A national Radio Company bought a group of locally owned radio stations I worked for and they told me to sign a contract if I wanted to keep my job. That contract was written specifically for me to make sure I would be a Good Steward and that I would not be an activist on their time.
At the time of the sale, I had a reputation of being very vocal about my beliefs. I would look for any opportunity to talk about what I believed no matter who it was with or where I was at.
My beliefs were so important to me, and I believed in them so much, I was willing to lose a job or even burn bridges for them. So when that company asked me to sign the contract prohibiting me from using their time, business, employees, customers and brand as a platform to promote my beliefs, I signed without hesitation!
That doesn’t make sense because if I really believed in something that strongly why would I sign their contract?
Great question! I signed the contract, without hesitation, because it is their business… not mine. I was working for them, using their time, resources, wearing their logo, representing their company, working with their customers and employees, and using their service.
This is a question of Stewardship. A good steward will manage and work for someone as if they owned it themselves. A bad steward will misuse the aforementioned and take from the company they work for.
What are you doing on company time? How do you treat their: customers, brand, time, resources, employees, products, services, and reputation?
I still had my beliefs, but while I was working for this company I did what they were paying me to do. There is NO reason or rationalization we can hide behind to justify being an activist, lazy, or doing just enough to keep our jobs while we are on the job!
If you truly want to succeed then become a Good Steward!
Find Your Passion and You Will Find Your Life!