Episode 29: Serving First: Building Culture with Christian Principles in Modern Business
Manage episode 514211477 series 3640746
Want a culture that doesn’t crack under pressure or trends? We dive deep into integrating faith and values at work without bullhorns, labels, or cringe. With candid stories across corporate and service environments, we unpack why your “why” matters most—are you signaling virtue, chasing performance, or serving people? Then we get practical: defining culture as shared vision plus the health of your people, keeping rituals fresh, and building feedback loops that make trust measurable.
We explore the tension between overt branding and quiet conviction, contrasting Chick-fil-A’s clarity and owner presence with Starbucks’ drift and the cost of unclear standards. You’ll hear how to hire for values without compromising on skills—behavioral interviews, real-world scenarios, and onboarding that reinforces what you say you believe. We also tackle the hard part: where to draw the line. Grace is vital, but tolerating behavior that violates core principles teaches the wrong lesson. Learn how to diagnose will vs skill, prune thoughtfully, and adapt systems as you scale.
This conversation stays grounded in action. Serve first. Seek to understand. Be for each other. Whether you name your source of values or not, time-tested principles—kindness, clarity, accountability—create teams people want to join and customers trust. We share frameworks, questions to ask, and examples from franchises and Fortune 100s to help you build a durable culture that earns loyalty the old-fashioned way: by showing up. If this resonates, follow the show, share with a leader who cares about people, and leave a review with the one value your team needs most.
Chapters
1. Framing Faith and Work (00:00:00)
2. The Why Behind Integrating Faith (00:02:05)
3. Lead with Principles, Not Labels (00:03:40)
4. Culture Beyond Buzzwords (00:05:30)
5. Authenticity and Measuring Culture (00:08:30)
6. Defining Culture and Keeping It Fresh (00:11:40)
7. Overt Values: The Chick-fil-A Question (00:16:30)
8. Clarity, Hiring, and Longevity (00:21:30)
9. Owner Presence and Service Consistency (00:25:30)
10. Scaling Values Through Systems (00:31:00)
11. Where to Draw the Line (00:35:40)
12. Evolving Principles and Feedback Loops (00:39:10)
13. Labels, Perception, and Inclusivity (00:44:20)
14. Meeting People Where They Are (00:50:00)
15. Many Measures of a Christlike Life (00:55:40)
16. Disarming, Humility, and Trust (01:01:00)
17. Actions First: “Use Words When Necessary” (01:03:20)
18. The Cup of Culture and Closing (01:05:20)
28 episodes