Corporate Church

Father Clarence was/is a really good priest. If there was one thing I enjoyed about going to church (back when I went to church regularly), was listening to Father Clarence deliver his sermon. I always found them inspirational, and thought provoking. His message wasn't really anything new, be good to your fellow man, don't lie, steal or kill, etc., but his delivery of the message made them very memorable. Sometimes he would compare everyday things to his messages.

I remember once, he compared football to the journey to heaven. How it takes a team to march down the field against opposition to the ultimate goal of a touchdown and an eventual win. So to was our journey to heaven. We needed a team in faith to help us march against the opposition of worldly things, to our goal of eternal life in heaven.

It think it was a Superbowl Sunday, when he gave that sermon. As you can see, many years later, I still remember the message, although I paraphrased quite a bit.

Today, I sit here in Seattle listening to a corporate big wig compare the Olympics and specifically the sport of biathlon to sales and retail. He's doing his best to be inspirational, to rally his troops to the greater cause of selling more.

This is, unfortunately, not inspiring. At least not to me.

I might be the only one in the room, but I doubt it.

I think it's because I don't understand business, retail or marketing. Well, I know when I'm being marketed to, and perhaps that's the problem. All these people are being marketed too, and most of them are in marketing! They are being fed buzzwords and catch phrases and some of them are eating it up. Getting their "spiritual fill", if you will. Do people actually walk away from this inspired to sell more product? Or do they just sit through it to get the pertinent information they need to make it another year running on the same corporate treadmill?

Wow, I sound bitter.

I'm not. I think what I'm saying is I'm very lucky to have the job I do. I'm not bound to a desk (although I do have a home office that I love), filing TPS reports and using acronyms to describe, well, everything. Every week I get to experience something new and interesting, and when I was touring, I got to experience different places. It's never boring and sometimes, inspirational.

There are days when I wish I had a 9 to 5 job, that didn't require as much problem solving and decision making as my job sometimes does. But those are usually days I'd rather be riding my bike or spending time with my family.

Perhaps it isn't fair to compare corporate and retail to religion and church. Their pursuits are very different. But both attempt to you use the same techniques to get their message across.

And right now the message I'm getting is... Time to get back to work...

...