Will Business Save Our Country?

As a young man, I faced a career decision that set the path for the rest of my life.? I found myself in a place where I had three choices for employment:? After a few years as a teacher, I could return to education. Or I could enter into the world of non-profit work, or I could step into the business world and take a position as a professional salesperson.

At the time I was mostly interested in the details:? Income, workload and benefits.? It never occurred to me that I was making a decision that would have life-long consequences on my character and my development as a human being.

I chose the sales position. Prodded, I believe, by divine intervention.?

At this point in my career, with the benefit of retrospective clarity, I believe that decision to choose a career in business had a great deal to do with the kind of person I became, the character that I would eventually develop, and the destiny I would embrace. I am not unique in that. There is something about the pressures and dynamics of the world of business that shapes the character of everyone who makes a living from it.

Let me explain.? In business, we must produce. We must learn what is expected of us and discipline ourselves to behave in ways that meet those expectations.? If we don’t have the necessary skills, we need to acquire them. If we don’t have the right attitudes, we need to change them. If we don’t have the right work ethic, we need to modify that.? ?We must be productive, or we won’t last long.??

Granted, there may be pockets in the folds of larger businesses where a person or group can get by under the radar screen, contributing little to the corporate purpose and dragging down the company’s profit and purpose.? But these are the exceptions and typically temporary.? Sooner or later the demand to produce catches up with even the most invisible.?

This pressure to produce is what sets business off from any other career choice.? While I acknowledge that there are mature, fully developed people in every profession, the need to produce in business is far more acute and sets it off from the other choices.??

The pressures that business places on the people within it to become more, to reach their potential while contributing to the greater good, may be part of the reason why the Apostle Paul, writing in the book of 2 Thessalonians said this:? “if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. ”

It is not just a matter of ‘going to work’, it is a matter of putting ourselves into a position that pressures us to produce positive character traits that mark our development as a human being. If we are going to be successful in the business world, we must become more than we are now. The demand to be productive means that we must become better than we were before.? ?The demands of business are not going to leave us alone to play video games all day or wallow in the social media swamp.??

Business demands that we follow an authority’s directions.? It is unfortunate if we never acquired that discipline as a child.? We will need to add it to our character if we are going to work. Lines of authority are necessary for order in a society, whether it is a family, a country or a business.? Business demands... CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE