What can change when we view love as a guiding ethic when it comes to matters of value in the workplace? Many of us, unformed and unsure of how to show up authentically in professional contexts, end up with a “fake it ‘til you make it” mentality often leading to fractured versions of ourselves. In this episode, Pete and Jason dissect the ever-pressing question we all ask deep down: “What am I worth?”
Summary
How many of us have sat through a job interview, wondering how we can make an honest offering of ourselves while determining a commensurate value for our work? Left undiscerned, our sense of worth and value are often shaped less by our moral convictions and more by immediate needs or lifestyle pressures. In this episode, Pete and Jason offer a fresh perspective on considering our incalculable worth as individuals and how it relates to tangible measures such as wealth and compensation. Offering perspectives from both sides of the table – as employer and employee – Pete and Jason make a case for the lasting difference it makes when we show up as ourselves, without pretense. They discuss the importance of seeing the uniqueness and innate creativity of every person as they relate to the team, and why it is vital for companies and organizations to help employees form more integrated versions of themselves. They dissect the nuances of discerning fit and compatibility and the pitfalls of having a myopic view of life. Ultimately, Pete and Jason invite listeners to consider these economic realities within the context of living and operating within the Kingdom of God.
Speakers Bio
Pete White is the founder of Vocatio, an organization focused on restoring character and calling to the center of human life. Drawing from a wealth of life experiences – from his work as a carpenter in blue-collar environments, volunteering in homeless shelters, to nearly two decades as a therapist in private practice – Pete encountered the deep brokenness of the human experience in lives oriented away from the heart of God. He witnessed firsthand the fractures caused by addictions, poverty of mind, body, and spirit, broken relationships, and crises in identity and authenticity. His encounters have ignited in him a deep desire to see healing and wholeness, steeped in love, to the world around him. Today, Pete accompanies individuals and organizations in the process of clarifying purpose and life-calling, recovering their vocation as life-as-craft.
Bio retrieved from Vocatio.
Jason Jensen is the founding partner and CEO of Glass Canvas. He has set the tone for radical pursuit of the way of Jesus in every area of our business, leading with vulnerability, intentionality, and pursuit of the human heart. His personal mission is to help increase the accompaniment capacity of the Church, and he does so with his gifts of being with individuals and leaders to help draw them into an integrated Christian imagination. Jason leads the formation direction and overall vision of Glass Canvas.
Noteworthy quotes
“It takes three kinds of courage: to abandon your tried-and-true methods, to put yourself in the ring before you feel ready, and to make more mistakes than others make attempts." - Adam Grant, Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things
Timestamps
01:10 The trouble with Bitcoin
03:45 What are most things grounded in?
04:15 Love is the most valuable thing in the universe
06:15 What is money?
13:30 Benevolence: love as in intention to will someone’s good
14:45 The “gold standard”: a quick economic refresher
18:20 Who gets to decide the value of currencies?
21:16 Vocation: The way that you were made to love
31:10 Experiences with sales - is this for me, or for them?
35:22 Doing what love invites and refusing what fear demands
37:11 What to ask yourself at the end of the (work) day
38:28 Choosing our amnesia
39:24 Work is tethered to our provision and our personhood
41:51 A loving responsibility - we are made for profundity
45:53 Our attention as a commodity and its consequences
48:20 The most reliable path to wealth itself
49:30 Wealth: inversely correlated with unmet wants, a measure of contentment
53:03 The impoverished wealthy person
55:35 The dichotomy of eternal vs. temporal things
58:10 War as an alternative to love
01:01:20 Workforce ethics: a commitment to what you’re not going to do
01:04:10 Real value and integrity prove themselves in the end
01:06:15 The job inside of every job
01:09:01 The betterment of people as the epicentre of what you’re doing
01:10:33 A trust framework: Goodwill, Competence and integrity
01:13:25 Showing up as ourselves at work
01:14:55 There is meaning and purpose when you are needed as you are
01:17:08 Becoming *that* person who comes in mind when a need arises
01:19:05 Untethered vocation
01:25:58 Negotiating when we are making an offering of ourselves
01:28:38 Why not “fake it ‘til you make it”?
01:31:00 Are you prepared to make a fair appraisal of yourself?
01:35:50 Young people: get clear on your ethics!
01:39:05 An encouragement to employers
01:42:50 Isaac’s story and Irish Whiskey
01:50:55 Courage and calling
01:51:12 Fail more than others attempt
01:52:22 Is it okay to want to not be poor?
01:57:20 How to live in the Kingdom, according to Jesus
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