David Bauer - #4

In keeping with the theme of my previous post, Eric and I have been exploring the concept of building our lives our relationships. Since we are called to love others while living out the love of Christ, we thought it would be profound the discuss how that value would manifest itself in our lives. Eric has done a fantastic job of integrating the central focus of relationships into the culture of the PE firm that he has built. However, I have been convicted lately regarding my priorities and the amount of time that I have been willing to dedicated to building relationships. Practically speaking, this idea is somewhat daunting due to inevitability of sacrificing performance for the sake of investing the lives of others. We commiserated over that fear and talked about the seeming impracticality of living a lifestyle that values relationships above all else. In many ways, it seems that performing well and “succeeding” in one’s job and valuing relationships are mutually exclusive. We discussed if it is indeed possible to accomplish both objectives. The only way we thought this was possible was by seamlessly intertwining relational interactions with our daily responsibilities. We are relational beings, but the desire to perform and win is also intrinsic, so the challenge of weaving both of those needs into our lives would transform the way in which we live.