12 minute read
Chapter 5
CHAPTER 14 A Second Chance is the Best Choice
Abstract: this chapter highlights a mix of successful organizations which have chosen to build their success on failed but now redeemed workers.
“Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.”
—1 Thessalonians 4:11 NLT
“Make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for by its fruit you will get knowledge of the tree.”
—Matthew 12:33 BBE
Organizations Offering Second Chance Hiring
Jim Dahl purchased a small neighborhood bakery in Milwaukie, Oregon in 1955. The bakery served as a place of employment for Jim’s 4 children. Son Glenn ended up taking over the business while son Dave found trouble and wound up serving four prison terms. When Dave was released from prison, his brother Glenn welcomed him back into the family business. It wasn’t Dave’s first choice, but ex-cons rarely have any opportunities for work outside of prison. This was the genesis of Dave’s Killer Bread, as Dave and his brother developed a new product line which eventually became bigger than the small family bakery. The business is now the world’s largest organic bread brand. It all happened because Glenn offered Dave an opportunity for redemption (Dave’s Killer Bread, 2018).
There seems to be two types of redemption which are common to us, but at opposite poles. There is the redemptive work of Christ on the cross, whose substitutionary atonement met the obligation for my sinful life. This is the
Redemption Inc. message that drives missions activity across the globe. There is another redemption of which we hear, often cited in news articles and popular media. This redemption is more aligned with earthly vindication. We read about the redemption of a character in a movie or book, or a game where a sports player obtains redemption through victory.
So there is this paradox of redemption in our experience: there is the work of Christ to redeem and transform a soul which takes place instantaneously; while the earthly human results may struggle to match up. Yet when we consider redemption in our cultural context, often it is an effort to find redemption in the public square, which is not at all complete like the redemption provided through the work of Christ.
Wellman (2014) suggested that a random person on the street might qualify redemption as an act of atoning for a fault or mistake. In finance, redemption would represent the repayment of a security before its maturity date. If you asked the average person about redemption, they might suggest that the term contains within it the idea of repurchasing something or rescuing something or someone, or making something or someone more acceptable. Wellman goes on to draw the distinction of a general understanding of the term with the Christian perspective on redemption being a repurchasing, the life of a Savior (Jesus) in exchange for an individual’s life. He includes the thought of rescue but specifically focusing on a rescue from sin. The redemption that God offered through the death of Christ is something of great value, which is very costly and should not be taken lightly.
In a random review of articles on “redemption” (minus qualifying words like ‘coupon,’ ‘red,’ and ‘annual report’) collected using the RSS news reader Feedly, there were 51 articles discussing the redemption of a character in a movie or book, or a game or sports player’s redemption opportunity through victory. There were also 21 articles describing a coupon or product redemption; there were also 9 church names or songs about redemption or poems. There was only one article found describing some aspect of what Wellman describes as the Christian definition of redemption (Wellman, 2014).
One thing we have failed to see in these two extreme views of redemption are the broken individuals that God has placed before us who have “missed the mark” and failed to follow societal norms. These people have failed to adhere to customs or existing laws: whether it is volatility in the workplace, or
CONCLUSION The Beauty of a Restored Life
“Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you. He is useful to me in my work.”
—2 Timothy 4:11 GWT
Abstract: The failure rates of new businesses and the potential staggering number of those who have started and failed in business, never to try again, is interwoven with the Biblical story of John Mark and his usefulness to the Apostle Paul (2 Timothy 4:11). John Mark lives as a metaphor for all those crying out to find relief—not only from abuse, failure and life-controlling problems—but from the shame and labels of worthlessness they still carry as “formers…”
Introduction–How Many Entrepreneurs Fail? We teach students about the perils of the entrepreneurial journey, knowing from the data that failure is a significant part of the journey. Data suggest somewhere between 50 and 90% of entrepreneurial ventures fail their first time around. Can the variance really be so great?
Author Sean Bryant (2020) cited the Small Business Administration (SBA) in his article on the failure rate of business start-ups. According to this data: in 2019, the failure rate of business startups noted to be around 90% (Bryant, 2020). The SBA defines a small business as one with 500 employees or less (Bryant, 2020). Bryant drilled down in the data to specify when these new businesses would face failure, and it wasn’t pretty: according to the data, 21.5% of startups fail in the first year, 30% in the second year, 50% by the fifth year, and 70% in their 10th year (Bryant, 2020).
Redemption Inc. Author Ryan Jorden (2014), a managing partner in a venture capital firm, cited earlier SBA statistics in a LinkedIn blog post (Jorden, 2014). Another author, Meszaros (2016) cited the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as saying that about 50% of all new businesses survive 5 years or more, and about one-third survive 10-years or more (Meszaros, 2016).
Regarding business failure, even the data cited by the SBA as revealed by Jorden (2014) is subject to some interpretation. Jorden cites a 2002 study by Small Business Economics which discovered that about one-third of closed businesses were actually successful when they “failed.” One expert was quoted as saying that a large portion of businesses that were reported to have closed while successful calls into question the use of ‘business closure’ as a meaningful measure of business outcome. In deep diving into the data, it appears that many owners may have executed a planned exit strategy, closed a business without excess debt, sold a viable business, or retired from the work force (Jorden, 2014). So from where is that 90% number coming (Bryant, 2020)?
As much as Jorden (2014) and Meszaros (2016) agree on this 50% number, in another article in Fortune Magazine, Griffith (2014) reports that 90% of new businesses fail within the first 5 years. According to this article, a significant number of startups fail, and the main reason for this, according to data in the article, is that the founders created a product for which there’s no market (Griffith, 2014). The article goes on in describe some of the other major reasons for failure. Griffith is not alone in her projection on the new business failure rate: the researcher found several authors that quote this 90% statistic (Griffith, 2014; Patel, 2015; Hartley, 2016).
Failed Once—But the Second Try More Successful
Meanwhile there is also data to suggest that those failed entrepreneurs who try again are much more successful on their second try. According to Harvard researchers Gompers, Kovner, Lerner and Scharfstein (2006), entrepreneurs who succeeded in a prior venture have a 30% chance of succeeding in their next venture. First-time entrepreneurs only have an 18% chance of succeeding; while entrepreneurs who have previously failed and yet try again have a 20% chance of succeeding (Gompers, Kovner, Lerner & Scharfstein, 2006). It is perhaps through the ‘school of hard knocks’ for first time entrepreneurs that things learned the hard way through loss or failure
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Joseph J. Bucci, DBA
Business, Leadership and Management Department
College of Arts and Sciences, Regent University
Dr. Joseph Bucci is an Associate Professor of Business, and Chair of the Business, Leadership and Management Department in the College of Arts and Sciences at Regent University. Dr. Bucci has over 20 years’ experience in various Human Resources, Consulting and Training roles, including five years as Director of the Learning Department of a large corporation in Philadelphia, PA. He received his Doctor of Business Administration degree from Anderson University in Anderson, IN.
Dr. Bucci is currently in his eleventh year as an Associate Professor of Business and Chair of the Business, Leadership and Management Department in the College of Arts and Sciences at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. Dr. Bucci previously taught for 6 years in the Business, Accounting and Management Department at Geneva College in Western Pennsylvania. Dr Bucci is also an Ordained Minister with Vanguard Ministries.
Dr. Bucci has a blog for which he writes at www.rediscoveringredemption. com. Dr. Bucci also promotes redemptive managerial behavior following a number of news feeds to his followers using his Twitter account @ Redemption. He has presented an extensive number papers on redemptive leadership behaviors and other research on the influence of faith on managerial decision-making at various conferences. His research has been published in the proceedings of the Christian Business Faculty Association.
Redemption Inc. His first book, “Redemptive Leadership: Offering Second Chances as a Value-Added Management Practice” was published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2016.
Education
• Anderson University, Anderson, IN • Doctor of Business Administration, concentration Management–July 2011 • West Chester University, West Chester, PA • Master of Business Administration, December 2000–GPA 3.80 • William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ • Master of Education, May 1981–GPA 3.30 • Bachelor of Arts: Political Science, May 1979–GPA 3.73 • Berean University, Springfield, MO • Ministerial Diploma, June 1986–GPA 4.00
Association Memberships:
• Past Member, American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) • Past Member, Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) • Member, Christian Business Faculty Association • Ordained Minister, Vanguard Ministries
Honors and Awards
• Chancellor’s Award for Excellence, received May 2017 • The Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence, received May 2016 • Presidential Citation, CARDONE Industries (Highest award given by organization). • Achieved Advanced Toastmaster status (Bronze level), Toastmasters
International • Permanent Teacher Certification, State of New Jersey • Certified Trainer: Situational Leadership (SLII), Leadership Training for Supervisors (LTS), The Ken Blanchard Companies
Selected Papers and Book Chapters Presented or Published
Bucci, J.J., & Lewis, P. (2021). Servant Leadership grounded in redemption: The example of Jesus serving others by “redemptive actions.” In: Dhiman, S. (Ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Servant Leadership. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapters available for download as of Spring 2022.
Bucci, J.J. (2021, April). Revising Entrepreneurial Instruction to Consider the Impact of Devastating Failure on the Businessperson’s Future Endeavors. To be published in the anthology entitled, Handbook of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, estimated target date Fall 2021.
Bucci, J.J. (2020, January 11). Renewing the Soul: A Workplace Wellness Strategy Grounded in Redemption. In: Dhiman, S. (Ed.) The Palgrave Handbook of Workplace Well-Being. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapters available for download as of January 2020 - https://link.springer.com/ referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-02470-3_23-1.
Bucci, J.J. (2019, November). Leading others into Redemption. Published in Renew: Operation Mobilization’s Leadership Journal, Volume 3.4, November 2019.
Bucci, J.J. (2018). Kingdom Entrepreneurship: Obeying the God Who Makes Things Grow. Approved for poster presentation at the Christian Business Faculty Association (CBFA) Annual meeting at Covenant College, Chattanooga, TN in October 2018.
Bucci, J.J. (2018). Change Management: Considering a Peniel Approach for Managing Change In Organizations. In: Dhiman, S.; Roberts, G.; & Crossman, J. (Eds.) Handbook of Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapters available for download as of January 2018 - https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319621623.
Bucci, J.J. (2017). Revising Entrepreneurial Instruction to Consider the Impact of Devastating Failure on the Businessperson’s Future Endeavors. Approved for poster presentation at the Christian Business Faculty Association (CBFA) Annual meeting at Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CA October 2017.
Redemption Inc. Presented a paper entitled, “Revisiting the pedagogy for teaching entrepreneurship: The impact of devastating failure and the support of faith” at the first annual College of Arts & Sciences Faculty-Student Research Conference, April 2017.
Bucci, J.J. (2016). Redemptive Leadership: Offering Second Chances as a ValueAdded Management Practice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bucci, J.J., & Lewis, P. (2016). The Case for Inclusion of Redemptive Managerial Dimensions in Servant Leadership Theory. Journal of Biblical Integration in Business 19(1), 444-453. Retrieved from http://cbfa-jbib.org/index.php/jbib/ article/view/444/453.
Bucci, J.J. (2014). People Matters: Aligning Company Values and Expressions of Faith. Published in the August 2014 newsletter of the Christian Business Chamber of Hampton Roads. Retrieved August 14, 2014, from http://www. chamberorganizer.com/cbcgate/v_newsletters/article_247988693.htm.
Bucci, J.J. (2014). The Case for Inclusion of Redemptive Managerial Dimensions in Servant Leadership Theory. Research Paper submitted to Christian Business Faculty Association (CBFA) for its annual meeting, 2014. Presented at the Christian Business Faculty Association Annual Conference 2014. Awarded “Best of Conference Award.”
Bucci, J.J. (2014). Talent Acquisition: Developing Untapped Talent Utilizing Redemptive Manager Behaviors.” Research Paper submitted to Christian Business Faculty Association (CBFA) presented at the Christian Business Faculty Association Annual Conference 2014.
“Manager Tendencies to Offer Second-Chance Opportunities: Follow-Up Research Comparing Faith-Oriented Managers with a General Manager Population.” Presented at the Christian Business Faculty Association Annual Conference 2013.
“Evidence of Redemptive Manager Behaviors in Successfully Reinstating Terminated Workers” Published Doctoral Dissertation 2011. A summary of this dissertation was presented at the Christian Business Faculty Association Annual Conference 2012
Contributed two topical devotionals which were published as a part of a compilation edition, “Solomon Was a Businessperson.” This book was published in the fall of 2008.
“An Examination of Redemptive Manager Behaviors in Reinstating Terminated Workers: An Organizational Case Study” presented at the Christian Business Faculty Association Annual Conference 2011. Awarded “Best of Conference Award.”
Excellence in College Teaching: Entrepreneurship and Ethics Courses.” Programs presented at the Christian Business Faculty Association Annual Conference 2009.
“Faith Influenced Managers and Terminal Worker Behavior.” Presented at the Christian Business Faculty Association Annual Conference 2008.
“A Theology of Business: Leading like Jesus in the Workplace.” Program presented at the monthly meeting of Leaders Serving Beaver County, Beaver, PA, April 2008.
“Empowering Business Students to Create Their Own Ethical DecisionMaking Model.” Presented at the Christian Business Faculty Association Annual Conference 2007.
See more at: https://www.regent.edu/faculty/d-b-a-joseph-j-bucci/.
