so then you will know who you are

Yesterday, Cal Turner, Jr. (a big time financial donor to Vanderbilt and Project Pyramid) spoke to a class that I am in. As the CEO of Dollar General for 40 years, Cal Turner engaged a business model that allowed him to cater to the needs of the working and lower classes while involving thousands of employees in the management and profits of the company and still he managed to out shine people like Jack Welch in shareholder profits. He was very wise, funny, and smart about the business of mixing God’s work with the business world. For me, this was the most striking thing that he said:

“You must find where you feel the least adequate but where there is the most need, because it is in that place where the opportunity for the most impact lies. What is your greatest challenge? Are you willing to accept the freedom of accepting your greatest challenge? If your work has an underlying mission to it, your work can help you understand who you are. So then, when the (whatever you call it in the halls of Divinity school) hits the fan, you will know who you are.”