When I was a boy, I loved dinner time. It wasn’t just about refueling after a hard day of play. Dinner was the time when our entire family gathered around the table. Mom and Dad sat across from each other. My brother was next to my mom, opposite me. I was next to my dad. I thought it was a bit of a big deal to get to sit next to dad. While I have a positive impression of those... Read more

As I’ve had the privilege of working with and interviewing several seasoned senior leaders, they seem to live in a tension between planning ahead and remaining nimble. They set focus and priorities, and yet they are also willing to pivot quickly as reality on the ground changes. As one of my friends, a retired general, says, “no plan survives your first contact with the enemy.” So what should we be preparing for in 2023? In a word, uncertainty. What will... Read more

So quickly, we rush from Thanksgiving to Black Friday to Giving Tuesday to Christmas. What would it look like to double-click on gratitude, especially gratitude at work, now that the turkey is eaten, the holiday is over, and the sprint to year-end is at full speed? In our last weekly email, we noted that when we are thankful for the work God has given us to do, God not only rewires our brains towards the positive, but it deeply connects... Read more

Everywhere you turn – news headlines, updates from the Federal Reserve, roundtables of CEOs – you hear about the coming recession. The last time we had a real recession (Covid 2020 was a temporary shock) was 2008 – 2009. Millions of jobs were lost. Real estate values tanked, and it took years for economic opportunity and investment to recover. Now, probability models indicate another economic downturn is quickly approaching. What can you do to prepare without becoming overwhelmed? While there... Read more

Almost 52% of the active workforce are women. During the pandemic, they dropped out of active employment more quickly than men, and now they are returning. At VOCA, we wanted to know what is unique about the lived experience of women at work. What joys and challenges do they face? What kinds of resources might be helpful for them? So, we asked them. We embarked on a study this past spring, working with partners to distribute a short survey. We... Read more

“Do you work remotely or are you back in the office?” It’s a question you’ve likely been asked over and over during the past year. Today, an ongoing discussion is happening across America in small businesses and large corporations: where should we work now? In this article, we tackle our fifth dilemma: “Should I work from home or return to the office?”   Current Trends Over the last 18 months, it has been assumed that employees have the upper hand... Read more

Summer is vacation season. Though the lines between work and the rest of life have blurred for many, summer is a time for a break, a rest, a sabbatical. The end of summer, however, often brings about new realizations about our relationship with work. For many, the end of summer is the “Oh no, my job sucks” season. As we spend time away in a new setting, we may return and see our work differently. In this post we ask:... Read more

When the ancient king David was forming his first government, he was joined by a cohort from the tribe of Issachar. These were described as “men who had an understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chron. 12:32). So, what are the signs of the times at work today? And what should we do about them?   Gloom and Doom in the Air A survey of news sources about the economy will quickly leave you... Read more

Sanjey found VOCA from 12 time zones away. He felt that the culture of the bank where he worked was changing. He was wondering about leaving. Someone from a startup had pitched him a role. Was his growing discomfort around the values of his firm a sign it was time to go? Renee generally loved her job. The tension for her arose around overt pressure to take specific and public stands on various social issues. She felt genuine respect for... Read more

There is an old song by the Clash called Should I Stay or Should I Go. It’s about romance. And it’s the same question many of us are asking about our jobs. Our team of coaches is talking to people like you about this question every week, especially in the last two years. However, this question of whether the grass is greener on the other side isn’t new. We’ve been asking it since we stopped accepting the vocations our parents... Read more