My heart on the matter

My thanks to Dr. Neil Nielson, President of Covenant College for this brilliant post on Business for God's Glory.

I am sharing it here because he has captured my heart's deepest passion far better than I can express. It's a long piece, but well worth every word.

Here are my highlights:

"My burden this morning is simply (1) to remind you that business is also a holy and godly calling, fraught with dangers and temptations and slippery slopes like every other calling; and then (2) to encourage those of you who sense God’s call into business to relish that call and pursue it wholeheartedly."

"...I have been convinced beyond any doubt that it’s a worthy and noble calling, and that Christians belong in business. And I’d like you to think so too."

And my absolute FAVORITE:
"This gain in wealth, and the resulting improvement in quality of life, is one important reason why I get so excited about an increasingly globalized marketplace, with information and access getting into places and corners of the globe where they’ve never gotten before."

Exactly. We are living in the most exciting economic, business and technological time in over 400 year!

Read the whole post.
And be excited.

Links Feb. 13 (and comments)

• Yahoo News tells us Why This Recession Seems Worse Than '70s and '80s 

It's not of course, as this opening sentence suggests: "If you think this recession is the worst since World War II, chances are you weren't born or working during the downturns of the 1970s and '80s, you're listening to President Obama too much or you're a white-collar worker in financial services." And then there's "The economy is very psychological. There's a herd instinct."

My take? We're feeling the economical affects of the transition from the industrial to information ages. For those that get on board, things will be fine. Ignore this at your peril.

• In Exactly How Does Stimulus Work? from the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henninger tells us that "The theory beneath the $800 billion of spending is called the Keynesian multiplier, first posited around 1931." Um. Yeah. 

There's also this quote from CBO director Douglas Elmendorf: ""Even without any stimulus, market forces would eventually bring about a recovery from the recession," albeit with more unemployment and loss of output."

• Finally, as an example of my point about the information age comes Digital Firms for the Net from Bank of America's "Future Banking Blog" - yes, they have a blog.
  

"With the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, The Law Lab at the Berkman Center at Harvard University is undertaking a project to provide a hosting service for the registration and governance of a digital LLC within Vermont, and to form experimental LLCs to explore new types of operating agreements and models of management and governance. We are actively seeking partners in the form of entrepreneurs, banks, legal scholars and researchers."

In other words, completely net based businesses.
Sweet.

A REAL Stimulus Package

Just in case you've forgotten that people using their creativity is the only solution to problems, I've got two great posts to send you to today.

First, Mark Cuban is offering The Mark Cuban Stimulus Plan - Open Source Funding. He's putting his substantial money where his mouth is by offering to fund any and all start-up ideas. If you've been ruminating over a concept and wondering how you'd start, now's your chance.

And if you don't have an idea, then read this post at sixmonthmba.com. Entitled Hamster Burial Kits & 998 Other Business Ideas it is, as you might guess, a list of 999 business ideas. Yes, 999. And they were all imagined by nine people in a week.

Posts like this do nothing to encourage my belief in our country and world because I already have 100% belief. We were made in the image of a creative God and these posts prove it.

Your turn.

Thoughts on Business

Read this today in a book summary of How We Lead Matters by Marilyn Carlson Nelson:

"Business in one of the most powerful forces on the planet - for good or for ill. Its domain is far-reaching and pervasive. Those of us who are "called to business" as our life pursuit must learn how best to leverage our influence and work across sectors on complex problems for the common good. We must be what is called "integrative leaders."

"In an increasingly complex and interconnected world, business leaders must pause and contemplate the way businesses can best interact with the non-profit and public sectors. It's not unlike the way the ancients looked at the skies: some just saw stars, but others saw the patterns of dogs, bears, goddesses, and hunters. They connected the dots, and we'll never again see the sky in the same way."

If you - like me and most people - are called to the world of business, whether ditch-digger or CEO, you are a man or woman of influence. Be sure you are using it for good and not ill. Be sure you treasure and nurture not only your calling, but the skills, abilities and knowledge that will impact your company. Your family.

Our world.