In Mastering Monday: A Guide to Integrating Faith and Work, published by InterVarsity Press in 2006, Beckett uses biblical and business figures as role models to demonstrate that the first day of the workweek can be mastered. In his estimation, there has been an increased emphasis on—or at least openness to—spirituality in the workplace, and this affords leaders an opportunity to be more expressive regarding their spiritual convictions. “By any measure,” he says, “there is tremendous momentum for faith and work to converge. Small streams flowing across the business landscape just a decade ago have become large rivers” (201). Beckett offers many helpful insights, suggestions, and anecdotes to help Christ-minded people integrate their faith and work.
Part One: “My Personal Journey”
The book’s 13 chapters are divided into three major sections. The first, “My Personal Journey,” is comprised of chapters 1–2. In chapter 1, Beckett briefly sketches his personal background and early spiritual development, both of which he discusses in greater detail in his previous book, Loving Monday. In chapter 2, he discusses early efforts to use biblical principles in addressing various business challenges and the national exposure he received on ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings as a result. According to Beckett, the response to Loving Monday and that broadcast affirmed his belief that the presence of, or desire for, spirituality in the workplace is growing.
Part Two: “Companions on the Journey”
Part Two of Mastering Monday, captioned “Companions on the Journey,” is comprised of chapters 3–7. In this section, Beckett discusses practical advice and insights for business that he gained through his study of Scripture. These lessons are the heart of the book.
In Chapters 3–5, Beckett describes lessons gleaned from Old Testament figures that guided him in business decision-making. For example, he notes that Noah’s example demonstrates “that God can do incredible things with one person whose heart fully belongs to him” (45), and Moses’s leadership in the wilderness shows the importance of leadership, team-building, and preparing for succession. David’s sin with Bathsheba and the attendant consequences are reminders that, when leaders become careless, their successes can be obliterated by moral failure, and Solomon’s decline into idolatry is a sobering reminder that leaders who start strong do not always finish strong.
In Chapter 6, Beckett explores lessons a business leader might learn and apply from select New Testament figures. First, he notes that Jesus’s experience as a carpenter likely laid somewhat of a foundation for his success in ministry because it influenced his teaching and interactions with others. Cornelius, the Ethiopian eunuch, and Lydia—whom Beckett calls “workplace emissaries”—are demonstrate that, when ordinary people are “available, obedient, and strategically placed,” the gospel can spread in their places of work through them.
In Chapter 7, Beckett considers several lessons Revelation 18, which he offers a series of warnings regarding events affecting the world’s workplaces. While I do not recommend his interpretation of Revelation, the principles he discusses are helpful. For example, Christians can be a restraining influence in their work environments, and they should pray and take appropriate action when facing corruption in the workplace. However, the world’s workplaces are not especially under consideration in Revelation.
Part Three: “God’s Workplace Agenda”
Part Three, comprised of chapters 8–13, discusses five themes Beckett uncovered during his decades of business experience. The themes are purpose, values, people, stewardship, and serving. Chapter 8 is barely five pages in length and merely introduces each theme.
Chapter 9 discusses “The Power of Purpose.” It begins by recounting an instance where Beckett’s father lost his sense of purpose and made a poor decision that cost the company terribly. Beckett makes several observations about the benefits of a strong sense of purpose. For example, he notes that a sense of purpose brings focus and cohesiveness and that God has a purpose for each individual and each company. Even when facing challenges and problems, people who faithfully pursue God’s purposes will find success individually and corporately.
In chapter 10, Mastering Monday explores the importance of core values. These benefits include creating distinctiveness, driving change, restraining unwanted decisions and actions, and shaping corporate culture. The core values for Beckett’s own companies have biblical foundations, and he suggests that, where possible, an organization should reach toward values that align with biblically-based concepts, including the following possibilities: integrity, growth, diversity, self-discipline, continuous improvement, personal balance, change, respect for people, responsibility, honor, honesty, and ethical conduct. Whatever the values are, they must be communicated broadly and deeply within the organization.
Chapter 11 explains the concept of “People First.” It begins with an account about an employee in one of his companies who intended to have an abortion and the steps taken within the company to support and encourage her so that she ultimately changed her mind. Beckett’s point, and it is well-taken, is that most people do not attend religious services today, but they spend over two thousand hours annually working. The workplace, then, offers many opportunities for Christians to manifest God’s love and compassion for people, even when addressing practical problems like downsizing, outsourcing, and having to terminate employees.
In chapter 12, Beckett discusses the concept of stewardship, which he notes is a recurrent theme in the Bible, taught by Jesus and Paul, among others, and is highly relevant to the workplace. In noting the breadth of the concept, he briefly explores its applicability in areas like family, influence, resources, and spiritual influence. This chapter also provides a brief, but helpful, discussion of the concept of “success,” and appeals to people desiring to follow Jesus to replace the pursuit of “success” with the pursuit of faithfulness to God in the marketplace. This is a notable and wise distinction because Christians find success in life, generally, and in the workplace, particularly, when they act as faithful stewards of God in each aspect of life.
Much of chapter 13, which discusses service, centers on John Aden’s leadership as President of the Mac Tools division of The Stanley Works company. Along the way, Beckett demonstrates that service is an important aspect of how God wants his kingdom to function on Earth. Notable observations in the chapter include Aden having to “prune” his leadership team in order to create a group that fully embraced agreed-upon values and his personal emphasis on living a transparent life of high integrity before others. According to Beckett, Aden is a great example that Christians who emphasize service can have a strong and positive spiritual impact within an organization.
Concluding Observations
Beckett’s Managing Monday reads easily and quickly. It is a little more than 200 pages and offers helpful insights regarding the methods for, and benefits of, integrating faith in one’s daily life and business practices. This book is more overtly biblical than Loving Monday in that it contains far greater discussion of Scripture and explicitly calls readers to follow biblical principles for success in life and business. On the whole, Beckett’s examples are authentic and practical, and I believe he presents a persuasive case that integrating faith and work will allow for greater achievement and satisfaction in work.