CABE Collaboration 2008 - Christians Working Together

We had a most successful event on 2 April at Cass Business School attended by about 40 people from various industries, sectors, roles and with different experiences but facing similar challenges at work with regard to stress and pressure. Our 3 speakers presented different perspectives on the subject.

Geoff Shattock, International Director of Work Talk focussed on one of Work Talk’s 7 Principles ‘Coping with personal pressure’ and performed a ‘stress audit’ on Jerusalem, drawing parallels with reactions and behaviours in our work situations. His definition of stress was “my angry, mental, physical and emotional reaction to internal or external change”. He reflected not what would Jesus do, but what did Jesus do – giving us a model to follow:
• He prayed to the Father – the person who gave him identity, worth and security, the person he wanted to please.
• He prayed for forgiveness – something we need to do daily: forgiving ourselves first and then others, not just 7 times but 490+ times.

Charles Eve, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and member of CABE’s Advisory Council, told part of his story – of money, power, status (the things that used to drive him), of the physical toll stress had on him, about how he came to Christ through an Alpha course and the challenge to hand over the controls to God. He urged us to look at what is driving us; give things to God; be honest; aim for perfection but expect imperfection; breathe in the Holy Spirit and as we breathe out – let go!

Mark Greene, Executive Director of LICC, painted a picture of the UK as “Slave New World” and as Christians we have a responsibility to live differently and try to make our workplaces and homes as much heaven on earth (a “context for human flourishing”) as we can until Jesus returns. Ken Costa said, “The greatest casualty of a busy life is intimacy with God”. We need to be connected to God (John 15:5) and develop a rhythm of relating to Him – seasonally, monthly, weekly, daily, and moment-by-moment… We also need to have real, authentic conversations, friendship (James 5:16) and be other centred.

Eve Poole, Deputy Director of the Ashridge Public Leadership Centre at Ashridge Business School and CABE Trustee facilitated the conference, sharing insights from books she has been reading and left us with a final thought: if we can work out “what are we for” – what our vocation is it will help us to eliminate unnecessary pain and stress in our lives. A fuller report will be available on the Principles website and we hope to make the audio recording of the talks available too.

There is a recording of the event available.
Please contact Jackie Nelson on info@principlesforbusiness.com if you would like a copy on CD, or see below for recordings (visible to registered users of the site)