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Originally, this was going to be an essay about how the Lasallian virtue of zeal is essential in the enthusiastic and persistent pursuit of business academic scholarship. I had pithy quotes from both the 17th and 21st century, humorous stories, and a “get it done” message to wrap it all up. But all of that changed in three stages. First, a good friend decided to take a new job in Texas, which meant I temporarily added a second job as vice provost to my duties at Saint Mary’s. Next, was a global pandemic that turned our operating world upside down and quickly transformed our planned and organized weeks into running triage between one difficult and unplanned situation to another. Finally, the horrors of murder, civil unrest, and riots. I really don’t have the words to express, nor could I or should I try to explain, all that has happened. I do know it seems that an essay on zeal and scholarship seems incredibly out of place at this time and moment in history.

That said, I think the virtue of zeal, or zele in a 17th century French context, is a worthwhile one and one that has modern-day application. To Saint John Baptist de La Salle, zeal was the synergy of self-effacement and commitment molded into the service and caring for students (Botana, 2004). In his world of 17th century French spirituality, zeal (or zele as De La Salle would have said it) should infuse your conduct and breathe life into all you do. In contemporary terms, this translates to a commitment of thinking and acting beyond yourself for the betterment of others.

Transformational and servant leadership lived in today’s business world have this common understanding of zeal at their base. For me, this connection has a Hebraic spirituality; that is, as theologian David Ranson suggests, that acting with force and energy to help others beyond self is to find vitality in life and to “come awake.” How then, as scholars and practitioners in the business disciplines, can we come awake?

One of my favorite ideas within the discipline of spirituality and management is the concept of discernment, which can be thought of as entering praxis to determine the true calling or direction in your life. Brother Fred Mueller, scholar of Lasallian pedagogy, suggests a deep discernment helps one determine “where your great passion meets a great need of the world.” Authors in philosophy, such as John Dewey and Malcolm Knowles, would suggest this crossroad of passion and need is where one’s true vocation is identified. Some enter into this discernment through meditation and prayer, others through exercise, some through experiences in nature. There is no right or wrong way; just find what works for you.

So as a business scholar and leader, what is your vocation? Where do your greatest passions lead to the betterment and service of others? How can you use this new knowledge gained in a doctoral program for good?

Take a breath, take some time, give it some thought. The business world needs you.

Reference:

Botana, A. (2004). The educator’s life journey. Rome: Brothers of the Christians Schools.
Ranson, D. (2002). Across the great divide: Bridging spirituality and religion today. Strathfield: St. Paul’s Publications.

We have all heard the phrases, “A purpose-filled life,” “Living life with passion,” “Living life with zeal,” etc. Well, we can’t leave out “YOLO.” About a decade ago, one of my sons was telling me he wanted to do something I considered reckless. I told him to wait. His response was, “Life is short. This is something I am compelled to do now. YOLO.” I gave him a blank look and he responded with, “You have to live life to its fullest. Any moment wasted is never recaptured. Sometimes, you have to be reckless.” I am not asking anyone to be reckless. However, I do implore you to live life with meaning. Live life with a sense of urgency. In life, there is no do-over, nor is there a dress rehearsal. Are you living your one life to its fullest? Hence, the title for this essay is YOLO (you only live once).

In this essay, I will use analogies from my hobbies as an avid gardener and beekeeper. In the winter, everything in the plant world shuts down. In the honeybee world, everything slows down. During the fall, the plants and bees store energy to prepare for the eight months of Minnesota winter. Okay, I am kidding. It is probably closer to five months. But, it is this stored energy that allows them to come alive in the spring. Without this stored energy, they would die. Also, for some plants, this timeout in winter allows seeds to become ready for germination. For example, an apple seed would not germinate without the dormancy of winter.

Coded into seeds from many years of evolution is the message: As soon as spring comes, they need to explode in growth and capture the right moment to germinate. They have to be ready to take advantage of the long daylight hours, capture the energy from the sun, and put it into plant growth for seed production. For example, the pervasive crabgrass that is the bane of many lawn folks is eagerly awaiting the soil temperature to reach 55 degrees for a few days before germinating. At this temperature, it has probably figured winter has passed and the likelihood of freezing to death has passed.

However, once it germinates, its sole purpose is to grow and produce more seeds for the ensuing generations. You can say, the plant has a zeal for life. It has a purpose. Its goal is to live life with zest and grow vigorously as it sends out roots to take in as much nutrition from the soil as it can and put it toward leaf and seed production so it can survive another brutal winter. The better the seeds the grass produces, the better they will survive winter and flourish the next year.

For the bees, a similar thing happens. Going into fall, they store many gallons of honey which they will use as a source of energy. They also collect a lot of pollen which they use as food protein. In the winter, a hive will probably use a gallon of honey a month. In Minnesota, if they are to survive, bees have to have about 5-7 gallons of stored honey. Now to do this, bees must exploit every available moment in the summer as they visit flowers to get nectar and pollen. These are stored within the hive. If these bees do not have passion, zeal, zest, etc. in the summer, they will not survive winter. If they do not live with a sense of urgency, they will literally freeze to death in the winter. They use the honey to generate heat to stay alive. Wired into the bees is the code that says, if we are to survive, we must live life with purpose. The zeal for life is what makes bees so busy.

Fun bee facts:

1. 1. Honeybees must gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey.
   2. One bee has to fly about 90,000 miles — three times around the globe — to make one pound of honey.
   3. The average bee will make only 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
   4. A honeybee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.
   5. A honeybee can fly for up to 6 miles and as fast as 15 miles per hour.
   6. The bee’s brain is oval in shape and about the size of a sesame seed, yet it has a remarkable capacity to learn and remember things. For example, it is able to make complex calculations on distance traveled and foraging efficiency.
   7. Honeybees communicate with one another by dancing.
   8. A colony of bees consists of 20,000 to 60,000 honeybees and one queen. Worker honeybees are female, live for about 6 weeks, and do all the work.

So, whether you are a seed or honeybee, it is imperative you live life with passion, zeal, zest, and a sense of urgency. How can we apply this philosophy to our professional life? We need to find places to work where we can identify and resonate with the organization. A few months ago, I read in The Wall Street Journal some comments from employees who worked with enthusiasm, passion, zest, and zeal. Here are the comments:

“Literally helping to save the entire world right now.”
“It’s the first time I felt this isn’t only a job. We’re on the front lines now.”
“Hey, I work at the place that makes that.”
“It feels like we have a responsibility now.”
“Everybody is counting on us to do our part.”

Now, are these people working at some prestigious, glamorous company? No, they work for Lysol. Sometimes, we postpone our passion waiting for the right opportunity to live life with enthusiasm and zeal. So, whether you use the analogy of the seed or the bee, remember it is imperative to hustle when the moments are right and not waste the resource of time. Have a plan and execute it. At the end of the day, it is not the right company that matters. It is the mindset and a choice to live in the moment to the fullest. Remember, YOLO.

References:

Phillips, M. (2020, April 21). The workers at a Lysol plant have a mission now; At a New Jersey factory making the disinfectant spray, employees are feeling inspired and on the front lines against the coronavirus. The Wall Street Journal (Online); New York, N.Y.

Matter of Trust.org. (n.d.). 20 amazing honey bee facts! Retrieved from https://matteroftrust.org/20-amazing-honey-bee-facts/

Zeal is the first to arrive and the last to leave class. She sits in the front row, shares her M&M’s.

She is chatty and reads … everything — even the optional articles. She giddily posts and reposts in online discussions.

Zeal turns her work in early and always helps classmates.

You leave inspired after spending time with Zeal. She appreciates you. She values you. Your hopes and dreams grow. You are your best self around Zeal.

Zeal celebrates everything — successes, birthdays, Wednesday nights.

She has worked many jobs.

She is funny. She is best friends with Generosity and Humility.

Her glass is not half full or half empty … it’s overflowing.

Best of all, Zeal’s research matters. She is making the world a better place.

Learners pursuing advanced degrees face a surfeit of challenges. The list of trammels is too numerous to name in this short reflection. However, in an attempt to provide some context, the obstacles range from the changes linked to content delivery due to COVID-19, to managing the competing obligations associated with family and work. As learners search for strategies to overcome such roadblocks, Brother Agathon reminds us of the importance of zeal. It is with zeal that we pursue our fullest human capacity. The following paragraphs will offer the reader a few tools in order to reach such aims.

Zeal is greater than an enthusiastic pursuit of one’s dreams. It’s more replete than exhibiting resilience in the face of challenging times. Zeal is the ability to become stronger in lieu of life’s tribulations. Therefore, zeal is associated with what Professor Nassim Taleb calls anti-fragility. Taleb argues the construct of anti-fragility falls on a continuum. At one extreme is a fragile system. Fragile systems or individuals break during stressful times. As we ascend the continuum, we arrive at what is known as a robust system. These individuals are able to withstand the shock but do not become better because of it, nor are they able to enhance their capacity. An anti-fragile system becomes better when stressed. According to the researcher, during unprecedented pandemics, becoming anti-fragile is the key to accomplishing one’s fullest potential.

In order to become anti-fragile, individuals and systems must exhibit five key characteristics.

1. Strength. In experiencing external stress, they become stronger. Those who workout or have trained for a marathon can relate. Your body is put through stressful situations in order to make the muscles stronger. When the body faces a similar future encounter, the impact is less extreme.
2. Eliminating unnecessary interventions. If the tension is removed too early when stressed, the individual or system is not afforded the opportunity to learn and grow. Parents can relate to the analogy of allowing children to fail successfully so they learn from their mistake.
3. Exponential relationship between stressors and growth. According to Taleb, anti-fragile systems become exponentially stronger in lieu of shocks. Economists refer to this phenomenon as economies of scale. Thus, small, additional stress makes for a much more robust system.
4. Building in redundancies. Traditional business theories berate redundancies as they reduce efficiencies. However, duplicate systems allow individuals to withstand extreme shock. Take the human body for example. Most people are born with two kidneys. If one were to fail, the body can still survive.
5. Diversification. Anti-fragile systems invest approximately 80% of resources into normal operations and 20% into high-risk, high-return endeavors. Consider a business that invested 20% of its profits into online/curbside product delivery.

In unprecedented times, it is not enough to be strong, we must become anti-fragile learners in order to combat the various stressors faced by a stochastic future.

We know it well, the daily chaos which we now accept as the new normal, at least for the moment. Each day brings its own set of challenges and choices: Helping children with their schooling while still making progress on your own studies, finding a steady stream of motivation to fuel your work when turning on the computer feels tasking, considering if you can even continue your education with new changes in employment or benefits.

Of all the dreams you’re deciding to put on hold or let go of altogether, your education does not have to be one of them. Know that you can confidently plan on your doctoral education continuing, whatever phase you are in. Though we as your faculty and program staff may not yet know how it will be delivered to you, we do know that we’ll continue to provide high-quality education. You can depend on us. We’re here to serve and happy to do so.

Saint Mary’s has a rich history of Lasallians going the extra mile for their students, and this is still very much a living part of the culture today. Blessed James Miller is the utmost example of this, making the ultimate sacrifice of his own life in 1982 to put his students first and remove incredibly dangerous barriers to their education (Schmidt, 2020). In more recent times, Brother Tom Johnson emphasized in a February talk at the Twin Cities Campus that it’s not exclusively educators who can embody the Lasallian charism. Brother Johnson explained that staff and all who work to support students can be Lasallian by “placing one’s energy in educating young people by using a combination of faith and zeal, an appreciation for the presence of God, care and concern for the poor and marginalized, and a trust in the providence of God to form an educational faith community” (Schmidt, 2020).

Whether you are spiritual or otherwise, our Lasallian heritage strengthens our commitment to you, not only in this challenging time, but always. We approach our work with passion and a desire to serve. We do so in hopes that the energy and zeal we put into what we do flows through to you. We hope our support empowers you to get through this trying experience and others you may face so that through your educational journey, you may be transformed.

References:

Schmidt, S. (2020, April 16). Exploring the charism of the modern-day Lasallian: Part 1. Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Retrieved from https://newsroom.smumn.edu/2020/04/16/exploring-the-charism-of-the-modern-day-lasallian-part-1/

Schmidt, S. (2020, April 16). Exploring the charism of the modern-day Lasallian: Part 2. Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. Retrieved from https://newsroom.smumn.edu/2020/04/16/exploring-the-charism-of-the-modern-day-lasallian-part-2/

In light of the events of the last three weeks which began with the death of Mr. George Floyd, the Office of Campus Ministry will be hosting opportunities for prayer and reflection on our Twin Cities Campus on Tuesday, June 23, and Thursday, June 25. Both events will be limited to 50 attendees, but will be livestreamed for those who are unable to attend.

A Mass for Peace and Justice will begin at noon Tuesday, June 23, in the Saint Mary’s University Center. An Interfaith Service for Justice and Peace will be held noon Thursday, June 25, also in the University Center.

We ask that all present adhere to the guidelines for gathering at religious functions, including following appropriate social distancing and wearing masks. All graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, and staff are welcome and encouraged to attend. Email campusministry@smumn.edu to RSVP for either or both events.

This past spring, we’ve been tested by the COVID-19 pandemic and through the racial divides that continue to challenge our communities, most recently highlighted by the killing of Mr. George Floyd and the events that followed. Yet, even amidst such uncertainty and challenges, I’m proud of the strength and determination shown by our students and witnessed in all of their accomplishments. Their ability to adapt, persevere, and succeed, despite circumstances beyond their control, will continue to serve them in the weeks, months, and years ahead. I hope you will enjoy this newsletter, as it contains updates about our university and provides details of the ways our students are making the most of their college years.

— Father James P. Burns, IVD, Ph.D. (Summer 2020)