Our business endeavors are nothing more or less than attempts to apply our family values to useful business ends, and are naturally derived from our family values.
Our value of doing as we would be done by is applied to business ventures through seeking to serve our business partners as well as we can.
Our value of wisely stewarding our minds is applied to business ventures through the same means as personal ventures — maintaining a growth mentality, a big-picture perspective, and the longest view in the room; being forward-thinking, positive individuals in our pursuits; operating from a latticework of mental models; staying curious; learning, building, sharing and repeating.
Our value of being intentional with our time is applied to business ventures through the same means as personal ventures — spending time on what is important to the given venture; seizing the present and relentlessly building the future; pursuing simplicity on the far side of complexity; practicing functional minimalism; seeking operating leverage; and minimizing regrets.
The same pursuit of truth that fuels our personal lives fuels our business lives, as do our attempts to align our actions to truth through internalizing wisdom.
C.S. Lewis nailed this concept when answering a question on how a Christian may seek business advice from the Bible [1]:
Christianity has not, and does not profess to have, a detailed political programme for applying "Do as you would be done by" to a particular society at a particular moment. It could not have. It is meant for all men at all times and the particular programme which suited one place or time would not suit another. And, anyhow, that is not how Christianity works. When it tells you to feed the hungry it does not give you lessons in cookery. When it tells you to read the Scriptures it does not give you lessons in Hebrew and Greek, or even in English grammar. It was never intended to replace or supersede the ordinary human arts and sciences: it is rather a director which will set them all to the right jobs, and a source of energy which will give them all new life, if only they will put themselves at its disposal. People say, "The Church ought to give us a lead." That is true if they mean it in the right way, but false if they mean it in the wrong way. By the Church they ought to mean the whole body of practising Christians. And when they say that the Church should give us a lead, they ought to mean that some Christians — those who happen to have the right talents — should be economists and statesmen, and that all economists and statesmen should be Christians, and that their whole efforts in politics and economics should be directed to putting "Do as you would be done by" into action…. …The application of Christian principles, say, to trade unionism or education, must come from Christian trade unionists and Christian schoolmasters: just as Christian literature comes from Christian novelists and dramatists — not from the bench of bishops getting together and trying to write plays and novels in their spare time.
In short, work it out.
The Bible gives us direction in the great commandments: love God, and do as we would be done by [2].
It clarifies these concepts with commands such as “possess your (eternal) possessions” [3] and “make every effort” [4].
A counter-cultural concept we believe flows from these ideas — we do not believe in strong separation of work and personal lives.
“Keep your work and personal lives separate” is the present zeitgeist. We know many people who have multiple computers, phones, email accounts, strict work hours, etc. in this pursuit. There are good and bad times for anything. But these attempts to split the two largest components of one’s life — which are inextricably linked and strongly influence each other — seem misguided in most cases. If one can’t stand their work, hiding from it during off hours is probably less useful than finding a different job or a new line of work.
We make no attempt to keep our work and personal lives separate. We embrace their combination. This does not mean that we are endlessly available to pick up the phone or immediately meet any personal or professional need. Quite the opposite. We have found serving our business partners well requires working some evenings, and loving our kids well requires playing some mornings. Doing both has enabled us to be more present at the right times.
We have encountered predictable schedules and unpredictable pressing needs in both work and personal contexts, and have been grateful to have shifted focus when needed. This is not an easy arrangement to create, but we have found it to be a route to being more effective both in work and personal settings by being able to show up in the moments of truth, regardless of whether these occurred during traditional work or personal hours.
Notes and references
[1] Mere Christianity, Book 3, ‘Social Morality’
[2] Matthew 22:37-38
[3] 2 Peter 1:3
[4] 2 Peter 1:5
Last updated: 2022 (v2)
Prior versions: 2015 (v1)