Faith in the Workplace

Luci Swindoll's mission statement comes from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and she's pleased to recite it:

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.

For 30 years, Luci was a cartographer for Mobil Oil Corporation, during which time she sang opera professionally. She still drafts, draws, travels, writes and speaks to 350,000 women a year in Women of Faith arena events.

Thirty years with Mobil Oil and no marriage suggest that Luci married work, but a look around at the art, books, and photos in her new house says otherwise. So does her twelfth and newest book, Notes to a Working Woman: Finding Balance, Passion, and Fulfillment in Your Life, published in 2005 by W Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson.

In the first half of Notes, Luci lays out life-work principles. In the second half, she interviews five fellow Christian working women: entrepreneur and artist Andrea Grossman, recording company owner and singer CeCe Winans, newscaster Peggy Wehmeyer, author Anne Lamott, and Women of Faith President Mary Graham. In this HighCalling.org interview, we ask Luci about her own life and work.

Begin with the obvious, Luci: why this book?

Because I was asked to write it while I was still an employee at Mobil. Notes revives a book I wrote in the '80s, After You've Dressed for Success, basically about building character instead of a career. Also, since I was at Mobil 30 years, a lot of people are asking me about my philosophy of working, and this book is my answer.

You went to work in the 1950s, when most professional women were nurses or teachers, and you entered a dominantly male industry. What were you thinking?

I never set out to do something different or unique. I always just wanted to be myself—at home, at work, as an opera singer … whatever. I didn't want to play games or perform.

How did you form your ideas about management?

I had friends at the office who, once they became the boss, turned into something else … intimidating and demanding. If I'm ever a boss, I thought, I would do it from the position of love and care and promotion. A real leader is one who is able to encourage people and get them out of the nest toward something better.

Where did you get those ideas about leadership?

From my father, a wonderful leader and the hero of my life. He put a lot of emphasis on fairness. He never wanted limelight, just to help people to do their best. My father also told me it was important to be a jack of all trades. If you know something about everything, he'd say, you can cope with anything. But if you master only one thing, how do you cope with everything else in life?

Would you say "jack of all trades" was the best advice he gave you?

No, the best advice he gave me was about money. When I was about ten or twelve, I borrowed $7 from each of my brothers to buy a kit to build a model airplane and boat. I opened the box and laid it all out. Mother came in and sort of rolled her eyes. But my dad said, "This is great, honey. You're going to love making this! But where did you get the money for it?" I told him I borrowed it from Bubba and Babe, and Dad said, "How will you pay it back?" I had no idea. Then he said, "Let me tell you something about money," and he held up one hand with his fingers wide apart. He said: "Every dollar you ever get, if you spend some, save some, tithe some, invest some and give some away, (ticking off each finger … you'll always have money and you'll always enjoy money." I never forgot that, and to this day I call it my five-finger exercise. It works!

What kind of pressures did your life bring?

From Christians, I got pressure for not marrying, especially when I was younger. I didn't get very much pressure in the workplace because I was so integrated. I loved the guys I worked with, loved the job—was challenged by it. Some periods were difficult, but they were the making of me. It wasn't hard being one of the few women in the petroleum business, even though it's typically a good ol' boy system. You just go in with the good ol' boys, and I knew their families and wives and kids. When my boss retired, he promoted me to his position. I was the first woman in a management position at Mobil's West Coast Pipelines.

In your book, you say a woman can be in the workforce "without threatening her special gift of womanhood." What is a woman's gift, and what threatens it?

In a workforce like mine, the petroleum industry, I was the only woman in most meetings, but I was always treated like a lady. The men didn't curse and tell dirty jokes around me. We all laughed and just had fun. The gift is that you are a lady and when you act like one, you're treated as one. That was very important to me, but it was not a conscious effort—it was ingrained in me. I was the only girl in the family, but my father treated me like a lady from the day I was born until the day he died. And both of my brothers are complete gentlemen. I think womanhood is a special gift because it has unspoken influence. A business meeting was more dignified and the conversation was lifted if I was there. It's kind of hard to define, but it has to do with my faith and gender both.