Christian Corporate Leaders

First and foremost, it is common knowledge that spirituality champions for good morals, equity, respect for human dignity, ethics and equality among all members of the human race. It is the above virtues that facilitate harmony and peaceful coexistence of human beings in all our day to day interactions. Reinhold, from his studies conducted in one of Detroit’s big automobile factories, noted numerous conflicts between Christian ideals and the realities that were in the industry. Surprisingly enough, Edward Earle conducted a research on twelve of America’s major corporations and urged all Americans to emulate them, a totally different thought from what

Valerie I agree that it is wise to have faith in God even from a business standpoint. It is often hard in today’s society though to put God first in the decision making. I remember back in 2012 when Chick-fil-A was going through a hard time because one of the chief operating officers (Dan Cathy) made a remark about opposing same-sex marriage. He has his right to state an opinion but having friends that are lesbian and gay I had to side with my friends. The remarks seemed to come from a place of hate and he offended so many people by his statement. I do believe that Christians should not hide their beliefs but sometimes in a business setting one person who states an opinion could wreck the business and ultimately leave a Christian owned company

There has been many discussions on whether or not organizations in today’s global business environment can operate based on Christian values and principles. I think it’s not common but there are many global companies that were founded on Christian principles. One in particular is Walmart and Tyson food (which is the world’s largest food distribution company). They hire chaplains to actually minister to those that want their spiritual growth. They give largely to charities and organizations, and programs. I believe you can definitely operate off of Christian beliefs but I believe it’s important that you cannot discriminate those that do have Christian beliefs. It can be very difficult to be a Christian based company, especially in the global market due to other beliefs, you could easily lose potential opportunities and business deals if spiritual beliefs conflicts with others.

The book, “Business for the Glory of God”, By Wayne Grudem, is a book that gives insight to how business as a whole can be a blessing to the world. God gave His people abilities to conduct business in order to glorify Him. Grudem explains that business and the attributes of business are “fundamentally good” and provides many opportunities for glorifying God, but also many temptations to sin. He gives a biblical and moral standing point

According to Duzer (2012), In pursuit of God’s purpose, people need to understand the ethical limitations embedded naturally in design of the God’s creation. It is not enough too simply align our businesses purposes with God earthly design, without limitation we still fall short of Gods expectations. God’s creation purpose for business includes businesses that serve the community in a positive way that strides to serve all citizens according to God’s plan. For example, a business might be able to produce more goods and services that would enable the community to flourish. It might create more vocationally rich jobs for its employees by disregarding its duty to provide return to its shareholders (Duzer,

Through these nine key concepts, Dr. Grudem illustrates how a variety of business techniques, when implemented in a Godly manner, allow those to pose certain characteristics of God. Grudem isn’t naïve, though. He does, after all, explain that in every aspect of business there are multiple layers of opportunities to give glory to God, as well as multiple temptations to sin (Grudem, 2003, p. 17). He is also aware about the easy ways these activities can be perverted and used as a means to sin ("Business for the," 2003). This book is tailored to echo God’s glory in relation to correlation with employees, co-workers, customers, and other businesses involved in the business unity. Furthermore, it does not only promote a positive impact within the business realm, but also in the personal realm of one’s life in business.

Os Hillman, in his article 4 Types of Christians, describes what he believes are the four types of Christians that are typically found in the workplace. One, the Christian that is just trying to survive the workplace, and typically will segment their work lives and their spiritual lives. Hillman states that this type of Christian has not seen the power of God’s presence in their work lives, and has little direction and purpose. The second type of Christian is the one that is living by Christian principles. This person is most likely increasingly changing negative patterns in their life, however, they are not necessarily directing their influence outward to others. Thirdly, there is the Christian that is living by the power of the Holy Spirit. These Christians are disciplined in the study of His Word, dedicated to prayer, and seeks to be obedient to the Holy Spirit and Biblical teachings. Lastly, the fourth type of Christian is one that is transforming their workplace for Christ. Embracing the power of the Holy Spirit, and seeking the manifestation of God’s kingdom here on earth. Hillman states that when the kingdom of God is demonstrated on earth, then the workplace and broader society will be transformed (Hillman,

The Christian worldview of leadership is distinctly different from most secular views on the subject. In the secular, leadership tends to be viewed primarily in terms of a company’s bottom line and how well the leader can urge employees to produce more and better work. That view is profit-centered rather than person-centered, and it does not give much attention to employees’ human needs and qualities nor on how developing excellent work relationships can promote productivity. In the Christian worldview, however, people are key, and their human needs are important. The leader in the Christian worldview understands how meeting employees’ needs promotes the kind of productivity desired and

The workforce within any organization is the engine that keeps the business moving forward. Positive leadership, as well as effective and competent following, could be the difference between success and failure for a business. Effective leadership and followers should have a symbiotic relationship, which is the most effective way a business will meet its goals. It can be seen within Jake’s Pet Land case study that there truly is a difference between leadership styles amongst different leaders. While Philip and Jan took a different approach to being a leader, Adam’s role of the follower stayed the same. Adam continued to exemplify the best characteristics possible as a follower in order to make the business as

2. Which of these do you think of as the dominant paradigm of the Christian businessperson today?

From Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela’s charisma, to Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King’s intelligence and Steve Jobs’ analytical nature, there can be as numerous ways to lead as there are leaders (Crossman, 2010). Leadership is a hot debate both in the business world and other areas of the society. Throughout the world's, there have been as many leadership models as there have been their commentators (Burns & Peltason, 1966). Fortunately, psychologists and businesspersons have established useful frameworks that refer to the main ways of leadership.

Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.

When the term business comes into one 's mind that individual thinks about profit making. However, this is not always true. Though a business 's one motives may be to earn profit, but on the other hand their other motives may be to serve the society. Those business individuals who have enormous faith in religion try to integrate their faith and business together and express their religious beliefs through their business. Some of the examples of such business are Mary Kay, Forever 21, Chick fil A, Hobby Lobby, Interstate Batteries and so on.

An organization guided by Christian principles will build a structural solid foundation. As a follower of Christ, “communication” is [essentially] required to fulfill the responsibility of advocating Christianity. In a business setting the benefit of applying Christian values to provide guidance that will affirm the foundations of an organization. The philosophy of promoting growth and sustainability with any establishment is to follow the organization's vision and mission. Smith (2011) expresses the importance of fulfilling one’s purpose with God by building interpersonal relationships, “Indeed we can only hope to fulfill our vocations if we learn the grace and strength of working with others in

In corporate America the term used to describe a person in a position of power is “Manager”. A leader can be a manager, but a manager is not necessarily a leader. Leaders motivate, challenge, and influence others to achieve goals. Great leaders have the necessary skills and attributes which allow them to connect with the team and organization. Being a leader is not the same as managing an organization. Leader’s posses the interpersonal skills needed to influence others to achieve a goal willingly. Leading is a major part of a manager’s job. Leaders do not need to be a manager to lead people, but managers must know how to lead as well as manage.