What Can We Learn About Management From The Holidays Many of Us and Our Friends Celebrate This Time of Year?

During Easter, Ramadan, and Passover, Christians, Muslims, and Jews intersect in a week of Holidays or, better put, Holy Days.?

All around the world, there will be big family gatherings and no small amount of fasting for some. For all, there will be huge meals, lots and lots of ritual religious services, activities, and a balance of seriousness and fun.?

Between the three religions, about 58% of the global population is represented—with 31% identifying as Christian, 25% as Muslim, and 2% as Jewish. That's a lot of partying!!!!!

One might ask, what does this have to do with management??

Everything!?

Let's start with families. The sheer logistics of feeding, housing, and entertaining family and guests—some of who travel long distances, can rival that of any good corporate unit or, even more, any good army. And they tell us armies, like our relatives, travel on their stomachs.

Frankly, as in all great undertakings, the outcome makes it all look easy. The "experiential" effect…the takeaway, if you will, hides the days and hours of preparation, planning, worrying, doing, worrying some more, and finally delivering.

We enjoy ourselves (hopefully), add value to our lives (and maybe the world), and although we give lip service and lots of toasts and thanks to our hosts and partners, unless you were in the thick of the logistics and physical preparations, you really have no clue. So, kudos to those who have worked tirelessly, and send me your resumes.

Egg hunts, Seder services, mass, Adhan the Call to Prayer, matzo, chocolate bunnies, Knafeh and Qatayef, and the list goes on with full work weeks still to be accounted for, for some even full days of fasting and tight schedules, yet it all comes together.

I am in awe of those (and discussed with many of my friends of all religious persuasions) who manage to keep all their business commitments while adhering to their religious beliefs and practices. I realize that as much as we say that our work and play, careers and home lives have merged and melded when you add the complexity of religion, the fire hose never seems to stop gushing.

As we finished our Seder, where parishioners were exiting churches from late-night services and my Muslim friends were joyously at their Iftar. I felt at peace knowing that, at least for a little while, we were all drinking from the same fire hose and still managing to balance it all.?

So, what did I learn? Somehow, despite the pressures, craziness, and often last-minute needs and demands (not of work but of life), when we focus on purpose and outcome...somehow, it all comes together in meaningful and powerful ways. The preparation becomes a shared joy just as the event becomes a shared experience, not in some virtual platform with our Avatars, but around a table, in a house of worship, in a park, or wherever we can gather.

Every once in a while, it's worth remembering that while our skills apply to all facets of our lives, we cannot forget to apply them to the human side as well.

I am ready to bet that our work life benefits as much from our human focus as our ability to put together a huge, complex holiday meal benefits from our learned organizational skills.

“Holidays are about experiences and people, and tuning into what you feel like doing at that moment. Enjoy not having to look at a watch.” —Evelyn Glennie

Now apply that thought to work at some point today.?

To those celebrating, Happiest of Holy Holidays.?

What do you think?