Soundbites

Novels abound — but not about daily work

When was the last time you read a novel that took work seriously? “The modern world of work is not represented in literary fiction,” says novelist John Lanchester. He finds this startling, “given how many people define themselves through work and how central work is to many people’s selfdescription.” In most fiction today a job is as marginal as a character’s hair color. That wasn’t always so, says Lanchester, noting great books by authors like Herman Melville, Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy.

Certainly the workplace figures as a backdrop in modern entertainment (hospitals, offices and police stations) but usually the depictions are unrealistic. Why does literary fiction ignore a serious exploration into work and business? Probably, he says, because “the complexity of modern working lives is too much.” Any serious novel would bog down with the details of authentic workplace descriptions. — Quoted in Initiatives

Feeding charities

Churches, schools, charities, and mission fields are voracious consumers of wealth. Successful businesses are the only creators of that wealth. Through my Christian worldview, the role of business is to build and advance the economic well-being of communities throughout the world so that each person can fulfill his or her God-given purpose. And, as the sole means of wealth creation, business makes it possible for all of society’s social institutions to exist — from governments to charities. — Coca-Cola executive Bonnie Wurzbacher in Our Souls at Work

Misery of miseries

The misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all. — Cambridge economist Joan Robinson

CEO as maestro

I practiced the top-down, hierarchical model of conducting for years. Then I realized something amazing: The conductor, the most physically active person in the entire music world, doesn’t make a sound! The conductor’s power depends on his ability to make other people powerful... to make sure that every voice is heard. A symphony is the sounding of all the voices. It’s true in the family. It’s true in the corporation. The conductor, or leader’s, job is to make the people in the family sing and make beautiful music. — Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic

Running America

Our nation [India], though it has no drinking water, electricity, sewage system, public transportation, sense of hygiene, discipline, courtesy, or punctuality, does have entrepreneurs. Thousands and thousands of them. Especially in the field of technology. And these entrepreneurs — we entrepreneurs — have set up all these outsourcing companies that virtually run America now. — Indian novelist Aravind Adiga in The White Tiger

Really exclusive

The unbiblical use of the terms “ministry” and “laity” is the most extensive and oppressive form of exclusive language in the church. When we use

gender-exclusive language, we exclude about 50 percent of all Christians. But when we use the minister/layman distinction, we exclude 90-95 percent of all Christians! It is time to be truly inclusive by referring to all Christians as ministers and banning the term “layman” whenever it means Christians who are not ministers. — Howard Snyder in Global Good News: Mission in a New Context

Leading?

Leadership is not about being the head honcho, calling all the shots, being in charge, or anything else. Leadership is an opportunity to serve God and neighbor and to influence others to do the same. — Mark Russell in The Missional Entrepreneur: Principles and Practices for Business as Mission

Madame Farmer

Can there be any doubt that it was woman, the diligent gatherer, rather than man, the dilettante hunter, who first had the idea of sowing grain? A well planted crop, sown into riverbank mud or some other bare land, then carefully weeded and guarded from birds, would have meant new and harder work, but would have brought rewards in yield to the family of the woman who tried it. It would have brought a surplus of flour that could be exchanged with hunters for meat, so it would have kept not only the field’s owner and her children alive, but perhaps a couple of other hunting families too. The exchange of grain for meat effectively subsidized hunting, or raised the “price” of meat, putting more pressure on the hares and gazelles and so gradually making the entire settlement more dependent on the farm — and bringing a new incentive to the first man who thought of raising an orphaned goat kid rather than eating it. — Matt Ridley in The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

Politics plus

Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together. — Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

Gandhi’s seven deadly social sins:

Politics without principle Wealth without work

Commerce without morality Pleasure without conscience

Education without character

Science without humanity Worship without sacrifice

Mailbag

Empty words

Your comments in “A Tower of Babble” (May/June issue) were refreshing and relevant. I would add that not only corporate communication but communication in general is in a painful state. It seems that obscurity, opaqueness, and ambiguity are valued. It would be well to remember Strunk’s three rules of writing (those over 60 will recognize this classic): clarity, clarity, clarity. Vergil’s observations in the Aeneid are clear: Whoever utters empty words utters sounds without mind. The Old Testament poet of Proverbs reminds us that good communication is beautiful: A word appropriately used is like an apple of gold in a setting of silver. Thank you for your comments. — Wilfred Martens, Fresno, California

Right notes

With the summer slowdown, I seem to have more time to review the work of my colleagues. Having just received the latest issue of The Marketplace (July/August), I want to tell you how much I enjoyed it. Your selections are hitting the right notes; I especially enjoyed the insights you highlight in your review of “The Tyranny of Email.” Keep up the good work. The combination of good journalism, creative graphics and timely subjects make this a worthwhile ministry to the business people among us. — Dick Benner, Editor and Publisher, Canadian Mennonite magazine, Waterloo, Ontario