by Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Part of the blog series, Authenticity & Connection

At the end of your life, what will be the measure of your work success?

Put differently, day after day, what motivates your work? Is it the need to earn money to support a lifestyle or family? Personal recognition? Avoidance of blame? A desire to help the working group succeed? The sheer satisfaction of a job well done? A desire to provide truly useful goods and services to customers, or to make the world a better place?

This year, for its 100^th birthday, the Harvard Business Review is highlighting twelve of HBR’s “finest articles.” It’s notable that the first in this series was written by a self-described “deeply religious” man, Professor Clayton M. Christensen (1952-2020)*, about the intersection of his faith and his work: How Will You Measure Your Life? (hbr.org)

Facing life-threatening cancer, Christensen wrote:

“Doing deals doesn’t yield the deep rewards that come from building up people.”

“It’s quite startling that a significant fraction of the 900 students that Harvard Business School draws each year from the world’s best have given little thought to the purpose of their lives.”

“I have a pretty clear idea of how my ideas have generated enormous revenue for companies that have used my research; I know I’ve had a substantial impact. But as I’ve confronted this disease, it’s been interesting to see how unimportant that impact is to me now. I’ve concluded that the metric by which God will assess my life isn’t dollars but the individual people whose lives I’ve touched.”

“My purpose grew out of my religious faith, but faith isn’t the only thing that gives people direction.”

“Think about the metric by which your life will be judged, and make a resolution to live every day so that in the end, your life will be judged a success.”

For many like Prof. Christensen, the ultimate “why” of work is rooted in their faith. They seek to honor God in the way they perform their duties, and the way they treat others. That’s why they honor their commitments, treat others with respect, stand up for the rights of others, give credit where it’s due, visit coworkers in the hospital, and show other kindnesses. For some, such deeds are a way of earning God’s favor. For others, works like these are an appropriate, worshipful response of gratitude for God’s unmerited kindness to them.

Of course, many workers simply haven’t thought about it. They go to work day after day without reflecting on any ultimate why.

We at the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation are driven to celebrate and enable cultures that encourage free and voluntary discussions about workers’ personal “whys.” We help companies listen to the diverse personal WHYs of their people. We do this because we’ve seen how such workplace discussions facilitate positive, transformative authenticity and connection. We’ve seen that, when employees voluntarily open up to disclose their “why,” there’s a self-induced accountability to act according to those expressed principles. When they tell, as Christensen did, about the intersection of their faith and their work, and live according to their professed principles, they inspire others, and sow hope. And when they die, they leave a legacy of civility that makes the world a better place.

The large positive legacy that Clay Christensen left is not measurable in dollars. His life story touches many who are outside his faith tradition. In a comment on Christensen’s Boston TedX Talk (with 1 million views), Cameron Fife aptly observed:

“For those of you who aren’t really religious, I think the point he is trying to make at the end of his talk is this: Don’t measure your life by the amount of money, the degree, or the number of friends you have by the time you die. It’s much better to think about some of the individual experiences or moments in your life where you can really see the good impacts you made on your peers or society as a whole.”

Whether we’re “religious” or not, the question of one’s ultimate “why” is, essentially, a matter of faith and belief. To the extent that we seek to conduct our daily work so as to leave a particular kind of legacy, we honor the core principles (God’s will, as it were) we profess to live by.

That is the standard against which our lives will be measured. It’s worth considering.

* Clayton Magleby Christensen (April 6, 1952 – January 23, 2020) was an American academic and business consultant who developed the theory of “disruptive innovation”, which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. Christensen introduced “disruption” in his 1997 book The Innovator’s Dilemma, and it led The Economist to term him “the most influential management thinker of his time.” He served as the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School (HBS), and was also a leader and writer in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Christensen was also a co-founder of Rose Park Advisors, a venture capital firm, and Innosight, a management consulting and investment firm specializing in innovation. For more, see the New York Times obituary of Christensen, which describes his lasting impact on business.

Faith@Work is not only a growing movement within Fortune 500 companies (see REDI Index), it is also a topic of scholarly study. For example, RFBF has contributed chapters to three recent Routledge publications:

• — Corporate Religious Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as Covenantal Pluralism (Brian Grim & Kent Johnson), Chapter 17 in The Routledge Handbook of Religious Literacy, Pluralism, and Global Engagement 
• — Religious Literacy About Religion and Religious Diversity is Important for Business (Brian Grim), Chapter 18 in Reimagining faith and management: The Impact of Faith in the Workplace
• — Religious Literacy in Business (Brian Grim & Paul Lambert), in Religious Literacy Across the Professions

Authors of books related to faith@work movement will be joining us at our May 23-25, 2022, Faith@Work National ERG conference Dare to Overcome, including David W. Miller, Ph.D., Director of Princeton University’s Faith & Work Initiative, who is revising his classic God at Work (Oxford University Press) in light of the growing multi-faith workplace engagement.

Also, Rear Admiral Alan Baker (US Navy, ret.), 16th Chaplain of the Marine Corps, will keynote our special corporate chaplaincy track with insights from his seminal book Foundations of Chaplaincy: A Practical Guide (Eerdmans). Chaplains of various faiths and denominations provide compassionate ministry of presence in some of America’s largest corporations, including American Airlines, Tyson Foods, and Coca-Cola Consolidated, all sponsors of our May 23-25 conference.

If your company would like to participate in the 2022 REDI Index, email and/or learn more here.

by Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Part of the blog series, Authenticity & Connection

In May 2021 I wrote a blog on “Strengthening Employee Engagement.”  Since then, companies have seen a swelling flood of disengagement in workplaces.  A Gallup study published in early 2022 has revealed this:

“For the first year in more than a decade, the percentage of engaged workers in the U.S. declined in 2021. Just over one-third of employees (34%) were engaged, and 16% were actively disengaged in their work and workplace, based on a random sample of 57,022 full- and part-time employees throughout the year.”

Disengagement presents a serious threat to a company’s bottom line, to a company’s culture, and to society at large.

• — When employees are disengaged, they’re more likely to lag in productivity, to promote dissatisfaction in their coworkers, and to quit.  In a famous study several years ago, Gallup concluded that “…an actively disengaged employee costs their organization $3,400 for every $10,000 of salary, or 34 percent. That means that a disgruntled or “checked out” person on staff making $60,000 a year costs their company $20,400 for that same year.”
• — But disengagement doesn’t “just” rob the financial bottom line.  Disengagement also sucks the vitality out of a workplace.  It decouples employees’ work from their passion, and isolates their work from their core purpose in life.  In a real sense, disengagement robs workers of what makes them human.
• — One of the outcomes of disengagement is that employees are quitting (see my blog post on the Great Resignation).  Alongside the rise in resignations, we’re seeing a rise in loneliness, substance abuse, violence and suicide.

Why is disengagement on the rise?  Several contributing factors can be cited.  The 2022 Gallup study noted the impact of physical isolation due to Covid; but also pointed out that companies with strong corporate cultures have remained vibrant.  As Jacob Morgan reported in his 2017 article in Harvard Business Review, companies that invest in employee experience outperform those that don’t. Perhaps more now than ever, what’s needed is a focus on freeing employees to express their hearts, and listening to them.

Unfortunately, in many corporate cultures, even today, there’s a perceived or real “gag order” on faith-oriented discussion in the workplace.  That constraint has the effect of fortifying perceived walls of separation.  It prevents many employees from truly “showing up” at work.  It discourages those who want to connect with one another on a deep level, and keeps them from building trust across faith traditions.

It’s high time that companies invite all their employees to openly apply their faith and beliefs to work.  We should encourage them to share the values, traditions and motivations that define their core identity and inform and inspire the way they work.

The diversity movement has much to say on topics like full engagement and welcoming people across the spectrum.  It’s about time the principles driving diversity and inclusion were embraced more broadly and applied to employees’ faith and belief in particular.

The good news is that faith and belief is being unleashed in more and more companies.  (See the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s REDI Index).  Where it is, we’ve seen warm, respectful, healing connection and mutual respect.  These companies are weaving a fabric of culture that strengthens friendships, improves the bottom line and makes the world a more civil place.

Let’s free our people to be more engaged at work.

Beijing, China – 16 January 2022: Preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games 2022. A big statue on Tien’An Men square being decorated.

As the 2022 Winter Olympics are about to open in Beijing, the Pew Research Center has released key findings on U.S. and international views of China.

Among those, they find that the “level of government restrictions on religion in China have been classified as ‘very high’ every year since 2007, according to an annual Center study of such restrictions around the world. In 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, various sources estimated that more than a million people were arbitrarily detained by government authorities and subjected to human rights violations in the Xinjiang region.”

If you’d like to better understand the methodology and findings of Pew’s global studies on religious restrictions, please check out the TEDx Talk by Brian Grim from 2013 in Vatican City when he lead the initiative at Pew. Those data are part of what led him to found the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF) in 2014, seeing that business can be a powerful force supporting interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace, as was summarized in a co-publication released by the UN Global Compact and RFBF that same year.

Dare to Overcome (DTO): Global Business and Peace Awards & Symposium

• — Join  DTO Global Chairman, Dr. Brian Grim, for an Informational Breakfast Meeting

• — Monday, March 21, 2022, 8:00 am, Sheraton Grand Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel

• — Email Brian Grim for details.

Dare to Overcome’s overarching objective is to build allyship among diverse communities in the workplace and marketplace worldwide. Why? It’s good for businesses, economies and societies!

DTO 2022 will be May 23-25, 2022, in Washington, DC, where the 2022 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award will be given along with recognition of the 2021 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award winners who could not gather in 2021 due to covid.

2021 Gold medalists included Pat Gelsinger, CEO Intel Corporation, and Sandra Rivera, EVP of Intel.

See their acceptance speeches.

American Airlines is the global partner and official airline of Dare to Overcome (DTO), with the shared mission of caring for people along life’s journey. Many other top corporations have been involved, including Google, Intel, Salesforce, Walmart, American Express, EY, Hyundai Group, Accenture, SAP, and CVS Health. In addition to American Airlines, other corporate partners through the years include Ford, Tyson Foods, Dell, Texas Instruments, PayPal, Equinix, and Kathy Ireland Worldwide.

DTO’s mission is to shine a light on business successes in promoting mutual respect and allyship among diverse communities. Awards are given each year to CEOs and companies building peace through interfaith and intercultural understanding in their workplaces and communities.

DTO 2023 will be in India, held in tandem with the G20 Meeting, which India will host.

India’s rich cultural and religious diversity is a tremendous business asset to the country, making it an ideal location not only for DTO 2023!

For example, see below how India’s Cobra Legal represents just the tip of the iceberg of the depth of India’s companies’ commitment to building bridges of trust and community in workplaces across the country!

by Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Part of the blog series, Authenticity & Connection and based on last week’s talk Kent gave to 250 people at American Express

Let me share some good news, to quell some of the fear, worry, skepticism, anger and distrust that seem to define culture in many companies today.

At the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, we celebrate companies that are nurturing authenticity and connection among their employees and with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. In order to do that, we connect with people up and down the reporting chain; with people of all races, religions, nationalities, political persuasions, genders, sexual orientations; young and old. And when we connect, we seek to connect people with one another’s core beliefs and motivations … what really makes them “tick.” What we’re learning is hugely encouraging.

I could share many inspiring stories, but let me start with this week. I was invited to give a talk to AMEX employees. Leaders of their Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups (CHAI, Peace and Salt) each shared what they’re doing. What wonderful work! Among other things, they spoke of how they are reaching out to one another, to build genuine friendships.

We spoke about:

• — The inherent dignity of every human being
• — How religious diversity can be the fabric of civility
• — How people of different faiths can learn from one another without compromising the beliefs that define their core identity

We explored reasons why people do what they do at work: Is it the possibility of higher pay? Personal recognition? Avoidance of blame? A desire to help the working group succeed? The “satisfaction of a job well done?” A desire to provide truly useful goods and services to customers? To make the world a better place? We noted that for many, the ultimate “why” of work is rooted in their faith. They seek to obey and honor god (or their core values) in the way they perform their duties, and in the way they treat others. That’s why they honor their commitments, treat others with respect, give credit to others where it’s due, visit coworkers in the hospital, and show other kindnesses. For some, such deeds are a way of earning god’s favor. For others, works like these are a worshipful response of gratitude for god’s unmerited kindness. Point is, a culture that permits and encourages voluntary discussions about people’s personal “why” enables rich and meaningful connections. It affirms people.

I shared some insights from diverse leaders at SAP, PayPal and Dell, on why faith-based employee resource groups matter. In our 2021 conference, they said, it’s “Because my colleagues’ beliefs matter to me.” They said this included:

• — Becoming “visible” to one another; learning what colleagues consider their core identity
• — Dispelling myths and defusing fears about various faiths
• — Promoting authenticity
• — Learning of various faith-rooted holidays, festivals and commemorative times
• — Engaging other worldviews
• — Strengthening mutual respect, without compromising their own faith
• — Transcending polarization
• — Becoming better colleagues and better friends
• — NOT feeling weird

Even in these polarizing times, authentic, heart-level connection is possible. It’s happening in companies. This is wonderful, encouraging news. The more we connect with the growing number of companies that embrace religious diversity, the more encouraged we are.

My prayer is that many of you will join us in shining a light on these “best practices” that enrich cultures. If your company has done work in religious diversity, we want to celebrate you. The survey described at this link will help focus on best practices. Please have your company fill it out; and perhaps your company will be recognized in 2022 as one of the leaders. In any case, your involvement will reflect well on your company and will be an encouragement to others.

This is good work.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 26, 2022 | Washington DC

Andrea R. Lucas, Commissioner on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), will deliver a keynote presentation at the 3rd annual National Faith@Work ERG Conference, May 23-25 2022. The overall conference – to be held in-person – is called Dare to Overcome, with the theme Better Together. It brings together representatives of Fortune 500 companies who are members of faith-and-belief employee resource groups (ERGs) in allyship with others with a special focus on disability inclusion.  The conference also is a national convening point for workplace chaplains and corporate leaders interested in ethical leadership. (Conference registration is open.)

Commissioner Lucas will speak on Best Practices to Prevent Religious Discrimination and Promote Religious Inclusion. RFBF’s Senior Corporate Advisor Kent Johnson, J.D., will moderate the session. Kent retired recently as Senior Counsel at Texas Instruments.

“We are honored to have Commissioner Lucas participate in the Faith@Work conference as a strong advocate for nondiscrimination on the basis of religion in America’s workplaces. It is a wonderful opportunity for companies to hear directly from a EEOC Commissioner about how religious nondiscrimination and accommodation is integral to the success of American workplaces,” said Dr. Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.

Andrea R. Lucas was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 22, 2020, to be a Commissioner on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for a term expiring July 1, 2025. Before her appointment to the EEOC, Commissioner Lucas was a member of the labor and employment and litigation practice groups of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and was based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

The 2022 conference is co-convened by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC to support the growing movement of top companies that are adopting faith-friendly policies that make their workplaces religiously inclusive. Corporate sponsors include American Airlines, the official airline of Dare to Overcome, PayPal, Equinix, Ford Motor Company, and more to come!

The 2022 Dare to Overcome conference builds on previous conferences and includes: national and global awards for companies and CEOs advancing interfaith understanding and religious inclusion; expert and practitioner seminars; a Dare to Overcome Allyship Concert featuring the hit Gentlemen trio GENTRI; exhibition hall and resources on faith@work best practices.

The 2021 program built on the 2020 Faith@Work conference at the Busch School of Business in Washington, D.C., co-sponsored by American Airlines and Tyson Foods, and on the 2019 Faith@Work conference at the corporate HQ of Texas Instruments in Dallas, both cosponsored with the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.

During the conference, the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation will release its annual Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) Index, which benchmarks the state of corporate America’s inclusion of religion as an integral part of its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

• Press Inquiries, contact:
• Religious Freedom & Business Foundation: media@religiousfreedomandbusiness.org or 410-268-7809
• EEOC Office of Communications: newsroom@eeoc.gov or 202-663-4191

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Thursday, Feb. 3rd, 12:00-12:30 pm ET / 9:00-9:30 am PT

Join us to hear from Google’s Barbara Villasenor* about the pathbreaking work of their Inter Belief Network (IBN). Could this be a model of religious inclusion for your company?

See related video.

At Google, there are currently 16 Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) with more than 250 chapters globally – providing community, personal and professional development opportunities for Googlers from underrepresented communities.

Of these ERGs, Google’s Inter Belief Network (IBN) aims to create a culture of inclusion, tolerance, and mutual understanding at Google for a diversity of beliefs, where Googlers of all beliefs feel welcome, included, and supported.

IBN also aims to ensure that the voices of belief-based communities are represented in Google’s products.

IBN consists of multiple member chapters representing specific communities of interest, including but not limited to: Buddhists, Christians, Jewglers, and Muslims. IBN also has an interfaith chapter.

* Barbara Villasenor is a Founding Member & Global Chair of Google’s Inter Belief Network (IBN), Co-Lead of the Google Christian Fellowship chapter (GCF), and Economics Business Partner to Google’s Chief Economist. Barbara is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She seeks to strengthen employee relations, broaden product inclusion, and amplify the inclusive space by focusing on education, equity, and allyship.

Repost from Sue Warnke on LinkedIn: “Faith inclusion is thriving in 65+ Silicon Valley businesses, from Facebook to Google, Salesforce, PayPal and so many others. Grateful to Brian J. Grim and the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation for assembling faith leaders last week like Roy Tinklenberg, Barbara Phillips, Becky Pomerleau, Rev. Greg McBrayer to discuss 2022 strategies for faith at work. Register for the third annual Faith ERG conference in Washington DC in May here: https://lnkd.in/gCB_YUZC #faithinclusion #faithatwork #faithdiversity

The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation is pleased to announce today that Equinix joins as a corporate sponsor of Dare to Overcome, our annual Faith@Work ERG conference. In 2022, Dare to Overcome will be an in-person gathering where Fortune 500 faith-and-belief employee resource groups (ERGs) come together to share best practices and build supportive, intersecting networks nationally and globally.

Equinix is the world’s digital infrastructure company. They interconnect industry-leading organizations in finance, manufacturing, mobility, transportation, government, healthcare and education across a cloud-first world. Equinix’s has 220+data centers in 60+ markets from Mumbai to Dublin, Singapore to Chicago, and Helsinki to San José.

“I’m thrilled to have Equinix come on board as a Diamond Sponsor of Dare to Overcome,” said RFBF President Brian Grim. “Their FaithConnect employee resource group has taken off in the past year, and despite the remote work during the pandemic, FaithConnect has been instrumental in bringing not only their own people together but other companies to connect on issues related to faith and belief. I’m looking forward to the panels they are putting together for Dare to Overcome showcasing how companies collaborate on religious inclusion!”

The 2022 theme is “Better Together,” reflecting an emphasis on being strong allies of others — with a special focus on those with differing abilities. Dare to Overcome will be held in Washington DC in partnership with the Busch School of Business, May 23-25, 2022, and then move onwards to India in 2023.

“The three pillars of FaithConnect are Invite, Learn and Respect. Our mission is to inspire a culture of learning and respect for all faiths, non-faiths and worldviews in the workplace and we believe that by celebrating spiritual diversity, employees can bring their whole authentic selves to work,” said Marsie Sweetland, Client Executive and Founder of Equinix FaithConnect.

“FaithConnect is thrilled to sponsor and participate in the 2022 Dare to Overcome conference. We have partnered with the Religious Freedom & Business Foundations for in-office training and events and we look forward to joining for another year of this outstanding conference,” said Sweetland.

American Airlines is the global partner and official airline of Dare to Overcome.