How to Cope with a Toxic Boss

by Glenn Young

I’ve counted 24 bosses over the course of my career. The longest I ever worked for one boss was four years. The shortest was for a few months. I’ve had good bosses and bad. I’ve had capable, competent bosses, and bosses who weren’t. I’ve had bosses I liked, and ones I didn’t. I’ve had bosses who were scrupulously fair, and ones who played favorites. Of all the varieties of bosses and boss experiences, there were two – fortunately, only two – that I would call toxic...

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Rediscovering Whimsy

by Bob Goff

With so many global problems at which to aim our collective passions and resources, the work of restoration can become nothing more than a job. As time goes on, even good work can steal our imaginations. How can we rediscover a compulsion for finding creative, audacious ways to discover our dreams? Bob Goff, Founder of Restore International, will help us recover our sense of imagination and know how to unleash it in those around us.

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Unions and the Common Good

by Brian Dijkema

2.8%: That is the difference between the rate of union membership and the rate of unemployment in the US. Union membership in the US is so low that many Americans aren’t even familiar with unions. What are they? What do they actually do? Unions are institutions in which workers organize together...

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Innovation, Intellectual Property, and the Constitution

by Jason E. Summers

Innovation within markets relies on defined and enforced patent rights, which enable innovators to recoup development costs through the exercise of temporary monopoly. The Constitution grants Congress the power “to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing...inventors the exclusive right to their...discoveries.” Current debate over these protections centers around the question of whether...

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Your Company Will Save the World!

by Bradley J. Moore

I reached down from my sunny lounge chair on the deck and pulled a random issue of Harvard Business Review from my briefcase stash, turned to the cover story and started reading. The first few lines were like a smack up the side of my sunburned head. The essay was called, "How to Fix Capitalism," by famous Harvard Business School Professor and strategy guru, Michael Porter, and he opens with this bleak assessment: Business is increasingly viewed as a major cause of social, environmental and economic problems. Ouch...

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Social Mobility and Power

Interview with Michael Linsday, Sociologist and President of Gordon College

by Andy Crouch and Michael Lindsay

Recently named the 8th president of Gordon College, Michael Lindsay has been a leading expert on religion and public life over the last several years. As a sociologist and professor at Rice University, Lindsay has interviewed hundreds of Christ followers who are in positions of cultural power. In this interview, he and Andy Crouch explore the relationship between Christians, social mobility, and power.

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Margin Call and the Banality of Evil

by Josh Larsen

The new Wall Street drama Margin Call is only slightly less boring than a quarterly report. And that’s exactly what makes it so frightening. Set at an imploding investment firm on the eve of the 2008 financial collapse, Margin Call means to capture the panic of that moment and raise our moral hackles over the dubious decisions surrounding it.

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The Single Most Important Element in Business

by William P. Robinson

Occupy Wall Street is now spilling out onto other streets across our nation. What one thing can business leaders do to maintain the integrity and elasticity of their operations amid our economic and social instability? William Robinson, president emeritus of Whitworth College, looks to Rembrandt's artwork and discovers the most important element in business.

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Do You Feel Broken and Fragmented?

by Ann Voskamp

We often see work as a 40-hour necessity where our value is quantified in paychecks. We try to leave work at work, and keep our personal life separate. But what if this understanding of work is wrong? Ann Voskamp, NY Times best-selling author, explores avodah, the ancient Hebrew understanding of work, and how it can reshape our lives.

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Brand Loyalty vs. Brand Idolatry

by Blake Howard and Craig Johnson

Our age is so saturated with marketed brands that our children dream in shades of Disney. Branding is a form of marketing that clearly defines what makes a company, product, or experience distinct and memorable from others. Naturally, companies who strive to serve customers faithfully ask for brand loyalty over their competitors. Is that so bad? Blake Howard and Craig Johnson explore the biblical implications of branding.

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Work: Crucible of Faith

by Katherine Leary Alsdorf

What is so bad about being identified by the work you do? Katherine Leary Alsdorf, director of the Center for Faith and Work, challenges us to think deeper about the Gospel’s implications for our lives at work.

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When is Healthy Competition Unhealthy?

by Susan DiMickele

Integrating your work and faith is honorable, but a daunting goal. Can the world of cutthroat business, teetering markets and frantic deadlines operate within the framework of the Kingdom of God? Susan DiMickele, a seasoned lawyer, discusses how competition in her workplace challenges her faith.

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The Book Industry is Fine

by Josh Reinders

Borders bookstore is closing all of its doors—does that mean that we are closing all of our books? Josh Reinders reexamines the industry's numbers and finds that the e-book apocalypse may be false prophesying the print world's doomsday.

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Entrepreneurship in Action

by Jason Byassee

The psalmist tells us that God knit each of us together in the womb; knitting requires great attention to detail. What details are uniquely woven into you that invite you to create a unique cultural good? Here are two stories of women from Redeemer Presbyterian Church's Entrepreneurship Initiative Forum whose faith led them to the discovery of their own personal cultural goods.

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Do You Bring Meaning to your Work?

by Mark Russell

Most Americans spend 2,400 hours each year at work, but only 70-80 hours each year at religious events. How do you make your endless hours at work a constant act of worship? Mark Russell explores the nature of finding meaning in the everyday journey of going to work.

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Entrepreneurship for the Common Good

by Dave Blanchard

The global movement of restoration-minded social entrepreneurs is growing quickly. Q wants to support these men and women in their tireless efforts. To this end, we’ve created Praxis, an accelerator program that provides world-class mentorship, peer community, and $100,000 in cash awards.

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Social Networking or Notworking?

by Susan DiMickele

Over half of all employees access their Facebook profiles at work, losing, on average, 15-minutes of productivity per day. But wait. You might be surprised to hear that employees who use social media (also known as "Tworkers") also tend to be the most productive. Writer Susan DiMickele explores the impact and ethics of social media in the workplace.

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The Value of Failure

An interview with Henry Petroski

by Henry Petroski

Leaders in all channels of culture wrestle with the fear of failure. But author and engineering professor Henry Petroski says failure is important because of the information is reveals and because it combats the human tendency to grow overconfident. He looks at failure through the lens of urban development and the history of engineering.

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How Can You Profit from the Poor?

by Greg Spencer

We expect our non-profits "to solve complex global issues on shoestring budgets and low overheads." Is this the best way to advance the common good? Greg Spencer, co-founder of The Paradigm Project, shares how it is possible to make a profit while serving the poor.

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Praxis Social Entrepreneurship

by Dave Blanchard

Every person has the chance to create and cultivate good culture in the place God has called them. For those with an entrepreneurial bent, the opportunity can be enormous. Unfortunately, many great ideas die because the entrepreneur lacks the proper wisdom, experience, strategy or community necessary to see that idea take off. Dave Blanchard and Stephen Graves share profound insights on why some great ideas make it and others don’t.

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Treating Students Like Customers: Interview

by Laura Palmer Noone

Does a for-profit model of higher education make sense in a globalized, tech-savvy world? The former President of the University of Phoenix thinks so. As the one who led Phoenix to become the nation's largest private university, she discusses her controversial model and the reactions she gets when promoting it.

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Vocation Needs No Justification

The Story of a Story

by Steven Garber

If the good things in our world are truly gifts from God, then everything changes. Seeing the world in this way makes vocations of all sorts equally important to the work of God in the world, as each one contributes to the common good and the flourishing of life. Steve Garber of The Washington Institute reminds us that one's vocation--whatever it might be--is a conduit of God's grace to a wounded world.

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Prophetic Advertising

What we can learn from the oft-maligned world of advertising

by Sam Van Eman

Advertising isn't always cast in the most positive light. A barrage of images assaults us through commercials, billboards and radio jingles, and the way we feel advertisers manipulate reality to motivate us against our will breeds skepticism. But Author Sam Van Eman proposes that advertising is actually more than pictures and pleas. It's a prophet--one who never really says anything we didn't already know but publicly names our pain in order to awaken our need for hopeful solutions.

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Is it Wrong to Pursue a Profit?

by Kenman Wong

That the primary goal of business is to earn a profit has reached the status of unquestioned cultural assumption. Some churches have also reduced the value of the work of business people in their congregations to supplying the wealth needed to fund proper “kingdom” work. But is the primacy of profit healthy for followers of Jesus? Author and professor Kenman Wong explores.

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Should Christians Be in the "Business" of Selling Scripture?

by Glenn Paauw

Today, Bibles have become big business. Publishers operating in market-driven models, targeting spiritual consumers, and specializing in niche product development have transformed the distribution of our sacred scriptures. But should we be buying and selling the things of God? A publisher for a leading Bible press explores.

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Millennials in the Workplace

by Q Ideas

When Tom from the film (500) Days of Summer was asked why he had never achieved his dream of becoming an architect, his response dripped with sarcasm: “I guess I just figured, why make something disposable like a building when you can make something that lasts forever, like a greeting card.” Tom's words are more than a smart line in a great movie. They're emblematic of the way a new generation of employees are approaching the workplace.

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Collaborating in Community

by Charles Lee

So much hype around the idea of collaboration, but what is it really? How do we work alongside others and advance their projects even if it doesn’t advance our own? The opportunity for cultural goods and ideas to move forward, based purely on an ability to create collaborative environments, is tremendous. If Andy Crouch’s maxim—that culture is created in groups of two or three, and made better by twelve—is true, it’s helpful to know how all that works—practically—for the everyday leader or entrepreneur.

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A Reminder from a Sex Robot

by Gabe Lyons

What do we learn about relationships from Roxxxy, the world's first robotic sex doll?

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Napa Valley on Leadership

by Margaret Feinberg

Wine. It's a theme woven throughout Scripture. Indeed, vines and vineyards provide a backdrop to some of the Bible's most memorable stories. So, what happens when a curious author actually visits world famous vineyards and talks with expert vintners? A new vision for leadership emerges.

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The Union of Life, Work and Marriage

by Jose and Nikolle Reyes

People often ask, “What’s it like working with your spouse?” My usual response is that working with my husband is easy; it’s living with my business partner that’s hard.  

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Economic Opportunity

by Bill Hampton and Bill Townsend

It is the discussion of our day. When exactly will the economy hit bottom, which markets will fall last and which will emerge first? How will this affect me and my world? What is my responsibility, my local church's responsibility and our faith community's response? What opportunities are presenting themselves in this once in a lifetime moment for our world? Bill Townsend and Bill Hampton will join in a discussion that focuses on these questions. The church must be thoughtful about how we respond in the midst of the challenges facing so many people while having the eyes to see the opportunity it provides.

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The Irony of Church Marketing

by Chris Seay

Each day we are bombarded with thousands of advertisements. The language of the culture is one steeped in consumerist ideology. The church is called to be counter to this world, so what is our response in this milieu? Do we mimic the language of culture in order to save it, or are we to offer something different? Chris Seay is Pastor of Ecclesia Houston where he leads a unique congregation that is living out the gospel faithfully in an urban environment. Their winsome approach to church has offered something the community has found compelling.

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Ensuring Social Entrepreneur Success

by Dr. Stephen Graves

As a social entrepreneur there is more to the bottom line than just profits, and success is not measured strictly in dollars and cents. However, even the best of intentions do not ensure a successful business. A solid plan and sound practices are a must to getting your idea off the ground. Dr. Stephen Graves has written extensively on the topic of entrepreneurial success and coached executives at Fortune 500 companies. His insights will help you lay the foundation for a successful organization.

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Sustainable Business

by Eric Reynolds

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Put simply, the golden rule seeks the good of other people. But this requires a selfless willingness to sacrifice one’s own gain, a disposition hard to find among individuals and even harder to find in the business world. Eric Reynolds, a world-class entrepreneur, has the answer.

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From Purchases To Practices

by Andy Crouch

Many things have changed in America over the last 100 years. Unfortunately, this has resulted in devastating consequences, especially for those of us who follow Christ and seek to be creators and cultivators of culture.

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