Our Reputations

It's depressing to me when I think of the way that some groups, who include me, have lost their good reputations.  One of the most apparent to me is the way that Texans are viewed.  It seems that it wasn't even that long ago that Texas was "Everything's bigger in Texas" and "Don't mess with Texas."  It was the independent, fun-loving, extra-friendly capital of country music, good manners, and great food.  Now it seems like Texas' independence given way to rebelliousness, fun-loving has given way to a sense of being better than everyone else, and whatever happened to extra-friendly?  Texas is no longer highly respected, it's derided and made fun of.

It's happened to other groups that represent me too.  America was once highly respected in the world and considered a model for good governance and economic strength.  The reasons for why America is now intensely disliked and even ignored as a sideshow are well-known and too many to try to get into.  It's happened to my University of Texas, where an article I was reading the other day talked about their fickle sports fans who show up late and leave early because of the sorry state of their athletics programs.  The university's leadership and donor base is fractured by infighting and the school is suffering as a result.  It's happened to Lutherans too - we trace our roots back to the father of the Reformation and have a great history of good doctrines and standing up for the truth.  Today, however, I'm generally ashamed to call myself a Lutheran among other Christians.

Perhaps no loss of reputation hurts as badly as the damage that has been done to the reputation of Christians, however.  It was reported in the early days of the new faith that Christians were turning the world upside down with their compassion, mercy, and love.  They of course had their unjust charges leveled against them, but Jesus was pleased to say that the world would know we are his disciples by our love for one another.  Today, however, Christians have been pushed to the margins as mean-spirited, divisive, argumentative or, at best, irrelevant.  Christians are not known for their acts of charity, but for a thousand years of fighting Muslims, for being anti-everything, for their money scandals, and for being self-absorbed.  I'm thankful for cultural artifacts like Duck Dynasty that do seem to help bring up the reputation of Christians, but they are few and far between.

Christ calls us His ambassadors.  We quite literally carry His name in ours.  The Bible is full of statements where God is acting for the sake of His name, but we're not doing a very good job of serving His reputation through our own.  Life is not all about paying attention to what others think of you.  But sometimes we would be wise to watch what we do to our own reputations.

Supervisor Conflict

I've noticed something lately in my interactions with friends.  I've noticed that I have very few friends my age who have a good relationship with their supervisors at work.  Most are unhappy with their jobs, their hours, their responsibilities, their boss' character, the organizational system, and so forth.  Even my ministry friends live this, both in churches and in nonprofits.  It's like there's a general culture of discontent and conflict at work among my generation.  Why is this?  I'd like to hear your comments, but I have a few ideas to start the conversation.

I have sometimes noticed a failure of both supervisors and the supervised to recognize their own limitations.  Perhaps both think they know better, or perhaps one holds age and experience over the other.  Without each person recognizing how they are contributing to the problem, and recognizing that the other person may have some valid reasons for their behavior, conflicts will never be solved.

Other times I've seen unhealthy expectations of perfection.  Millennials, in valuing authenticity and transparency, can often make the quick jump to hyper-critical when they sense that transparency is lacking.  In this type of attitude, every mistake is a deal-breaker and once we judge somebody or lose respect for them, it's very hard to regain it.  I'd ask, however, why we have to expect such things out of our bosses.  Why is that necessary for us to do our jobs, and to do them well?

Further, people may expect their own jobs to be perfect.  Nobody loves 100% of what they do.  Every job has sizable elements of things that we put up with doing as well as things that we downright dislike.  If we sense ourselves being asked to do things we don't want to do, we need to avoid the impulse to get angry or rebellious.  By persevering and putting our noses to the grindstone even when we don't love what we do, we develop character, integrity, and we may just learn something in the process.

Are you unhappy at work?  Why do you think it is, and what do you think is the way out?  Or, are you a boss who knows the young people who report to you are unhappy?  What do you think is the solution to the conflict?

Countering the Myth of the Millennial

This morning's New York Times had an article encouraging companies to incorporate the "millennial's mind-set" into their culture.  It's often touted that if companies will just give their new, young team members the freedom to fail and the resources they need, they will change the world.  There's a lot of excitement over my generation.  Now, the thought-leaders who are encouraging managers to give people the freedom to fail are certainly correct, and there's nothing wrong with their logic.  It's also true that there are very few leaders out there actually following this guidance, despite what the experts say.  The problem is, would it work?

I'm speaking up, as a member of the millennial generation, to say that I'm not so sure my generation should be trusted so much.  This NY Times article touches on the issue of what makes millennials excited and motivates them to work.  It talks about transparency, and authenticity, and so forth, but what if it's actually deeper than that?  What if my generation has taken to heart all the encouragement that we heard growing up, and we've gotten our heads a bit too big?  I believe that, indeed, companies and the world ought to give millennials more credit, give us more opportunities, and listen to us more.  I also believe, however, that we millennials have got to shrink our egos, take a long view on our lives, and build our foundation.

My fear for my generation is not that we won't change the world.  It's that we will try to do it too early, and one of two things will happen.  Either we will change it in a way that we regret later, or we will make great icons and celebrities out of ourselves without the character to sustain it.  I've written about this before.  The challenge with companies recruiting millennials is not that we want more freedom, it's that we have this idea that by the age of 30 we should be respected leaders well on our way to changing the world.  It's time for us to embrace the challenge of playing the opening moves of the chess match.  What we do now will set the foundation for the rest of the game....and yes, there is a rest of the game.  We don't win by the time we're 30, we win when we are at the end of our lives - with a long string of small victories, the wisdom that comes from a life well-lived, and the enduring legacy of a lifelong leader.