Alumni Resources

When I first had the responsibility of leading a small team at work, I didn’t put much consideration into my approach and thus it ended up being a reflection of my personality. I was casual and flexible. I valued people over procedures. I shared information and consulted my staff regarding the making of decisions. I cared for my staff and paid attention to small personal details like remembering their pet’s birthdays and asking about the outcome of their kid’s school exams. I was first and foremost a nice guy. I was relatively successful as a mini manager. My staff appeared to like me. We built a cohesive team with minimal turnover and achieved demonstrable outcomes that my overlords living on Olympus were happy with.

Thanks to jml for sharing this great video from philosopher Alain de Botton about unreaslistic longings for success and the envy and sadness that come with them:

[Alumna Emma Wilkins shares her experience and angst as a professional 'schmoozer.]

During my time working with a non-profit arts organisation, I struggled to reconcile my aversion to "schmoozing” with the fact it was part of my job. Rather than seek out opportunities to “smooth-talk” wealthy donors at fundraising events, I would hide behind a tray of drinks, run around taking photos, write out name tags or hand out programs.

I've never minded having a "working relationship" with a colleague or contact, as your roles and intentions are clear, but I've always hated the idea of getting paid to suck up to people in order to manipulate them into donating money. It took me a long time to realise that schmoozing doesn't have to be like that.

A series of books designed to help students apply their theology to a whole range of academic disciplines. The website says: The Christian Worldview Integration Series, edited by J. P.Moreland and Francis J. Beckwith, seeks to help Christians in the academy rise to the occasion and recapture lost territory in their field of study for the cause of Christ by promoting a robust personal and conceptual integration of Christian faith and learning. The series includes junior and senior level textbooks focused on individual academic disciplines such as education, psychology, literature, politics, science, communications, biology, philosophy and history. Integration has as its spiritual aim the intellectual goal of structuring the mind so we can see things as they really are and strengthening the belief structure that ought to inform the individual and corporate life of discipleship unto Jesus.

The Centre for Public Christianity has recently published this article by a palliative care doctor and ethicist.