VIEWPOINTS : Business or Religion? New View of the American Dream : Executive Opts for Religious Vocation

On April 7, I announced that I would leave Compaq Computer Corp. and the personal computer industry to pursue a religious vocation. Why would one of the founders of one of the most successful companies in American business history quit?

If these were normal circumstances, I would have left because of a) undisclosed personal reasons, b) disagreement with others (the chairman, president, etc.), c) age or d) poor health. But none of these is the reason. I’m leaving because I know that I can be of greater service to my fellow man.

To better understand my decision, you need a deeper understanding of what I’m like.

I’m someone who frequently struggles to balance God, family and business. Two years ago, when I was vice president of marketing at Compaq, I was approaching a good balance after a three-year struggle.

Then, when I was asked to become vice president of sales, I spent many hours considering whether accepting this position would be good for me and my family.

I felt that this position had the potential to damage my family life and my spiritual life. The vice president of sales position would mean much more travel and separation from my family, since 80% of the sales staff works outside the Houston area, where I live.

Accepted the Position

In the end, I decided to accept the position for three reasons:

First, from the company’s perspective, I was the right choice.

Second, I believed that I could manage an acceptable balance of time with my family.

I discussed the position and the problems, as I saw them, with my wife. While we felt that this change could stress our marriage, we believed that it was possible to offset these difficulties with more effective time together: vacations, weekly dates, more attention to each other’s needs, more time with our children, and more hugs and kisses.

Third, though I would be less active with my church community, I would be able to reach out to people while I traveled--usually on an airplane. In hindsight, I made the right decision and mostly for the right reasons.

What I didn’t anticipate, and was pleasantly surprised by, was how much more I learned about others, and myself, during those two years than I did in the previous 10 years.

I spent hundreds of hours talking to people whom I would have never met were it not for the providence of Continental Airlines’ seat assignments.

Since announcing my plans to leave Compaq, I have received many letters and phone calls from people I’ve never met who want me to know that my announcement has touched them in a special way.

They believe that I’m making a choice between fame and fortune, and God, or that I’ve finally achieved the “Great American Dream” of being both financially and personally independent.

Though there is some truth in these beliefs, they are slightly off target.

Always Had Freedom

As for the American dream, 20 years ago I lived in North Africa, where I saw tens of thousands of people whose very survival was their career.

I’ve never had to fight for physical survival like the scores of people I saw in the villages I visited. Additionally, there are millions of people in America, and other countries as well, who fight a day-to-day battle for survival. Compared to these people, my life, even at its gloomiest points, has been easy.

Ever since my experiences in Africa, I’ve realized that I’ve always had immense personal and financial freedom. The American dream is really just a matter of perspective.

Years ago, I heard a story that still moves me every time I think of it:

There was a child who lived in a small village in Europe. His was a two-story house on the west side of town. In his bedroom was a window from which he could see most of his village. One day he was looking out his window when he noticed a beautiful golden window in a house across the village. His thoughts wandered from how beautiful that window was to how wonderful the people living there must be. Years later, the boy remembered that day and that window. And he set out on his own to cross the village to meet the wonderful people who lived in the house with the beautiful window. He eventually met them and they took him upstairs to see the beautiful window. As he looked through it, he couldn’t help but see another golden window! This golden window turned out to be his bedroom window on the other side of the village.

Many times I’ve been that child. Just as the boy’s perspective changed, my perspective of the American dream has changed.

As a first step in redirecting my career, I’m entering the Masters in Religious Education program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

Though I’ve been asked to do things ranging from entering the Roman Catholic deaconate program to working with a foundation to joining the boards of various institutions, I know it is too soon to make that decision.

I must spend the next 18 to 24 months in prayerful searching before I choose. In redirecting my career, I am affirming that I’ve gained the ability and the awareness of my responsibility to help those who are in need, either spiritually or physically.