ABOUT THE BOOK

For those who seek to engage problems and opportunities with a new sense of purpose.

Work today can feel like a pressure cooker, with painful levels of stress, interpersonal conflict, and the risk of burnout. We can lose track of our goals and feel our work is pointless and going nowhere. We might even feel tempted to engage in Quiet Quitting.

Developing a deeper sense of purpose can help us overcome these problems and perhaps even flourish in our work lives.

Many of us have a deep, intuitive desire to connect with something deeper than ourselves. And we have a closely related desire to contribute to the greater good and the well-being of other people through our work. These powerful desires can profoundly affect our work lives if we let them guide us to our deeper purpose. The Sacred Meaning of Everyday Work will help readers find this new sense of purpose and deal with challenges and opportunities with wisdom, strength, and courage.

Tribken offers practical insights from multiple sources, including the Bible, contemporary research, and experience in business. These extend into various important work-related topics, including: human flourishing; overcoming obstacles to flourishing such as sin, failure, stress, burnout, and interpersonal conflict; cultivating character strengths such as courage, integrity, compassion, hope, humility, prudence, and resilience; spiritual practices that can help us as we work; developing a calling; and the spiritual dimension of leadership.

The Sacred Meaning of Everyday Work is written for people who take their work seriously and have at least some interest in religion or spirituality. The book asks readers to consider the various insights from the perspective of their own faith or spirituality. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Tribken has been in business for more than four decades and is the founder of several businesses. Along the way, he has had to deal with many of the most difficult issues people face in their work lives.

Over the years, Tribken became interested in the connection between faith, spirituality, and work. Several decades spent working in business combined with several years studying theology and becoming acquainted with organized Christianity convinced him that there is a great need to find better ways for churches to minister to people in the vocational aspects of their lives. He launched the Center for Faith and Enterprise to meet this need and help people experience a new sense of purpose, fulfillment, and effectiveness in their work lives.

Tribken’s educational background helps him explore the connections between faith, spirituality, and work. He earned an MBA from The Harvard Business School and an MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. Currently, Tribken is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry in Faith, Work, Economics, and Vocation at Fuller. He has also spent considerable time researching positive organizational psychology and positive psychology and has incorporated findings from these areas in his writings.

Tribken has led retreats, taught classes, led groups engaged in contemplative practices, and spoken on the subjects of spiritual practices, connecting faith and work, business as a calling, and the role of business in ending poverty. In addition to his work with the CFE, he has been involved with several other non-profit organizations dealing with the connection between faith and work. In past years, he has served as volunteer Chairman of the Board of Partners Worldwide, a board member of the Max DePree Center for Leadership, and as an advisor to small entrepreneurs.

TALKING POINTS

• Find your work’s deeper purpose and meaning by seeing its spiritual connection.
• How this can be the antidote to Quiet Quitting.
• Cultivating character strengths like courage, integrity, and compassion that you need to lead others in times of uncertainty.
• Spiritual resources can help you deal with work-related problems like stress, burnout, and interpersonal conflict.
• Short spiritual practices that help you relax, turn your attention toward God, and focus on the work at hand with new energy.
• Understanding how your work contributes to the greater good and the well-being of other people.
• Seeing how the values you bring to your work can encourage the teamwork essential for success.
• The need for spiritually grounded leaders in times like these.
• The opportunity for religious institutions and religious leaders to help a broader range of people meet their spiritual needs (and what this might mean for the future of churches).
• Can your work be your calling?
• The changing work environment and what this means for us on a personal and spiritual level.