Books and Resources for Life, Faith & Work

Author's note: This was originally posted at an old blog, dated November 20, 2008. Previous blog posts also came from other blogs which I have edited and moved to this blog.

Short reviews of books to obtain ideas for improving one's balance in life and work.

Rapid Development, Apostolic Letter of John Paul II to those Responsible for Communications

Rapid Development teaches that we are called to integrate the message of salvation in the "new culture" of the Web. This "new culture" is continuously evolving with every new technology that is introduced year after year. As baptized lay Catholics, we are called to inculturate the ideals and values that the Letter promotes into this "new culture" through the ordinary situations of our life and work. We need to be responsible in balancing both the use of our freedom and obeying ethical norms. Although the booklet is primarily intended for those in the Church who work in the social communications media, it also gives basic guidelines for lay people, especially those who work in their professions or small business. For those who work directly with the Church's apostolate, the booklet teaches that responsible use of the internet involves giving religious information, catechesis and evangelization, formation of pastoral workers, and education towards mature and responsible use of the Web.

The Holy Use of Money, by John C. Haughey

Fr. John C. Haughey is a Jesuit priest who ministers to people in the business world. In his ministry, he has discovered how to inculturate the Catholic faith in the world of business. This book gives many scriptural references by which one can see a better way to handle one's personal finances or small business in a Christian manner. It can also provide some answers and solutions to the difficulties that money can cause in our moral lives. The book stresses very much that the solution to financial woes is simply the placing of our trust more in God, and to learn how to share whatever goods we have with others. For those who wish to find insights to the right attitude towards money, the Catholic perspective given by John C. Haughey is well-presented and can be understood well. It just needs some basic background in theology and business or economics.

The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

This book is very interesting. It is an international bestseller good for those who want to brainstorm ideas for their life, work or business. It provides clues towards solving the need to make one's work or business grow according to what Gladwell calls the "tipping point" phenomenon. Gladwell mentions three means by which people can succeed in promoting their causes: whether it be in politics, business or social concerns. These three means are: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. The ideas Mr. Gladwell presents are truly effective, if applied well and customized to your life and work situation. It can provide ideas for those who work and are responsibility for social media and news coverage online.

HyperWars, by Bruce Judson with Kate Kelly


To be in the internet is not easy, especially now that work and business is connected to it. Hyperwars can help you survive, thrive and be successful for the long term in your work online. The book gives 11 ideas that are rooted in customer service. It takes note of the difficulties of being a small business in a hypercompetitive environment such as the Net, and helps small business with strategies towards better customer services. Even if your business is among so many others online, you can be part of a mainstream that supports and helps other small businesses. Though the situations given in the book are quite dated, as late as 1999, some strategies are still applicable up to now.

Profitable Customer Relationships, by the CEO Speak Series, Various authors

There are 13 authors in this book; business leaders who write about customer relationship management from their years of experience in established corporations. It is a practical book that gives practical ideas with the proper attitudes for acquiring and retaining customers and clients. The writers of the book present the "blue ribbon" of customer success: customer loyalty - an important factor in the building of any business. The basic and underlying cornerstone for all their teaching is the goal of pursuing profitable customer relationships: a win-win situation where both sides of the business relationship profit.

Intellectual Capital, by Annie Brooking

This is perhaps one book that will revolutionize our way of thinking in doing business in the information age. It is truly a book which will make one aware that the trend of business today is to depart from "brick and mortar" businesses [businesses that rely much on buildings and tangible assets], and to enter into businesses that invest heavily on intellectual capital. In this book, Annie Brooking defines intellectual capital as the intangible side of business that includes: customer loyalty, good business-to-business relationships, intellectual property, electronic infrastructure, and innovative know-how. The book is very educational and can give many ideas that will vitalize any business.

Merriam Webster's Guide to International Business Communications, by Toby D. Atkinson

The internet is such a global communications medium that we encounter so many cultures who can communicate with us in English. However, each culture and each country often have different forms and standards of addresses and contact information. The book gives ways of addressing people from 47 countries. Also, it helps in making one's English more understandable to people who use English only as a second language. This is a very practical book which will surely be needed whenever we are called to communicate in a understandable way with business contacts in one of the 47 countries listed in the Guide.

Summary

One, more, or all of the 7 resources above can help with ideas to improve your balance in life and work - especially in working out the attitudes needed for that balance. Your own Catholic faith can work out this balance - seeing life, work or business not only from the material point of view, but also from the perspective of goodwill and customer loyalty. Businesses that ground themselves in these perspectives can operate better, and grow not only materially, but also in social responsibilities, and the ethics needed to succeed in the long term. This is a good mix of excellent material, that will provide you with ideas as you browse and scan the pages in your own pace. The list of resources mentioned can be a kernel, a starter collection, to help you in your own batch of resources.

Feast of Saints Celebrated in the Month of October

Learning to Live and Work Well with Others through the MBTI

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI

Introduction

It will be easier to understand others and ourselves if we learn a method that can typify personality differneces. This can help a lot in various social settings: to function as a leader or as a member of a group. It can be in the family, in business operations, in religious communities and any type of group setting or community project. This method we can learn through the Myers-Briggs type indicator or MBTI. The Myers-Briggs type indicator is a way of indicating 16 types of personalities. In simple terms, it is a personality test. It should be a way of understanding others and ourselves, and not a way of limiting the richness of each of our personalities in a "compartmentalized" form. But it will give us some method of understanding people who often behave according to core personality types.

The eight indicators of the MBTI personality types

There are eight indicators of the MBTI personality types. These are the degrees of introversion or extroversion, the degrees of feeling or thinking, the degrees of sensing or intuiting, and the degrees of perceiving or of judging.

Introversion as a personality indicator

Those who rate high in this indicator mean they are good at concentration and can work at jobs that require much focusing and centering. The person who tends more to introversion is usually aware of the inner world of his thoughts and feelings. Because of this character trait of concentration, focusing, and interiorization, people who have high introversion ratings are highly skilled in jobs and tasks that require detail and accuracy.

Extroversion as a personality indicator

Extroversion is a personality indicator whereby the person focuses not so much on the inner world of his feelings and thoughts but rather on the external stimuli around him - the environment and the people he encounters. Whereas the introverted personality type gets much of his energy from within, the extroverted type personality gets much of his energy from external stimuli. An introvert would replenish his energies by relaxing with a good book or watching a VCD while an extrovert would hang out with his friends and chat in order to relax.

Feeling as a personality indicator

The feeling personality indicator is a gauge by which a person is sensitive to the feelings of the people around him. Usually, when he makes decisions or when he interacts with others, he is very aware of how his speech or actions can affect the feelings of others. Those in the sales career would do well with this personality indicator, because they deal with people of all types - especially leads, prospects, and clients. Managers who rate high in this personality indicator are also good in terms of how they deal with their subordinates. This makes them appear as people-orienteded managers.

Thinking as a personality indicator

Those who use more their thinking function in their personality are usually more objective in how they decide and act. It takes time for them to act as they need to gather all the data that are needed to make a decision. Whereas the feeling-oriented type would act at once according to the need of a person, those who are thinking types would stand back, study the situation, and then make his decision. Managers who are naturally feeling-oriented usually strengthen the network of relationships in a corporation. Managers, on the other hand, who use more their thinking function are able to see the bottom line and thus strengthen the direction towards the preservation of assets: both labor and capital.

Intuition as a personality indicator

A person who uses more his intuition is a person who is idea-oriented and looks at the possibilities of every situation. This person is able to see the bigger picture, and to come up with a solution that includes the bigger context. If we were to use an analogy, when an intuitive person is given a sheet of paper with a dot, he will not focus his attention on the dot, but on the whole sheet of paper which contains the dot. For this personality type, problem-solving then means always being aware of the bigger picture in which the problem is found.

Sensing as a personality type indicator

Whereas the intuitive person looks at the whole, the sensing type of person looks at the facts - all the details of the situation. He is aware of what is presently happening at the moment. All his senses are in function to gather the necessary data for assessing the situation. These data help him know how to come up with a solution to the problem. Thus, his sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste sense functions are all alert in knowing what is actually happening. This person usually is fond of the news and all things related to being 'in the loop'.

Perceiving as a personality type indicator

A person who is of the perceiving type is usually very adaptable to situations. He is not tied down to a rigid schedule or a system of proceeding in work. Rather, when a certain occasion calls for something to be acted upon right away, this personality type takes the freedom to leave what he is presently doing, and attend to what should be done at the present moment. Availability is probably his greatest personality gift. Those in the service professions would probably profit from this personality type, as the service professions require a personality type that can always be 'on the move' and 'jumps right away at any situation in need'.

Judgement as a personality type indicator

This personality type is more structured. He thrives on structure and organization. Managers need to have this personality function in order to be able to manage their work and their life. This personality type has lists and schedulers that set-up his day or week. And usually, when the time appointed needs to be attended to, he usually complies and efficiently does what needs to be done. For this personality type, what is important is that you tell him beforehand what he needs to do in advance. Otherwise, this will disorient him and he will not know how to deal with the new schedule in relation to the original schedule of work.

Finding out your MBTI

All of these personality type indicators are in us. The only difference is that one is more dominantly used than the other. With the basic descriptions given above, you can already have an idea of how you live and work, and how others live and work also. Given the eight personality indicators above, you can tell understand why others function the way they do. Some are more extroverted than introverted, more thinking than feeling, more intuitive than sensing, or more perceiving than judging. To gain a certain bit of accuracy in knowing the exact percentages of your introversion, extroversion, feeling, thinking, intuition, sensing, judging or perceiving, you can take many free Myers-Brigg type tests online.