Read Mark 7:24-30

When seeking managers for my company, I look for the Syrophoenician Woman described in the Scripture above. Let’s break it down:

Resourcefulness
She found Jesus even though He went to great pains to keep his presence a secret. This shows a high degree of resourcefulness. We bill our Edoc Office Managers as, “Self-Managing Professionals.” The Greek woman in the story is surely that. She is on a mission to find a cure for her daughter and she knows that Jesus is the answer. All she has to do is find him in a place where she can have a private conversation and she does.

Unselfish and a Good Heart
Her daughter was her only concern. Not only is she unselfish, she is a good mother. I have learned over the 16-plus years of business, that good mothers also make good leaders. HR people go to great lengths to pigeon-hole people with personality testing. I say, forget the test! Ask the right questions to find out if they are a fit for the team, for your culture AND if they are a good mother. If they are a good mother from your assessment, she is ahead of the pack for consideration.

Godly Wisdom
When Jesus told her He was not yet ready for preaching to the Gentiles (throwing the children’s bread to the dogs), she had the perfect reply. Just as Jesus’ response to trap-setting questions by the Pharisees demonstrated wisdom, the response by the mother did as well (“even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”). Her Godly wisdom impressed Jesus and he healed the woman’s daughter. When wisdom like this makes an impact on our Lord, it should impress us as well. Hire her!

A Genuine Faith
Note her tremendous faith. Here is an outsider, a gentile, a woman that fell at the feet of Jesus. What faith!  Although this is not a requisite for our staff to be believers, when one comes along they have my attention. This makes our job as “Workplace Ministers” that much easier; we speak the same language and we have allies.

Now you can add layers of complexity to the hiring process in your organization with ads, screening, testing, interviewing, etc. Or you can simply hire the Syrophoenician Woman. I prefer the latter.