HEADSTART INTERVIEW: SHARING JESUS AT WORK #3

Michael works in a hedge fund and not wanting to hedge his bets, he went all in and was one of the first 5 entrants to the Share Jesus at Work course at Headstart, our Christian young workers community. A regular at Headstart, here is a quick interview with Michael on how he found doing the course.

i) So Michael, why did you want to be one of the first 5 to “win” doing this course? Spots went very quickly after the post went up at 7pm on that Tuesday.

For context, I work in a hedge fund, and we've been wired to take asymmetric bets. Having Mark offer to pay $20 for a free course on learning how to share Jesus in the workplace was a no-brainer. There was little downside to the offer, only much more upside!

ii) Hahaha - I can’t remember an interview where I have heard the term asymmetric bets before! There’s a first. So, tell me what is one thing from the course that you could put into practice right now

From Lesson 2, we learnt about Jesus' parable of the good Samaritan. In my line of work, our environment is very much like a "library" where people don't really talk, and the "application" in Lesson 2 really struck a chord with me. I myself get very task-focused and treat people as functional helps more than anything else. This parable reminded me to invest time into listening and sharing care with my work colleagues. I hope to give up my trips alone to get lunch quickly, but instead ask some of my junior colleagues whether they'd like to walk out with me to get lunch (typically that's GYG for me!). Being outside the office, hopefully, could create potential opportunities to share Jesus.

iii) Yes - looking for potential opportunities and where are those “safe spaces” for colleagues to share … brilliant! Continuing on the one things theme …what is one thing that you will take away from doing this course

Several things come to mind, but if I had to pick one thing (and I admit I've only gone through 3 Lessons so far), it would be hearing, understanding, and feeling other people's worldviews. I admit I often fail at the first step because I often care more about trying to push my own worldview onto others. However, this course has been a timely reminder for me to step back, and appreciate my colleague's worldview first. This is a work in progress for me.

iv) Work in progress - aren’t we all? Thanks for sharing and being so open. One more question, how did you do the course and why would you recommend another worker to do this course

I did it by myself. Admittedly, I often did the course in "lumps" but the best way to get through this course is to do it 1 lesson per week in my opinion. Would highly recommend to anybody - especially, those who are new to the workforce as it provides a framework to being a Christian in the workplace.