…And if so, where? My loyal readers (and customers) know that I love me to ruffle some feathers, but not always in the ways you would expect. For example, I actually TRY not to bash people and call them out by name. Sometimes I just can’t help myself (Nannygate), but I try not to name names.
Oh, well, I guess I do complain about the LAX Starbucks, but seriously, they should know better. In general, I try to keep my rants to myself or without getting so specific as to hurt someone’s feelings, at least on purpose. You’ll also notice that I don’t really talk too much about politics and religion. Maybe that’s as a result of my upbringing AND the fact that my mother realized I have a big enough mouth anyway that me talking about politics and religion is probably not in my best interest. Again, there are exceptions. As you all know, I am OBSESSED with Weinergate and in general, all things Anthony Weiner. I am fascinated that someone with so much to lose could be so stupid. However, I don’t really consider that to be a political discussion (did you know they now have an Anthony Weiner doll?? – my assistant actually emailed it to me on vacation because she knew it would make my day.) In the same blog post though, I mention Schwarzenneger and his lameness so it wasn’t exactly one sided. I plan to continue to focus on lame people who cheat in TMZ-worthy ways. Deliciously juicy.
But here’s something that I do want you guys to weigh in on: This whole thing about religion and business. While I haven’t talked much about religion in most of what I do, it has come out once in awhile. I supposed if people dug deep enough they could figure out my religion of choice. I definitely believe in God, the Universe, Buddha, karma and all kinds of things that could be contradictory. Bottom line is that I think there’s a LOT that we don’t know about how our world runs and how it got here, but in general, I’m not running my mouth on any particular religion’s stand on a topic.
Now here’s the point of this blog, though. Two and a half years ago I took a weekend seminar that changed my life and basically launched my online businesses taught by a particular “guru.” To the best of my recollection, there was no mention of God, the Universe or anything else at that seminar. It was about taking a core competency, marrying it with questions that your audience has and expanding or creating a new business. In the last 2.5 years, I have followed this woman’s work in order to continue to hone my own skills. I now have 2 online companies that are growing by the minute (literally) and I LOVE the work that I’m doing in them. Because of that original training, I hired a coach and worked with her and her partner for two years. Through her, I found out about another woman whose weekend seminar I attended this past weekend. I took this latest seminar to brush up on my sales skills and in general keep feeding my brain about new techniques. I wanted to stay fresh and get good info so I can boil the nuggets down and deliver them to my own private coaching clients and through our live event, Uncensored! happening in October in Austin. This past weekend, I was struck by how many times this speaker referred to “Source” and God. How often she prays to God, asks Source for answers and in general makes decisions by the feedback that she gets. Do I care that she believes in God? Of course not. Do I care that it came up in every other sentence throughout the weekend? Kind of.
This lecturer hasn’t always been so forthcoming with her views on God, etc. It seems now though, it’s different. What started to rub me the wrong way was that it began to feel a little bit manipulative. Sitting in my chair I started to feel a little bit like I was in a cult. Here, drink the Jesus juice and join our tribe. But what if I didn’t want to do the kumbaya thing and chat about Source? What if I just wanted to learn how to organize my business better and work on my systems. Did I still have to talk to “Source” about it all the time? I got back from the conference and this was kind of sticking in my craw because it felt a little like it was getting shoved down my throat. Then the next thing happened. I got a regular ezine from my coach, with whom I have worked for two years (mentioned above) and her journey with Source, community, etc. Clearly she has been shifting a lot in terms of her business model, communication and where her focus is. Then yesterday, I got an email from the original guru (the weekend seminar that gave me the idea to launch both businesses), and she talked about how she was going to discuss something that she “never had revealed before.” I saw that in the subject line and I ran me right through that email. The email was announcing a teleseminar that she was holding that was going to reveal how she now is going to be more open about her conversations with Source, God and how she prays about things and the help it gives her. While this was teleseminar worthy, I’m not sure, but to each his own. More power to her if that’s the direction she’d like to take her business. Go for it. But with THREE people with whom I’ve worked/paid money to/studied under now talking about how God/Source guides their businesses in just ONE WEEK, I kind of started to wonder – what’s going on?
Is this some new trend in business marketing? Just pull the G-0-D card and everything is possible? Just talk to Source, give me a million dollars and it’ll all be ok even if it means losing your house in the process? I don’t know. I’d love to hear your opinions on this by commenting below. Do you want to hear about your coach’s/an business figure’s God life mixed in with their work-smarter nuggets? Maybe yes? Maybe this is another great way to segment one’s target audience – if you believe, you’re for me? Not sure. I can tell you this, I’m throwing it out because I’m curious, not because I’m going to start using it as a tactic.
Let me know so I can go back to my rosary in peace.
Ciao.
I agree with you 100%. I am very happy for people who have God, source, the universe or whatever. Not really sure I want to be a part of the conversation. I often feel like God needs the weekend off.
The ones that really get to me are doing exactly as you are describing. You haven’t heard about God, source or whatever for years. Now God is their best friend…I guess it wouldn’t seem so odd to me but so many people have claimed God as their best friend lately it does feel a bit like marketing. I hope I am wrong. I hope they all truly do find comfort and companionship with God.
I still think he needs the day off.
p.s. I’ll say a novena for you
p.s.s. There are many people who have always walked with God. I guess it’s the newly revealed that I feel uncomfortable with
Amen Sistah! (pun intended) Was just discussing this “trend” the other day, I’m seeing it too and it makes me feel icky. Not sure where it is leading but I’m from old school and was taught you don’t mix religion & politics with business. Next thing ya know they’ll all be leading “churches” – maybe on “farms” and “communities” ?
Ahhhh! I feel SO uncomfortable for you in reading this! Not cool! Religious beliefs are a personal choice and as you mention, have never been open to discussion in most situations. Seemingly attempting to proselytize is particularly irksome to me. I’ll throw stuff out there from time to time about “The Universe” and “Karma,” but I’m not going to throw my arms up in the air and just pray reeeeal hard to the universe to help me out and expect that this alone is going to change my life. There are tons of very successful people on this planet. Many see their faith as a cornerstone in their successes, but it’s not a common denominator to all accomplished people. In my opinion, you should work hard and make good decisions that help you advance, which is what I believe a coach should help encourage you to do. Telling you to pray isn’t what I would be looking for in business coaching.
I don’t dislike religion or anything– to be fair, I believe the personal qualities that most religions teach- being respectful, helping others, etc. are essential in being successful, but coming from a person who was raised virtually without religion, I can tell you that these qualities do not need authority from Jesus, God, Buddha, or Zeus to be developed. Similarly, I do not believe you need the mandate and blessings of heaven to be successful, but rather a strong determination and conviction in whatever it is you want to do.
Great topic!
Interesting topic. I am a very religious person, so it would come out in my social media, or blog posts every once in awhile. But as far as a seminar or business advice goes, I wouldn’t mention it because that would now go from YOUR personal beliefs to teaching OTHERS about religious beliefs, and that’s called preaching. Sharing your beliefs is one thing, preaching and pressuring conversion is another!
Btw I’ve never heard of the Source, Googling it now!
Religion, or at least authentic religion, and business are mixed whether we admit or acknowledge it or not. Religion or the absence of it is made up of beliefs that shape our ethics and morality which will shine through in all our dealings with people, not just business. Don’t get me wrong I’m anti-force feeding too, but I appreciate authenticity. I think it’s becoming more popular because modern business can be so virtual and impersonal that sharing more transparently about ones values in a spiritual context has the effect of establishing a deeper connection with someone even if it turns off others. Isn’t that ok?
The bottom line is, religion IS business. Mostly anyway. Meaning organized religions where they pass the hat. Personal spiritually? that’s different. If I was in a business seminar that wasn’t put on by some religious group, I wouldn’t want to hear every other sentence be an affirmation of the speakers faith. Noooo way.
Thanks for the heads up, Marley….I’ll be on the look out for the next bestseller; The Source Code.
I agree with Gary that religion is part of who I am and does influence how I conduct my business and how I deal with people. I definitely would be lost going through all that am if I didn’t have my faith. I don’t however, use it in my marketing. Yes, if someone follows me closely on social media they will get it glimpse of it, because that is what social media is about, getting to know people that you would like to do business with and sharing with family and friends. I just think using God, Source, Universe whatever you want to call it as part of your marketing message is icky, and as Cathy said if I’m at a seminar for business growth I’ve not signed up to hear preaching on someone else’s beliefs.
I ran a very successful homeschool organization for many years (and anyone that knows homeschool moms knows this is usually a very Christian based group) – and even with that, I kept religion out and was the only group in the Florida Panhandle that didn’t require members to sign a statement faith, welcomed all families regardless of their beliefs. I caught a lot of flack for it, especially since I live in the bible belt – but my feeling was we were getting together to support one another on our homeschool journey not for church.
…Or….maybe it was a sign, just for you! Let’s say it wasn’t G-O-D that came up so many times in one week. Let’s say it was a certain series of 4 digit numbers that you kept seeing repeatedly during the week…would you go play the lotto…I would. Or, what if people you respected kept mentioning buying stock in a certain company because it’s about to go nuts….would you consider purchasing the stock? Of course. It’s on your radar.
To whatever degree people want to include God in their business, I am cool with. But, I do know that we all get signs (no matter what they are) that we might want to look at.