
A community of innovators exploring new ways to bring the excellence of God into business.
The word company derives from latin Cum Panis which means "with bread". Merchants would meet and discuss their business plans over dinner ("with bread") and eventually their ventures were named for the dinner meetings. An 1872 book on grammar lists two words in its glossary that come from "cum panis":
companion: a sharer of food, a comrade, fellow-traveller, partner
company: association, a number of partners
The word "corporation" derives from corpus, the Latin word for body, or a "body of people."
Companies are all about the people in them. Despite, the law separating the legal personality of the company from its people, in reality they should not be separate entities. Dreams, ideas and innovations are formed together when people sit down together and share bread. Their collective vision and adventure becomes the company. The people literally form the company, they are the company. All too often the company becomes something different to what the initial vision bearers carried. People begin to serve the company rather than their dream, innovation or heart.
Yes, clever marketing and branding can lead consumers to believe for a while that these products are conceived by passionate people who care but our hearts soon tell us otherwise. Some of the world's most brilliant products, innovations and creations have been born out of people who have whole heartedly followed their hearts over financial gain, desire for notoriety or success and often have been ridiculed at early stages for not following the crowd. Prosperity follows those who do not divest of integrity. The risks often appear greater but the rewards are enormous for those who follow their heart. The risk is that our hearts and passions do not always lead us to venture products or services that will make money in the business world although it will lead us and many others to true happiness, if we allow it and follow its call. Excellence always comes out of integrity of heart. Business must flow from the hearts of the people that constitute it. People all too easily become servants to business rather than the business serving as vehicle of expression of its people. People have bought into the lie that security is more important than following dreams. We can't live without money in this world, clearly it must come from somewhere in order to put bread on our tables but should it come at the expense of our hearts and desires.
Wouldn't the world be a brighter place if companies actually where transparent business vehicles that purely reflected the vision of all those who worked in them. I believe that there is enough creativity in the universe for everyone to be able to find a niche in the market place that reflects their talents, passion and heart. This is a bold statement to make in light of the millions or even billions of people in the world who are waking up each morning to go to a job that they perform in order to receive money to live. Your work should't be a performance, it should be about people doing out of their being, or in other words, people expressing their core identity through their work.