I once heard a story about a company president who was participating in a management seminar.
During the seminar, he posed the following question to the management consultant who was leading the class.
“To be successful at managing a corporation, what should I read? There are so many books out there that I don’t know which one to choose.“
In response, the management consultant unflinchingly stated…
“The Bible is the only book you need to succeed in business. If you have that one book, it is not necessary to read any other book.“
Now I gotta be honest with you…
When I first heard that, I didn’t quite get it.
Sure, I can understand how having faith that God is watching over your business dealings can give you comfort.
But on a practical level, I didn’t get what this management consultant said.
Business is about bringing a product or service to a market to make a profit.
How does the Bible help with the nuts and bolts of that?
Keep in mind, that the management consultant said the Bible is the ONLY book you need to succeed in business.
He didn’t say it was one out of many books.
This got me scratching my head.
Like what in the heck does understanding the Levitical sacrifices at the Tabernacle have to do with growing my business?
Or the Exodus story where God destroyed Egypt with ten plagues.
How am I gonna apply that to my business?
Does this mean I can trust that God is gonna destroy my business competition in a tough market?
Again, I get that on a high spiritual level, faith in God can give you the confidence to tackle the challenges you need to succeed.
I’m not talking about ephemeral things like emotions and faith – although those things are very important to business and life in general.
I’m talking about nitty-gritty practicalities here folks.
For example, I work as a recruiter here in Tokyo, and I just had a candidate go dark on me midway through the interview process.
My client, my boss, and I are baffled as to why someone, a former Bain consultant, would ghost us without any explanation.
I want some specific advice about what to do in a situation like this above and beyond the usual platitudes like “Just trust God that all things will work out for the good for those who love Him.”
Ya feel me?
Well, after pondering this for quite some time, I believe the answer to my question lies in the upcoming chapters of 2 Samuel.
See, in the days ahead, we’re about to run into a lot of political intrigue.
Things like power struggles, Machiavellian schemes, backroom dealings, and so on.
So here’s what I want you to consider.
At the center of all this political scheming that’s about to unfold, what’s the most important thing to understand?
The answer is people.
Human beings are the most complex creatures on the planet.
Understanding how they tick and their motivations will put you miles ahead as a business person.
And that’s where the book of 2nd Samuel shines.
So if you find intrigues of state and political maneuvering fascinating, you’re gonna LOVE the upcoming chapters.
And if you take the lessons learned to heart, you’ll come out of it a much better business person.
See ya all next time.
Leave a Reply