After four stories of God’s intervention, you may be saying, “Dale, that’s all great, but where’s my miracle? I just lost my job and I don’t see anything on the horizon.” Maybe you are in the trough of what Seth Godin calls “The Dip” and others have called “The Hero’s Journey. Like Joseph’s story that starts out in Genesis chapter 37 with a dream of greatness, the story quickly spiraled down into the nightmare of slavery.
This time last year, my wife and I both entered a career dip together. She had been advancing in the same organization for 29 years as I had been in another organization for 15 years. Within 1 week of each other, we were both released from our positions. We were thrown into “The Dip”. Shortly thereafter, her middle son Glenn, after months of doctors visits and tests was diagnosed with a chronic form of Lyme Disease. A house that we had expected to sell… we were forced to rent out. It has been a tough year! But our testimony is this… God has walked with us every step. Jobs have been replaced and bills have been paid.
Joel Osteen uses a phrase in his wonderful book, “It’s Your Time”. Joel says, “This didn’t happen to you… It happened for you.” We still don’t completely see it that way yet, but we’re getting there.
Today is the day of Power Week Christians call Good Friday. While they were going through it, the followers of Jesus would have called it anything but good. It was the most dreadful awful thing they could have imagined. All of their hopes and dreams died on that cross with Jesus. But looking back it didn’t happen to them, it happened for them…. And it happened for us too.
While it was happening it was “Awful Friday”. It was “Bad Friday”. But today it is “Good Friday”. Because of what happened on Good Friday we can all experience a new start in this life and eternal life in the next one.
If you are in a “Career Dip” today, take Joel Osteen’s advice:
“Stay in faith and go out each day and be a person of excellence.”
If you do, you can experience a resurrection. God won’t leave you in the dip. He will walk along side you through the dip and pull you upward to experience new heights!
I’m continuing Power Week with a story I came across in a really interesting way… I might even suggest it was a small miracle. I was headed for my gate in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport last June (2009) and “happened” across a really nice marketing display in the middle of the walk way. It was a glass display case with a couple of really unique looking acoustic guitars inside. I’m not a musician, but I am in marketing and I brake for anything that’s done really well. I liked it so much in fact that snapped several pictures with my digital camera and grabbed a few guitar brochures off the display case.
I went on to board the plane and got a really nice bulk-head seat. I called my wife Susy for a quick early morning prayer time that we have together over the phone whenever I’m on the road traveling. A lady sitting in my row overheard our prayer and that started a conversation about our mutual Christian faith. She was reading a book by Bill Johnson, Senior Pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California. “Ironically” it was a book I had recently seen referenced in a magazine article and had been searching Barnes & Noble and Borders high and low. After some conversation I asked if I could scan her copy for a few minutes.
A few weeks later I purchased the book, devoured it, and went on to buy and read about everything Bill Johnson had written… including my favorite, Dreaming with God. Imagine how shocked I was when I’m reading along and there on page 117 is the story of Matt McPherson… the founder of McPherson Guitars. It’s a great career story that I will share with you here mostly in the words of Bill Johnson.
Johnson writes, “Matt McPherson is known as a man with great passion for God. His love is to minister the Gospel through music and leading in worship. However, after being handed a $15 check for a weekend of ministry, he realized that it would be a very challenging way to support his family. Soon after that experience the Lord gave him this wonderful promise: I am going to prosper you in business, so you can be self-sufficient in ministry. The following is a brief report of God’s faithfulness to that promise.
Matt’s approach to life is refreshing, as he is bothered by mediocrity. The thought of being average is frightening. He has no desire for fame or power, but refuses to be passive with his life. He wants to make a difference. His love for God has created a passion for excellence and creativity that is admirable.
One day God spoke something to him that would forever change his life. He said, I know every answer to every problem in the world. If men would only ask me, I would give them the answers. Matt was overwhelmed with the promise and sense of awe he had for God in that moment. He dropped to his knees and cried out to God about the things that concerned him. As a young man Matt developed a hobby of making and shooting compound bows. He obtained the love of archery, while hunting with his father and brothers, in his early years. Following the revelation about God having the answers to every issue in life, he asked God about how to build a better bow. He knew of hundreds of ways not to build one but wanted to take God’s invitation to ask for answers to any problem. Several weeks later, at around 3 o’clock in the morning, he woke up seeing a piece of paper suspended before his eyes. It looked as though it was torn from a notebook. On it was a sketch of a compound bow, revealing a new concept. When his wife, Sherry, asked him what he was doing, he said, “I think I’m having a vision.” He was. In response to his prayer, God gave him the initial concept for what would eventually launch the Mathews Archery Company, changing the archery industry forever…
Today, Mathews is the largest archery manufacturing company in the world. They not only sell volumes of bows; they sell a product of superior design and excellence in craftsmanship… Matt is the owner of 20 patents with more pending.”
Leveraging his Matthews Archery Company success, Matt pushed off into the guitar manufacturing business. Today McPherson Guitar makes arguably the most innovative acoustic guitar there is. Country music star Brad Paisley writes, “The McPherson Guitar is the most significant new design in acoustic guitars since the debut of the dreadnaught. I feel like they have perfected the acoustic instrument, and achieved new heights in tone and craftsmanship. I am very proud to play these pieces of art.”
Matt and Sherry McPherson are now living the life God promised them so many years ago. They travel, do their music ministry, and consistently bring God-Ideas to their sphere of influence.
This week is Power Week in the Christian Faith and today we are looking at some modern-day examples of how God has intervened in lives and careers that are reminiscent of some things that happened in the Bible.
My wife and I are both big American Idol fans. In season 6, Melinda Dolittle sang her way into the hearts of people everywhere. Here’s a condensed version of her story found in the book, “Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul”:
“My mom taught me that with God all things are possible if your heart is in the right place. She never dissuaded me from trying anything, even if my success was unlikely. But what I really wanted to do was sing. There was only one problem: I was completely tone deaf. In fact, it was so bad that when I auditioned for the grammar-school choir, they let me in but they asked me just to lip-synch. So there was little Melinda, smack in the middle, singing her heart out. But, in fact, I was lip-synching.
One day I was in a shoe store with my mom. When Whitney Houston came on the music system, everyone stopped and listened. How cool would it be if I could sing like that? I thought. Just grab people's hearts so that they stop and listen to me sing. So I told my mom that since I'm not good at anything else, I would like to be good at singing. She replied, "Baby, you are really going to have to pray very hard."
When we got home, I told her that I was going to sing in the youth talent show at our church, which was one month away. Although my mom was supportive, she was also honest. She told me that would be a great faith project for me. So I prayed, "Lord, I want to be able to sing in the talent show." My mom also told me I would have to practice really, really, really hard.
Every day, I tried to hit those notes, and they wouldn't come out right. My mom kept saying, "You've got to keep working at it. You're not there yet, but just keep trying and praying."The day of the talent show arrived, and I wasn't yet confident that I could sing, but I was confident in the fact that up until then God had always answered my prayers. I saw no reason why he wouldn't this time.
So I strode onto the stage, dressed in my new dress and the shoes I had bought at that shoe store just one month before, and I opened my mouth. Amazingly, out came this beautiful tone! It was like night and day. And not only could I sing, but I could hear harmonies. My mom cried.
After the show, people called the pastor and said, "It wasn't fair to let Melinda lip-synch for the talent show." It was hard for them to believe the pastor when he replied, "She didn't-that was really her."
After that day, I got asked to join the worship team and the all-state choir, and I've been singing ever since.
One of the other things I loved to do was dance. It was something else I did badly, but that never stopped me before. When I was in college, I was practicing a dance number for a school show when my friend's mom walked up to me at rehearsal and said, "I don't know if you even sing, but I looked up at you and I got this message that I have to have you sing background for a recording session we're doing tomorrow. It must be a God thing."
Her name was Roz Thompson, and her husband was Chester Thompson. He'd played with greats like Phil Collins and John Fogerty, and she was not only a well-known worship leader but had sung with everyone from CeCe Winans to Donna Summer. They were recording a tribute to Rich Mullins called My Deliverer.
Roz drove me to the session, where I sang background for one song. When I was done, the producer handed me a check. I said to him, "I only did one song." He said, "I know." And I said, "Are you serious?" It was more money than I made at my part-time job in a month.
From that one session, my phone started ringing, and my career as a background singer began. To me it was just about the best thing in the world-to get paid to sing.
Nearly seven years later, I decided to audition for Idol. Although I'm sure my success story is similar to other's, I think each of us has a different moment when everything changes, when everything comes together. For me, it was the night that Diana Ross was the guest mentor.
Until that night, I still thought of myself as a background singer, even when the judges tried to tell me I was more. But that night, when I sang "Home," and I looked out and everybody was standing on their feet and clapping for me-that was the moment it all came full circle. The lyrics tell about being in a different place, a different time, and a different world-and there I was, little Melinda Doolittle, living the dream that I had in the shoe store so many years ago-the dream of people stopping and wanting to hear what I had to sing. I knew it was now truly a different world.
God had given me a voice when I wanted to sing. It was now up to me to be the best representative of him that I could be. On Diana Ross night, I knew it would never be hard to do. For it was on that night, when the people wouldn't stop clapping and they thought they were clapping for me, I knew the truth-and I will always know the truth-that without God . . . I'm tone deaf.”
How do you explain that? Did a month’s worth of practice turn Melinda Dolittle into an accomplished singer? Or was something or someone else at work here?
This week is Holy Week or what I sometimes call Power Week in the Christian Faith. Next Sunday, millions will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ as they attend mass and church services around the world. My posts for the next five days crack a door on the question, “Does God care about my career?” “Does He care enough to intervene?” Will He Move in my life with power?
Until Jesus was around the age of 30, he worked in a carpentry business and was likely self employed for at least some of that time. Most of the guys he hung out with were small business types who as we will see, had to deal with career frustrations.
Most of us, if we think about Jesus at all, probably pigeon-hole him to the religious section of life. I don’t think his first followers were that much different. Yet, I would suggest that maybe the Scriptures show a God that is interested in all of our life, not just the religious part. One of my very favorite stories about Jesus is found in the Bible and comes from Luke chapter 5. If Jesus taught anything, He taught that God is a God who moves with power and intervenes when we need it...not always as my pastor says, “when we want it, but when we need it”.
Luke 5:4-7
4 When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon Peter, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”
5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”
6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!
7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
So… get the picture. Jesus is finishing up a sermon that he gave while standing in a boat out on a lake and he gives Simon (who many of us know us Peter) some business advice. You can almost hear Simon say, “Jesus, you stay in the religion department or at least the carpentry department, I think I know the fishing business.” But Peter relents, takes Jesus advice, and ends up with what was probably the best business day of his whole career.
Let’s take the next few days and check out how some say God entered their lives and careers in this 21st Century world.
Welcome to "Maximize Your Career", a site designed to '"Revolutionize Your Approach To Life and Work. Our goals are to offer daily posts and resources that will help you enjoy increasingly higher levels of success, satisfaction, and significance. We will help you focus on productive attitudes, increased use of your aptitudes, talents, and abilities, and navigate the job searching, sorting, and selection process. This site is for career professionals, business owners, managers, parents, educators, and students who want to increase their effectiveness in the world of work. Whether you are super-employed, unemployed, underemployed, miserably-employed, nervously-employed – in school preparing for work or in retirement returning to work – you are an incredible, we believe one-of-a-kind person made by God who is as motivator Zig Ziglar says, “Designed for Accomplishment, Engineered for Success, Endowed with the Seeds of Greatness.”
This blog comes with free access to: The web’s largest job search engines, a network of more than 100 career group locations, a free 80 page Maximize Your Career Booklet, links and resources from national experts like Marcus Buckingham, Harvey Mackay, Tom Peters, and Seth Godin, over a dozen short biographies from Entrepreneur Magazine on people like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, film maker George Lucas, Ben and Jerry The Ice-Cream Guys, and more...
What are you Insanely Great at? What could you be great at if you developed it? What are the moments when you think "I was made for this"? Read on. Explore the Career Assessment Strength Links on the side bar to your right. Nose around in our Career Bookstore. Begin a process designed to put your unique strengths out into the world where you and everyone else can enjoy the benefits.
Comments on Coaching and Classes
"The Purpose of this letter is to describe the benefits I enjoyed from my coaching experience with Dale Cobb. I had a very specific issue, which I needed help getting over the hump with. Our conversations were very helpful in keeping me on track and getting me to the finish line. I believe that Dale is a keen observer of the human condition and has the ability to reflect back an individuals thoughts and goals as one strives for success. I found the services offered by Dale to be timely and effective. In the future, I am sure I will be presented with challenges that require outside assistance. When that time comes, I will not hesitate to call on Dale for his fresh bright and insightful guidance."
“Working with Dale has always been rewarding. Dale has always been on the leading edge developing new ways of marketing his products and services. Always willing to try new approaches and follow through... Always convincing.”
Fred Friday, Director of Operations
Fundcraft Publishing
Memphis, Tennessee
"Dale has always impressed me with his integrity, marketing insights, compassion and follow through. He thinks outside the box, asks the questions that others fail to ask and has a real heart for training others to be the best they can be. You can count on Dale."
Tim Turner, Owner Turner Strategic
Atlanta, Georgia
“Dale is always the most prepared person in the room. He has the ability to listen and clarify the issue at hand. He is a creative, caring leader. He has always been a joy to work with.”
I would like to take the opportunity to offer my recommendation for Dale Cobb. He has the remarkable ability to clearly listen to a problem, understand the issues and suggest a course of action that satisfies the needs of me and my clients. I cannot tell you how many times his advice was precisely what I needed to close a deal or carefully resolve a difficult situation. He is resourceful and creative in his teaching style. Over all he helped me to be more efficient and successful in my career.
Michael Ward
Sacramento, California
It has been an incredible experience for me having you as my coach. As a small business owner I have at times felt isolated and stuck in my own thinking. With your excellent coaching I have been able to expand not only my thinking about existing design practice but about the design and building industry and how I can enlarge my place in it.
Interior Designer
Carmel, California
Dale helped me with exploring perspectives, chunking them down, setting goals, action planning, and overcoming hurdles (professionally and personally). The coaching format has moved me from a dream to implementing an action plan.
Management Consultant
Greenbrae, California
I have found your coaching very helpful. I have been somewhat stuck in my career decisions, but with your understanding and focus I am now moving forward. I am now positive about my direction and the steps I want to take. The coaching has also helped my personal life. I thank you for being there for me now and in the future.
Retired Dentist
Meadow Vista, California
This is one of the most beneficial and rewarding classes I have attended. Thank You.
Comfortable casual feeling....Lots of laughter...Made classes fun and increased learning.
Everything was explained so clearly. I came away from the course having learned a great deal.
Very interesting, I've learned a lot... The material has given me a lot to work with.I've enjoyed all the sessions and feel I received something from each session to help me be a better person.
