wow. What an incredible legacy. I mean, that your dad would not only inspire you to go into business, but to go into it for the right reasons and to truly have a good name. I mean, that's worth more than all the gold in the world. And uh and so Well, tell us uh tell us about the Soderquist Center. I'm familiar with Don Soterquist. He actually came and spoke when I was in uh seminary at Regent University and just gave one of the most powerful talks on leadership I've ever heard. I understand he's the former chief operations officer and and former vice chairman of Walmart. Uh, but tell us about the Soderquist Center and how your leadership training incorporates God in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01Well, you're right, and uh about Don. And you know, again, we are uh, as you mentioned, a provider of leadership development for organizations of all sizes, and and we really focus on this idea of developing values-based leaders. Um's career uh certainly had given us a uh his legacy, his reputation gives us a great degree of uh credibility, particularly early in our life. We were founded 16 years ago, and and uh and as you mentioned, we are a part of John Brown University. Um and Don has been a trustee at this university for a number of years. Um that's kind of why the connection's there. But um uh Don Don't experience and work uh at Walmart really uh was that the values of an organization, the values of a leader actually do matter to performance. And if he were on this uh call right now, this interview, he would talk about, and you asked him about Walmart, he would just talk about those things that that's why they achieved what they achieved under Sam Walton's leadership and later his and David Glass's because of the culture they created, that that was their competitive advantage. And so we believe in that. And so, and for us, uh, because we're um you know, we're we're Christians in the workplace, uh, we we build that idea of our personal values and organizational values that is really built around our faith. Um so we we uh operate, do you know uh two facilities, we do a number of work uh you know projects all over the country. I was talking to a guy in Florida today and he asked me what was what was happening, and I said, well, we've got a team in Tennessee, a team in Kentucky, a team in South Arkansas, and two groups going on our facilities today. So we're quite busy uh both here in Northwest Arkansas and around the country. Um but our our we really try to focus on you know uh shaping young leaders, sharpening executives, and strengthening teams is kind of how we put it. And really our promise is to equip leaders to go further faster. Uh as I mentioned, we we believe that there's a an importance of values and leadership, which but those can sometimes be uh cast as soft things uh that aren't linked to performance. Well, we believe, as I said earlier, we believe they are linked to performance, and so we position ourselves around this promise of taking companies and leaders further faster around their results. We understand there's a scorecard, uh, but we think that by doing that along the way, we're gonna earn that chance to impact people in personal uh uh ways as well.
SPEAKER_00Um what would be an example of of how biblical business ethics uh affects the bottom line from what you've seen?
SPEAKER_01You know, um I think part of it is um, and I'll I was gonna talk about this maybe a little bit later, but part of it is sometimes things uh you you say no to, right? So you could uh in fact the the conversation with the gentleman in Florida I was talking to was uh uh things that has uh affected his business and his uh say top line revenue, if you will, uh, because he chose not to pursue opportunities that would not be healthy in the long run for their organization. So that's those the the choices you make in in how you go about doing business with your customers, your partners, your suppliers, um clearly impacts uh the both the top and bottom lines. Um so that that's generally uh how we would look at it. Um for us, um, our customers, when we see you know, how does how does faith um impact our work? Uh as I mentioned, we're a Christian organization, but we don't necessarily tout ourselves that way. Uh frankly, we feel like we've got a unique position in a secular marketplace that that few, if any, could occupy, not only because of Don's um reputation, but more importantly now because of our own work. Um and so I think customers start to see our motive that we're interested in them. Uh we underst we are interested in their scorecard, we're interested in their career, we're interested in their team members, and you know, we have this value of relationships that help people see that we're interested in them as well as in their in their personal lives. Um they see it in how we treat each other, and our customers will periodically comment on that it's a draw for them to see us interact as a team when we're working with them. Uh they notice that and it's a draw. And so that draws people to us in wanting to work with us uh in our in our PL, if you will.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So so you're a Christian organization and and don't necessarily kind of come across as, you know, we're we're a ministry or we're, you know, specifically and explicitly a Christian organization, you know, which could tend to alienate some organizations and CEOs, especially, especially for big public companies, where you have a plurality of worldviews among the among the stockholders and and of course among the employees themselves. But so in in this type of environment where you do have to walk in that wisdom and sensitivity, what does it mean for the Sodderquist Center to be salt and light in the marketplace? And what does that mean to you?
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah, to your point, um, Don puts it this way we're not evangelistic in our approach, but we're evangelical because it's who we are. And and and frankly, Darren, it's sometimes that it's the Christians that come to our programs that get uh a little bit bothered that we're not more overtly Christian. Um but but to your point about some of the customer base we work with, we work with large publicly traded uh customers or um businesses that uh there is a uh plurality of of faith and um and a diversity of thought which is is is good and healthy, and we want to be respectful of that and to to um to be overt in that way would probably disqualify us for some of that work, which is not about the the work or the volume, if you will, but really about the chance to impact people. And and we've just seen God honor that work uh and that attitude. So for us to be salt and light, um, you know, a couple things for us, um one of the things that we do to this idea of being respectful to people who may uh believe a little bit differently than we we do in our own personal faith is that we come from this idea of a foundation of values. Um, people of different faith systems can come to an agreement uh that you know it's honesty is a good practice in business, right? You don't have to be Christian to believe that. And so the values uh pr approach gives us common ground and it just works. And so one of the things we've we filter everything through that filter of value. So it's um if somebody wants to uh we work with strategic planning, we're gonna take that strategic plan and hold it up against somebody's value system because we know we can expect at some point that plan's gonna get challenged by something, uh either internally or externally or both, and it's your values that's gonna determine how you react to that. So strategic planning goes through values, executive coaching goes through values, uh team development work and being a more effective team, we take it through values. So so that's uh fundamentally how it works. Um but I thought I'd share, if it's okay, some examples of what we see sort of anecdotally uh how that plays out with our with our people we work with.
SPEAKER_00Please do.
SPEAKER_01Um, some of the things that happened during in our work uh we couldn't arrange on our own if we tried. And it and that's again, I think it's where God is kind of saying, hey, let me take care of the faith aspect of this. You be obedient to who you are and do excellent work. So one of those is we uh at our retreat center, um one of the things that we do is uh many of our rooms uh have roommates, right? And so people come in an open enrollment program and they aren't used to having a roommate in that environment, but by design, we we create roommates for each other. And there was a couple of executives that came to one of our programs that Don was hosting, and they did not know each other before they came. It's a 24-hour program for a very short period of time, right? They come in on Monday afternoon at three, they depart Tuesday afternoon at three. And uh these are all top-of-the-house senior folks. And um, we always on Tuesday, as we were wrapped we wrap up, we just kind of go around the room, and there's a method we use to have people share out what um what their takeaways from this week are. And uh one of the gentlemen looked at his roommate and said, I'm telling them. And of course the other 15 people in the room are all like, What? You're telling us what? And he said, he's like, and the the other guy, the roommate said, Well, okay. He said, Well, what you guys don't know is um I can I'll just say Joe here, uh Joe uh lost an adult son just about uh three months ago, and he almost didn't come to this program uh because of the grief and the loss that he and his family and the son was about 20 years old. And um he said um but he he came because um you know he just felt like this was something that would help him re-engage his work. Yeah he said what you guys what Joe didn't know and what you guys don't know is that I also lost an adult son nine months ago.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01And he was also twenty years old. And so these two men spent all night talking through that, where one was six months ahead of the other in his grief process and talked about his faith and talked about what God had done through that and and how it was it was equally hard, right? That's just devastating to any parent. Um but to uh how God just arranged it. And we don't know those kinds of things when we say roommates. Um but it just you know God knew. And uh so those are examples of well, we just show up and we we we do our work, and here's here's two guys that that come in a God ordained uh event that um you know something really powerful happens for those two guys and they're still connected, you know. So that's that's one that again we I we can't take any credit for, but that's what happens, I think, as a result of the faithfulness and how we try to approach our work.
SPEAKER_00That is absolutely miraculous. And I mean there have been a a couple of times where but I just start my my eyes start to well up with tears, but as you were sharing that and just knowing about the darkness, that that that one roommate must have been, I mean, obviously a dark season for both of them, but I mean to go through that and not have answers or or not not that not that you're gonna have answers uh in a time like that, but at least you can know the comforter, the Holy Spirit, and that that one man knew God and was able to to be there to minister to him during that. I mean, that's that's what being in salt and light is is all about. And you know, for so many of these situations that God orchestrates, I mean, we're just along for the ride. If we'll be willing to um to be that salt and light, I mean, he'll put us in the right place at the right time. But wow, what a thank you for sharing that, Chair.
SPEAKER_01Without question, and you know, this man could share with the uh the the other uh out of a point of empathy, you know, we could all say, Oh, I'm so sorry, but man, we don't if we if you only haven't experienced that, you know, it you it's hard to really speak into someone or for someone to hear uh even the best intent of uh of um support.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. I mean, talk about how that'll affect your your work performance. I mean, like something like that would just shut somebody down.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And and yet when you're a provider for your family, you know, people are looking to you in the company. I mean, that's that's not always an option. But I mean, so in the marketplace to be able to identify with somebody where you know it's not it's not a pastor, it's not uh so you know a man of the cloth, so to speak, it's somebody that is in the trenches right there with you that can that can just be uh be a source of compassion and empathy, like you're talking about. I love it. It's a powerful story.
SPEAKER_01Well, let me if I could, I'll give you another one from uh different level. So this is more middle-of-the-organization type folks that come to what we call our milestone leadership intensive, and it's a four-day program where these these you know 15 participants come from all over the country, different kinds of companies represented. Uh no one really knows each other when they arrive, uh, but they live together for four days. So some have said it's more like a sort of this intense reality TV show. Uh a good one. That's awesome. Uh but um, you know, what we walk them through, and again, there's roommates at this program, and and one of the attendees knew us really well and uh knew we were a faith-based organization and in how we go about it. And so, like on the first night, she and her roommate were getting ready for dinner and kind of putting their things away and getting ready to go back downstairs, and this woman who um uh professed no faith at all said, Hey, have you noticed anything about these people? And and Lori was like, What are you talking about? She's like, Well, they're just like really nice. And she's like, Well, yeah, they are. And so, but there's something about them. It's not just they're not nice, they're just I just don't know what it is. And she said, and Lori, again, was also a Christian. And uh she said, Well, that's just that's just who they are, you know, and I think you'll see that all week long. And so this is on Tuesday. So the next day, they're kind of going along, and and we don't we don't introduce faith in our programs, again, because we've got people from all walks coming in, so it's and they're not coming to our in this sense particularly, they're not coming uh to explore their faith, they're coming for their lead their leadership development.
SPEAKER_00You know, and at the same time, like in the marketplace, that it that's just not where that happens. It's not like I mean people can go to church, and I think for a lot of us that's our paradigm is that if I'm going to quote unquote minister some to somebody, that means they're in a pew and there's somebody up front that has a you know uh uh ordination of some sort that is going to have a captive audience and is just gonna preach a message. And in the marketplace, it's all relationship. And so I think this is a just a perfect simul uh simulation of an example of marketplace ministry at its finest.
SPEAKER_01Again, it's I don't know that it's our doing other than our intent to uh be a tool in that way. And so this woman, uh, as it went on, because of the intense nature of what these people are discussing uh about their own personal development, their values again, it will often prompt from one of the participants something about their own faith. And so someone broke that ice, you know, the next day, which gave more people permission to sort of you know open up and share. And and uh what was interesting about that um By Thursday night of that week, this woman asked our friend Lori, Well, tell me about your faith. And so Lori had a chance to give her testimony. And so this kind of you know wrapped up Thursday and on into Friday when everyone's about to go home. And again, we have this sort of share out time where everybody's kind of going around, here's what I'm taking out of this. And uh she the woman, when it was her turn, she just said, Listen, and she kind of gave her story. She was a single mom, pretty tough personal situation, uh, a high-achieving professional. Um, and this company's making this you know pretty substantial investment in her leadership, and she just said, Listen, um you people, and she kind of pointed to our staff that was in the room, and she pointed to the others that had talked about their own faith through the course of the week. She said, You'll have something I don't have. And I don't know what it is, but when I go back to my back to Chicago, I'm gonna look for it. And, you know, so and then, you know, of course, there they're though they stayed in contact with her, you know, over time and things like that. But I just think that that's a good again, a powerful example of we're just doing leadership training and we're talking about work. And yes, we're talking about personal things as well, but it's just the things that kind of begin to emerge when you create an environment for people to be their whole selves.
SPEAKER_00You did it again, Chuck. I'm weepy over here.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I get chills talking about it. This is this is what we again, it's what we do is hard work. Um, and we again we we get that uh our customers expect to return their leaders back to them as improved leaders. They expect us to get their strategies executed more efficiently, all that stuff. But you know, these things aren't isolated. I'm not having to reach far for these anecdotes of what happens.
SPEAKER_00Sure. Well, we're just gonna continue to trust God for more and more of these of these examples, you know, because I mean that lives are being changed, and I'm sure you could go on on and on and on uh with with many more stories, but share with us, Chuck, how can one person, let's say I'm an entrepreneur or I'm an employee in a company, uh maybe even at the lowest level, or middle management or or maybe an executive, how can one person be salt and light in his or her own sphere of influence in the marketplace?
SPEAKER_01Well, one thing about it, there's a there's I could talk a lot of things there, but uh one thing that I think is somewhat of a prerequisite, particularly in a work setting, uh and in a secular work setting. I have a friend, David Miller, who leads Princeton's Faith and Work Initiative, and he was on a panel last year when uh that I was uh witnessing, and a college student asked him, you know, how do I how do I how do I share my faith at work? And David's response essentially was first, be good at what you do. Okay, you're there to do a job, be really good at it, because if you're not good at it, you could discredit your witness in people's minds. And so, first, be good at your job. And then you're gonna have an opportunity to share your faith uh with someone, and they're likely gonna be more open to hearing it. And I just thought that was really wise advice from David.
SPEAKER_00So I think I think that would be uh convicting for a lot of us. I mean, are we truly being the I mean doing the best with what God has has given to us? You know, Colossians 3 23 says, whatever we do, do it with all of our heart as working for the Lord, not for men, because it's the Lord Christ whom we serve. And when God is our is our boss, I mean He I mean, we we want to worship Him with our work and do it as unto Him, and that's going to result in incredible effectiveness.
SPEAKER_01Well, if I could, I'd I'd give you a personal example of my own. In my last my last assignment with Kimberly Clark, I was in that role for about 18 months, and I had about 20 director ports, a fairly small team, but very tight, worked very closely together. But in that 18 months, that group of people, Darren, had one guy who was just huge, just big, strong, in-shape guy. He had a stroke. Young man had a stroke. We had a team member whose wife lost a baby in utero. We had the birth of another baby. We had a mother hit by a drunk driver, we had the loss of a spouse's job, and then a young lady on our team, her brother, um, in a kind of a freak accident, became a quadriplegic in an instant. I mean, you talk about stuff happening around us in that a very short period of time. And so the young lady whose brother was injured, her name was Shannon, and I remember talking to her in my office, and I had gone through, we was, we were, again, about a year and a half into this, and I never really was overt about, hey, I want to I want to share my faith, and let me walk you through this four spiritual laws and all the rest. But I I talked to Shannon and I just said, Hey, listen, I can tell you from experience when the unthinkable happens, um what you're holding on to uh for us, you know, you what are you holding on to is the question. And for us, it was our faith. And I remember her looking at me and you know, tears streaming down her face in my office, and she just said, Chuck, no, people know that about you. And what what that surprised me because I hadn't gone around uh you know really overtly talking about my faith. But you know, people knew that I was teaching a ninth grade boys Sunday school class. People asked me where I'm going on vacation. I said, Well, I'm I'm going to this country, and why are you going to that country? Well, I'm working with a missionary there, and I'd played one time a hundred holes of golf in a day as a fundraiser for young life, and well, it's young life. Well, it's this faith-based organization. So just in conversation and just the natural course of our lives, yeah, those things had begun, and I hope because of how I interacted with them, they knew where I stood. Right. So when the time came for me to speak into Shannon, I wasn't coming in and I was like, wow, I never saw that coming. You know, or that that's not that's not consistent with the person I've known for the last 18 months. And so again, to me, I think when people try to become salt and light in their own sphere of influence, I'd say don't overthink it. Right. Be who you are. And and if we've got time, I'm I've got a friend who's a New Testament professor here at JBU, and we were talking recently in the second 2 Corinthians, Paul's writing to the church there in Corinth about being the aroma and fragrance of Christ. And the metaphor, I didn't realize this, but the metaphor of this triumphal procession that Paul talks through in 2 Corinthians 2 is really coming out of the Roman Empire. You know, so it it it you know the church in Corinth would understand this, right? And so the conquering general would parade the spoils of victory through the city. And when during that parade, the priests would have incense going, people would be throwing flowers, and so there was this aroma that would happen through this parade. And so what Paul's writing there is actually be the aroma of Christ. As you pass through the marketplace, her question, you know, to us and her challenge in that conversation was, what are you bringing behind you? You know, what's that spoil of worse? That's what Paul was actually writing about there. And then the the flip side of that coin is in chapter four, when he picks that up again, he says some pretty tough things in there about how the aroma of being a Christian and a Christ follower isn't always going to smell good to everyone. So I can tell you all these great stories, but I could also tell you stories where uh we lost business because uh a company said, Hey, I don't I don't like that. I don't like who you are. And like, well, we are who we are. And we lost some we lost a big account one time because uh someone rejected to you know just us being uh Christians. And so what Jesus as a New Testament scholar was that the aroma of Jesus is the aroma of the cross. And he suffered mightily for it because some rejected him, right? So if we're gonna smell like Jesus, we need to smell like the cross and recognize that not everyone's gonna like it. And the question is not, is my aroma pleasing to the audience around me? The aroma should be pleasing to God, and that's what matters. That should be our concern. Paul went on to say, I'm not a peddler of the gospel. So you go back to all this, bringing it home, I think salt and light is focusing on who we are in Christ as we go about our business.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_01And that our experience, my experience and my career, and certainly here at Sothequist Leadership, is that when we do that, it's amazing what God chooses to do, which is so much bigger and so much better than anything we could come up with on our own.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You know, I I think about in the in the Old Testament the way that incense would go up before the Lord, and and it sounds like, of course, Paul is drawing, he's speaking to a Greco-Roman audience there, um, but in the for a Hebrew, you know, that they would probably go to the temple, and we are the temple. Yeah. And as that incense rises in the marketplace, it's not it's not inside a church building, because that's unfortunately what we tend to think of as a modern-day temple. It's it's the body of Christ, it's the church out in the marketplace, Christians that are out there doing the things and living the the example that provokes uh the response that like the woman when she stood up at the uh at the retreat and said, There's something different. It's you know, somebody saying that what is the reason for the hope that is within you? And people ask that question, I think, in many different ways. They might ask it as as um they they share a a tragic circumstance as it was with the uh the the two men that ended up uh rooming together that had lost their their sons. And and he asked the question in a different way, like how do you get through this? Like and it opens up a door, and I think that um that as as we're out in the marketplace, our work is our is our worship uh to God, and and he will open up doors, as you said, to be good, and it and it will that wins credibility with people. What is what's something else that we could do uh to to be salt and light in our sphere of influence?
SPEAKER_01You know, I think um one of the things that um I've I learned in my job at Kimberly Clark was to seek out someone, right, um uh who was ahead of me in their walk in the company. And um fortunately I was surrounded by a couple of older men who um, you know, again, uh Kimberly Clark's a great company. I had a great career that have nothing uh but good things to say, but in a publicly traded, large global company, um you know, that was the environment. So how do how do I effectively uh be who I want to be as a person, but be an excellent professional and do my job for the company? And so I sought out uh some some guys who had who had been successful inside that company and who I saw uh living out their faith and you know, just being hungry uh to find out um how someone else had done it. And so I used to go get particularly while I was in Wisconsin at the time, living there, and um there was a guy named Ken Peterson who uh we'd go get a bagel, you know, together and just taught, you know, and I think he gave me better perspective, uh an experienced perspective for me. I was probably not even 30 yet, um uh and just trying to trying to do right. Uh but but Ken had been with the company a long time, and he was able to speak into me uh uh on how to go about living out my faith in that setting uh and still doing a good job again. And so I think that's again, seek out somebody. And what I began to learn as I walked the hallways, and again, in a large company, uh when you're in your home office environment, right? There can be several thousands of people that you that are in one metro area, right, that were one region. And that was true up there. But you'd walk the hallways and you'd see somebody who you knew as a Christian, and uh you either went to church with them or you you'd gone to a conference or something that they were at, and and you just you kind of can find ways to encourage each other even as you pass through the hallway. Uh because again, our works can be hard and demanding, our family life can be hard and demanding. Um we were not promised an easy road as Christians. Uh and so to um um you know be uh supportive to each other and the Bible has a lot to say about that too, right? Uh absolutely you know, uh a court of a court of three strands is not easily broken. Um uh I think that is another way to do it, and you find ways to encourage someone else, you yourself can come away encouraged, and knowing that you're not alone in that walk, I think is a big deal.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I I went to the UN a couple of times when I was working and living in New York City, and one thing I noticed is that the employees, there's a group of Christian employees that work at the UN, of course, they're from all different nations around the world, and they would gather at I think it was twice a month at the same time in this in this little break room, and they would just pray for each other, encourage each other, and and worship together, and and so it was just uh a powerful way that they were able to uh to to keep each other encouraged as they're going about their their work uh on uh on a daily basis. And and it doesn't necessarily mean that you need to have like a workplace Bible study or it might be that. I mean that's a powerful thing. I mean, we had that when I was in the in the Air Force, but I mean if I think if we will not have this mindset that I'm the only Christian where I work, I mean you might you might be, uh, but chances are at least if you work in the United States, you're probably not. There's probably some other believers there that if you'll just you know open up a conversation, find a way to to find out if that person is uh is a believer, and and then you can encourage each other as you pass each other in the hall, as as Chuck you're saying.
SPEAKER_01Well, without question, yeah. I'll tell you the other thing, Darren, is that it's something Don talks about a lot uh as he's talking to leaders, is um you know, we live in a culture that tries to get people to compartmentalize their lives. And you know, you got you got your workplace self and you got your home self and you got your community self, and you know, don't don't cross that, you know, don't cross those lines, don't blur those lines. Um you gotta do it a certain way in certain contexts, and and we just don't believe that in our work. And so whether we're talking to somebody in an executive coaching relationship or just mentoring someone or whatever the case may be, or just in leadership development in general, is that hey, you know, bring your whole self to work. That's right. Um, and by doing that, uh, we think that the company actually benefits from that. If you've got to check a big part of yourself at the door when you go to work, there the company's not gonna get the best of you. And so, business leaders, you need to be thinking about that as well. Encourage people to bring their whole selves to work. That 18 months that Kimberly Clark I mentioned, you know, we I I talked about it, we did a lot of life together. And if as people of faith, uh to be salt and light, if you can if you can um create opportunities to value a whole person, not just that team member, not just that direct report, you know, not just your boss in a work context, um, you know, everything gets better. The relationships get richer, the performance goes up, the trust goes up, all these things are tied in together because that's why God's made us. And I think if you for a Christian to say, hey, you know what, I'm not gonna compartmentalize my life, and nor am I gonna ask my people to compartmentalize their lives. I want all of them. And I'm gonna bring all of me. I think it's a big deal.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, when where where it says in the Old Testament to love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength, right after that, it says that here, O Israel, the Lord your God is one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I think it speaks to that oneness that God has called us to, not to be, not to live fragmented lives where, okay, well, I'll I'll check this box and this box and kind of look at Christianity as sort of like an a la carte um you know, array of options. I mean, it's it's one option, it's one commitment, one God, and and we have to love him with everything that we are and and and and including and and especially considering the proportion of the amount of our time that we spend in the workplace is to honor him with our with our work. Well, Chuck, tell us what you're working on this month that you're excited about and where can people connect with you?
SPEAKER_01You know, uh one of the things that we're we're we start our our new year every year uh on July 1st. And uh so we're we're actually I've turned my attention to 2016, if you will. Uh and but you know, right now, again, it's a peak delivery time for us. Uh as I mentioned earlier, we go, we'll have people over. So the opportunity to engage our customers, and I had a one of my team members come in today tell me a story about you know his trip. And uh it's just exciting, I get excited about that because I uh I've learned to I'm a pretty competitive person and uh I use sports analogies a lot, if you ask my team. Uh so what I've what I've enjoyed really through our work and through this promise we make to our customers is helping someone else win. So I get excited when I hear our team telling stories about the projects they're working on. They don't let me out in front of customers that much anymore. So but um I get excited about that. I get excited about the prospect of a new year. We've got uh we have a graduate student program and part of our design, we're uh a fellowship, two-year fellowship, and uh we have three new uh very talented young professionals starting with us next week. So I'm excited about that and the things they're gonna bring to us. Uh so yeah, uh things we run around here with our hair on fire most of the time. Um, but that I like it. If I I joke with our team, if I see too many cars in a parking lot, I get a little bit worried. Um, but that just means because we're not with customers and we want to be with customers and doing the work that God gives us. Uh so I'm excited about that. Um in terms of getting to us, uh, you know, if you go to Soterquist.org, uh it's S-O-D-E-R-Q-U-I-S-T. That's our website. Uh we've got a lot of resources out there. You can learn more about our team and about our work. Uh follow our blog, uh, follow our uh social media feeds uh that are out there. Uh we try to push a lot of resources out there. Again, some most are just um somewhat um you know uh built for this idea of being in the secular marketplace and who we are. Some of them are very uh much noted as these are faith-based. Um so uh hopefully people could um um tap into those resources and um and uh gain in their own walk, in their own leadership journey uh in their organization, and certainly if they want to know more about uh what it means to work with us, they there's ways to get in contact with us there.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. I'll have the link in the show notes. Well, as we close out, Chuck, would you pray for our listeners that that God would help us to be salt and light and that we would just uh be obedient to yield to him in the marketplace so that he can do what he wants to do through us, that we would be great at our jobs, that we would find mentors as you've uh coached us on, and and that we would just be available for what God wants to do through us.
SPEAKER_01I'd be happy to, Darren. Thank you. Father God, uh, it is a privilege uh for the to have the work uh that you give us. And again, it's not always easy, it's not always fun, but it's the work uh that we're called to, and you call us to excellence, Father, and I pray that we would uh we would work hard to honor you, just as it says in your word, Lord, um you uh your son Jesus gave us a charge and a command to be salt and light to those around us. And the reason is not for ourselves, Lord, but Jesus said, so that others may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven, and Lord, that's our heart. It's not to uh to walk around as if we're we're something special. Um and Lord, that we're we would overthink what we're trying to do because we, Lord, we know our thoughts are not your thoughts. We know that uh our thoughts cannot ascend to the heights that yours do. Uh, we know that the care and concern for people around us does not match uh the love that you have for them. And so, God, I just pray that you give us the energy, the endurance, and the stamina to continue every day with right hearts uh to go out about our work, the things that you've called us to, to bring our whole selves to work, uh, and uh and just see what you're gonna do and join you in that work and give you the praise and the glory for it. I pray that we as the body of Christ would walk this walk together. We'd find ways to encourage each other and to lift each other up, uh, to support when it's needed, uh, to be accountable, uh hold each other accountable when it's needed. Uh, doing so in love uh for your kingdom purposes, God. Uh thank you for Darren, what he's doing here uh with this podcast, and I pray that uh you would uh multiply uh its um its value to the to your body, to your kingdom, uh, and uh that you would use it for your purposes. All to the glory of uh Jesus, and it's his name we pray. Amen.
SPEAKER_00Amen. Thank you for that, Chuck. This has been incredible. It's been fun, uh encouraging and challenging all at the same time. Thanks for taking the time to share your expertise and your experience and your heart with us today. Uh, keep doing great things for God in the marketplace.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Darren. Anytime is a pleasure, and uh Godspeed to your work, and anytime we can be a resource, let us know.
SPEAKER_00That's all for this week. Our discussion question for the week is what does it mean to be salt and light in the marketplace? And also let us know if you have any first hand examples of what that looks like for you. I hope you've enjoyed this episode, and I hope to hear your feedback at theologyofbusiness.com, where you can get more information about business's ministry, spiritual gifts in the marketplace, marketing like Jesus, and Christ centered leadership and entrepreneurship. Feel free to email me at Darren at hybridbooks.com. If you have any questions or comments related to theology of business, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for listening and keep partnering with God in your business.