Can we “pilot” trust?

How can one be trusting but not gullible?

I connect the principles of the lean startup with today’s gospel about trustworthiness. The lean startup principle can be summed by using pilots and rapid prototyping of products (minimum viable products) to manage risk, avoid “one time big time” investments and distribute risk across multiple smaller cycles, and accelerate learning.

If we transfer this to the way we approach trust, we can “test” trust in small ways (i.e., “pilot” trust) with smaller prices to pay. If our trust is betrayed, we only lose little.

Thus, in this sense, we can let trusting be a reasonable default within contexts where the price at stake is something we can manage.

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Luke 16:9-15. Trustworthiness in small matters leads to trustworthiness in greater matters.

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 309: NOVEMBER 5, 2022]

We do pathbreaking work so that we can help ourselves and others find the way

A quick Google search of pathbreaking leads to this definition: “pioneering; innovative; trailblazing”. Finding or creating new paths where there is none before sounds very exciting but it is very challenging. It is full of risks and it demands time, material, and even political resources to effectively pursue.

Pathbreaking work, as we have learned in doing action research, is messy, iterative, and non-linear. It is not comfortable; it is not for the faint of heart. Pathbreaking work requires courage and stamina to try and try again even if the short term is filled with so much pain and so little gain.

A very practical person can reasonably conclude that there may be no need to reinvent the wheel; why fix something that ain’t broken?

But that is the danger of getting too used to routines. In pursuit of efficiency, we may be mistaking ourselves to be robots instead of humans who need meaning and purpose. And to see ourselves as mere cogs in the machine is to feel lost; and in a way, this is more dangerous, because we fool ourselves into thinking we know the way when we really do not.

Moreover, the vocation of the pathbreaker is to resist the temptation to keep the spoils and treasures for oneself and not bring others to the newly discovered or created path. The vocation of the pathbreaker is not to claim power with an iron fist, but to reclaim our collective humanity by extending a helping hand.

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Luke 15:1-10. Who would not look for the lost?

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 307: NOVEMBER 3, 2022]

Why do we mourn?

These past few years – few weeks even – have featured times of grieving and mourning. We have to make peace with the fact that death is a natural part of our lives; but that peace does not dilute the strength of emotions we feel when we lose someone.

In a way, making peace with death allows us to fully appreciate both life and death, and how precious the time we spend with each other really are.

We mourn because we have opened our hearts. We exchanged vulnerabilities with each other, and in doing so, we share a piece of ourselves. When a loved one dies, it really does feel like a piece of ourselves die as well. But at least, with faith, a piece of ourselves also go to heaven together with the loved ones we have lost here on Earth.

But as our departed loved ones carry a piece of our selves, for us who have stayed, we carry a piece of them as well. And that piece, I’d like to interpret, is what makes our heart heavy. We feel the weight of their love that they have left behind, and this weight is a mixture of grief and joy with just the right amount of faith.

We mourn because we loved and were loved.

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Matthew 5:1-12. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 305: NOVEMBER 1, 2022]

We need more platforms to be like sycamore trees

Oftentimes we see content creators and influencers generating content for the sake of engagement. But is engagement enough? In pursuit of engagement and media metrics within a short amount of time, it is easy to neglect the importance of substance and insight.

Imagine if content creators and influencers use their platforms as the proverbial sycamore tree – enabling the lost to see a better view of what is good. Better yet, we can harness these platforms as ecosystems of good where audiences and influencers co-create well-being for and with each other.

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Luke 19:1-10. Zaccheus the tax collector

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 303: OCTOBER 30, 2022]

Thriving in harmony requires vulnerability

We have seen many stories of betrayal that it seems betrayal is an unfortunate mainstay of our lives. To feel betrayed is one of the greatest pains of our lives; it feels natural too to be fearful and to close and protect ourselves.

But without our willingness to be vulnerable to others, can true harmony and synergy and chemistry exist?

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Luke 6:12-16. He chose the twelve

[DAILY GOSPEL INSIGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 301: OCTOBER 28, 2022]