Juggling Faith and Work: Tom Peterson's Blueprint for Business Dads with a Laugh

Ever wondered how to keep your belly laughs while balancing spreadsheets and bedtime stories? Tom Peterson joins us to share his secret sauce for juggling the holy trinity of faith, family, and profession with a smile. Tom's journey through a 37-year marriage, raising kids, and climbing the corporate ladder, all while keeping his faith front and center, offers an authentic roadmap for the business dads striving to do it all.

Hold onto your briefcases because Tom's tale isn't just about successes; it's about using humor as a life raft in a sea of boardroom seriousness. He gives us a peek into his book, "Thank God, It's Monday: Balancing Work and Faith," an honest narrative that throws light on the tightrope walk between personal beliefs and professional decorum. His insights are a breath of fresh air for anyone who's felt the pinch of presenting their authentic selves in a suit-and-tie setting.

But Tom's wisdom doesn't end with the podcast. He extends an invitation to the Balance Business Dad Facebook group—a community where the juggle doesn't feel like a struggle and where 'Dad Up' isn't just a phrase, it's a lifestyle. We also chat about how leveraging LinkedIn and Substack keeps Tom connected and helps spread his message to those navigating their multifaceted roles. This episode is more than just a conversation; it's a treasure trove of support for dads in the business world.

You can find Tom's book on Amazon at: Thank God It's Monday(?)
Reach out to Tom on LinkedIn at: Tom Peterson

  You can join over 350 other Dads like you by joining The Balanced Business Dad's Facebook group here: dadupgroup.com

Check out our website at: thebalancedbusinessdad.com

Socials:
RJ on Facebook at facebook.com/arjay3rd
RJ on Instagram at instagram.com/rjcampbell3rd
Dustin on Facebook at facebook.com/dustin.charles.718689
Dustin on Instagram at instagram.com/dustin_hoog

Transcript

Voiceover: 0:01

Dads, do you want a thriving business that doesn't control you, a passionate marriage and kids that adore you? Do you want to grow deeper in your faith, be healthier both physically and mentally, build more meaningful relationships with your friends? Welcome to the Balance Business Dad podcast, where, in each episode, we dive into balancing and optimizing the six pillars of life Faith, health, marriage, fatherhood, brotherhood and business. And here are your hosts, pioneers of the Balance Business Dad movement Dustin Hoag and RJ Campbell.

Coach Dustin: 0:37

What's going on, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Balance Business. Dad, I'm your host, Coach Dustin with me. As always, the season is the distinguished Mr RJ Campbell. Rj, what did you have for lunch yesterday?

R. J. Campbell: 0:52

I don't know, that was 24 hours ago.

Coach Dustin: 0:54

See, I was really coming up with one big guy. Throw him off there. I don't know how good that one is. I'm going to have to start writing something down that one probably pretty weird.

R. J. Campbell: 1:02

I don't disagree with that.

Coach Dustin: 1:03

I don't disagree with that. That one nobody cares about. I think it was cold pizza. Yeah, there you go. There you go, guys, we are in for a treat and we've been in for a lot of treats lately. I mean, it's so amazing, you know, doing this work, the amount and the people we get to interview and the people we get to talk to, which is absolutely amazing. And every time I think I'm more excited to get to talk to someone new, to bring the value to all the business dads out there. So dads, help us. Welcome Mr Tom Peterson and a fellow Midwester. So, tom, welcome to the show. How are you?

Tom Peterson: 1:38

I'm awesome guys. Thanks so much for the opportunity to be here, but I mean I would strongly encourage you to recalibrate your expectations about the message you'll hear from me. So let me just put that out there.

Coach Dustin: 1:50

So I've done some research and I'm very excited, so let's just jump right into it. You know, tom, tell us kind of who you are and what you're about right now.

Tom Peterson: 1:59

Yeah, thanks again, Dustin. I mean I think I kind of epitomize what you guys are all about. You know, husband, father, spent a long time in the utility industry as a utility communications guy. I live in Iowa right now with most my entire life in Iowa. Proud Hawkeye graduate married my high school sweetheart. We have 37 years under our belt. We have two kids, a daughter and a son. Our daughter is married and lives in Iowa, and our son is in the Minneapolis area. Thanks, Awesome.

Coach Dustin: 2:35

So kind of tell us your journey, kind of what, what you're doing now and kind of your message that you want to get out to the business, dad.

Tom Peterson: 2:43

Yeah, the focus I have kind of kind of grew out of my experience in the workforce. You know, again, I love what you guys have in terms of your six pillars, but for me the two fill the two pillars where I tend to have the biggest conflict is faith and work. And it's almost because I think that the rules for work sometimes feel so different than the rules for my faith, when I spent my entire career struggling with how do I, how do I live out my faith fully again when you're in Senate, at work, to behave in ways that don't necessarily match the sermon on the mount. You know, I always joke that I've never seen a company that has blessed or the meek in their corporate mission state, and so I've continually struggled with that and I kind of reached the low point when I was at a company that I'd kind of outgrown and they had definitely outgrown me. And so I started writing about how do you, how do you find the balance between your faith and your and your work.

Tom Peterson: 3:42

And for me a key part of that was was humor, finding a way to laugh at that, because if you really believe that your faith is is embedded in a strong relationship with Jesus Christ, that you are secure in your faith, then everything else should be a lot less important, a lot less frightening to you and you should be incented, you know, to follow your faith and not so much the work. But every day work would just keep trying to get get my attention and try to say no, no, this is what should be your priority, this is what should be. So I found that laughing at it was a really good way to kind of help help put it back in its box, give it the appropriate perspective so that I could stay focused on on Jesus and the process. So I spent the past past few years writing about that, blogging about that and things like that. So that's, that's kind of been the journey I've been on, especially the last few, last few months.

Coach Dustin: 4:33

Wow that's awesome, and so I'm very curious. I'm a huge fan of humor in everything. Honestly, sometimes people are laughing at me, but it's still humor, right? Yeah, I would love an example of how you've used humor to kind of intensify the faith but have it in the workplace just to get a real clear understanding of that.

Tom Peterson: 4:56

Yeah, and, as you know, it's real dangerous to make fun of your boss or your coworkers or things like that. Sometimes that can kind of kind of fly in the face of your faith.

Tom Peterson: 5:06

So, I tend to reflect a lot on where I fall down and talk, and in fact I've written a book about this and it's all about making fun of how poorly I do this. But it's also a way hopefully speaks to other men that we should be encouraged in this. We need to give ourselves grace and, again, I find that the humor is a good way to do this. I mean, for instance, I talk about the challenge of being in a business meeting, for instance, and if you think about it, business meetings can have that manifestation in so many ways that Paul talks about in Galatians. I think it is about, you know, the jealousy, the bitterness, all those kinds of things I mean for me, that was 90% of my business meetings, but when you walk by the Holy Spirit, it's things like, you know, faith, grace, love, all those kinds of fruits of the Holy Spirit. Well, wouldn't it be interesting if we tried to apply that in the workplace? And then I characterize how poorly I do, that we laugh about it and then try to do better next time.

Coach Dustin: 6:10

I love that because it's a way you know that I guess a lot of the differences between RJ and I, but one of them is I've been self employed for a very, very long time. Where RJ is, you know corporate, ex-corporate America guy, and I remember we were at a conference what two or three years ago now, and you know an amazing conference but there was a lot of talk about faith. I mean, we were praying and then 5,000 people we were there praying and it wasn't unusual to me because even in my self employed world I worked for franchises or I was a real estate agent by faith-based companies, so it wasn't as unusual to me, but it was extremely unusual to RJ and I remember him talking about that.

R. J. Campbell: 6:51

Rj, if you kind of want to talk a little bit about that, yeah, I was waiting for HR to come in the back doors and tap a song on her shoulder, so you can't be talking about this. Yeah, it was shocking. But I'm also amazed at how many people now in this entrepreneurial space are very open about their faith. You know you can't do I say you can't. You probably, literally in the big as big of companies that I work with, you really could not openly talk about your faith without risking rev-er-man. I would think you wouldn't start a meeting with a prayer because somebody is going to call HR about that. I'm amazed at the people I meet that are self employed and entrepreneurial, where faith is, like us, the number one pillar. Yeah, absolutely shocking and interesting, tom, that you mentioned. These are the bookends. For us, faith is our first pillar.

R. J. Campbell: 7:45

Businesses are last-of-hundred or sixth and least important, interesting that you're talking about the two bookends of everything else.

Tom Peterson: 7:51

Yeah, again, at home, I've got the ability to, you know, be a faithful father, be a faithful husband. You know the rules are what we set up as a family, and so that, from that standpoint, you know, do I do a good job at that? No, you know, we've made that point. But at work there's this constant pressure you feel is that you've got to deliver this. We're focused on this higher goal in order to generate profit, in order to serve shareholders, serve customers, that sort of thing.

Tom Peterson: 8:22

And I always struggle with some of those instances. They don't happen all the time, but there are some instances where it's a pretty clear dichotomy between what the workplace wants you to accomplish and what your faith challenges you to accomplish. And so how do you navigate that? And just a shout out to the entrepreneurs, dustin. And in some ways I think entrepreneurial is even harder. I'm kind of like RJ and I spent most of my life in a career in a corporate setting. And so you figure out how to navigate it and sometimes push an envelope. Sometimes you don't even bother to look for the envelope, but sometimes the entrepreneur has got to be hard because before you there was nothing. You show up. There's this entity. It would be so easy to feel like you should take credit for that. That's your work and your work and your accomplishment, and that's even more dangerous, I think, sometimes those of us who work in a corporate setting.

Coach Dustin: 9:16

That's very interesting. I didn't think of it that way. But yeah, you're right. I mean it's none of it I did Right, so right, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So, this journey and this writing, and it's the book I'm pretty sure this is you, but thank God, it's Monday, balancing work and faith have it up here on Amazon. So, guys, we'll make sure there's a link out there so you can get this book, because I'm very interested in it. So, while you were doing this work, were you still in corporate America or had you already left corporate America?

Tom Peterson: 9:45

Yeah, it's kind of an interesting. Well, I think it's interesting. I guess it's up to your listeners to decide if it's interesting.

Tom Peterson: 9:50

But. But I, like I said, I was at a job where I joined it. It was one of my first jobs out of college and it was for utility, and I continued to grow. I was at that company 15, 17 years by the time I was done. But the company had gone through mergers and gone through acquisitions, I'd gone through changes family birth of children, cancer with my wife, I mean all these things so that the company was very different, I was very different, and so at the end, I wasn't a good employee, I'll be honest. And then, frankly, I had my criticisms of the company as an employer.

Tom Peterson: 10:26

So that was when I started writing and started blogging about this topic, because I thought, you know, there's got to be a role for faith in this discussion. And so it really kind of took off. I had a lot of folks that were reading the blogs and then they start asking well, we'd love to see a book, when are you going to write a book? And it's like, well, I'm just not in a good place right now. Well, fortunately, god gave me the grace to take on a new job with a new company, and I always joke that it was like thanks God, now I got it. I got this great company. I'm doing good. I don't need you right now. I'm good. Thanks for your help.

Tom Peterson: 11:01

I'm moving on, and so I kind of put the writing back in the drawer. But as I got to the point where and again, I hate the term retirement because it sort of creates this mental image of you know doing nothing or golfing or something that is not particularly productive, but I retired in order. Then I could do more of this kind of writing and talking, and so my wife said this really feels like something that's a passion for yours Of yours. Why don't you try to pursue this? So again, either Tom Sloth or God's timing you know the book was, you know, 18 years in the works. But the book is a whole lot more mature and a whole lot more insightful than the you know 17 year ago. Tom, that would have tried to write it back then. Unfortunately, the person I am now is even better than the one who wrote the book. So, yeah, don't buy the book, wait for the next one, I guess, is my message.

Coach Dustin: 12:04

I'm not a part of this market. Yeah, we're not going to this one. It's a normal thing.

R. J. Campbell: 12:08

Yeah, that's really not the marketing way of that one, it's buy the book and there'll be, another edition coming out that will make it even. That will add on top.

Tom Peterson: 12:16

Yeah, it'll be much better. We'll work through that one offline.

R. J. Campbell: 12:19

So yeah, so the question I really I was what we're talking about with faith at work isn't it sounds like you know apostolatizing your faith while you're at work, but living by your faith One bread work.

Tom Peterson: 12:36

Am I correct? Yeah, that's one of the pieces of advice I got that just really resonated with me is that there are certainly restrictions in the workplace about what you can say at work, but there are not restrictions about how you can act like Christ in the workplace, and for me that was just a really eye-opening piece. I can show grace, I can show kindness, I can pull someone aside and connect with them as a person in the midst of our workday and no one's going to call HR and say you know, tom's acting a whole lot like Jesus today. I think we should probably, you know, scale that back.

R. J. Campbell: 13:13

You know Tom's being nice yeah we can't have that.

Tom Peterson: 13:16

It's so out of character for him. We have to. We have to wonder if maybe there's something else going on. But I think that's the piece is it's too easy for us. And again, our jobs are really important. You know, they provide a paycheck, they provide insurance, they provide sustenance, and so we tend to put those in the place on the throne that we should have. We should have gotten Jesus, and so we get. We get a little scared.

Tom Peterson: 13:42

I don't, I don't want to brush up against that. I don't want to do anything that makes waves because I don't, I don't want to get that call from HR. But I think that I think we tend to think about it wrong. I think I think we need to think about how can I act in a way that that lives out my faith, that I can come home at the end of the day and say, wow, that was a, that was a painful, not good day, but I was. I was faithful to my faith. I lived in a way that I can. I can look myself in the mirror, I can look Jesus in the eye and say, wow, I did live out my faith today and and did it without getting a call from HR. I don't know why I keep painting HR as bad people. Most people in HR I know they're. They're good people, some Christians, so they just get.

R. J. Campbell: 14:25

They just get it all, just dump it all there to do.

Tom Peterson: 14:26

He was out of the lawyers, you know yeah and the HR will bring the lawyers, those of us who have worked in corporate settings.

Coach Dustin: 14:33

What I love about this is, you know, and sometimes I think the how we act apostolizes I can't even say that word so much more right, because, yeah, I believe modeling the behavior People learn from honestly a lot better than if we were sometimes on the mound right, preaching right, and so what I love that is you're still able to do that by modeling your faith. It still reaches so many people just by being you.

R. J. Campbell: 15:02

I love that Well yeah, you think about that when it comes to apostolatizing by our actions. So people just witness that we are content, happy. What is that? Where can that be more effective?

Coach Dustin: 15:15

right.

R. J. Campbell: 15:16

And then the seven, eight, nine, six, whatever those hours are per day that we're around people in a workforce. That's the biggest impact we have on other lives. People see us more at work. We interact with people more at work than anywhere else. It's the perfect place to model Christ, without people even knowing you're modeling.

Tom Peterson: 15:37

Christ Right and then and then not beat yourself up when you fall short. I mean, that's the other part of my message is and again, this is I mean frankly, if anybody reads the book, that's great. But it's more. Me processing how badly I did this throughout my career is that it's so easy to get discouraged because we have this sense of this is the level of performance I should be doing in my faith. And if I don't meet that standard, then at least in my case, it's easy to say well, I'm just not good at this, I should just give up. I'll just go ahead and compartmentalize, because as a male of the species, I'm really good at that. I'm going to put on my work hat and my work suit and today I'm going to act like work. I'll wear my faith suit when I go to church on Sunday, and I just don't think that's what we're called to do, but yet that's what I made a career out of doing. So I guess the book is my atonement, I guess I don't know.

R. J. Campbell: 16:33

I'm thinking about my years of atonement I need. I was always in the agency type of world, so everything was client focused and I used this line probably a thousand times in my career. Once we would have some type of issue and it would be a we don't need to Tell the client if they don't find out about it. We're okay If we can correct it before it gets out, whatever that is. And I would always say remember, you can't spell the word client without the word lie.

R. J. Campbell: 17:00

You know, write that one down, rj, that's a good one not particularly Christ, the younger associates in all of my years, so darn it.

Coach Dustin: 17:12

Yeah, well, I love this message. You know, tom, just sort of in here, I always like to get into that, the mechanics of things. So what you know, three tips. Could you tell the business dads out there that are struggling with this, either in the companies they own or the companies they work for or, you know, in any kind of work atmosphere? What are some tips that you could help them with through this?

Tom Peterson: 17:36

Yeah, that's great and I'm actually working on a presentation and let's see if I can remember my three points here. The first one is just to think about it, like I said, for for me I tended so easily to compartmentalize and just to think, even even on days when I was getting good at doing my Bible reading beforehand and reading a scripture reading devotions, still something a switch flipped when I got to the office and I was all work. So the first thing I do is is encourage dads to just think about it. You know, just give some thought to that. And sometimes you know there's a number of mnemonic devices or things you can do I Joke about.

Tom Peterson: 18:20

You know, I like to have trinkets in my office. That's that sent the signal that I'm a Christ follower. And is that going to bring somebody to Christ when they see all the trinkets and the bookmarks and the in the paperweights? No, of course, not right, but it just serves as a gentle reminder to me that this is important to me and I need to bring it to the office, bring it to the workplace. So the first thing is to think about it. The second is to make sure it's it's natural and it's comfortable. I mean, like we were talking earlier.

Tom Peterson: 18:51

This is not about the command to you know, make disciples in the conference room and baptize them at the water cooler. That that's not what it's about. That would be. That would be. That would be. It'd be an interesting day. I'm guessing a HR would stop by if that's the case, but but. But just do what is what you're called to do. You know, and part of knowing what you're called to do is is seeking guidance to do that. I'm in a phase of my life right now it's really an interesting exploration about the Holy Spirit. You know what is the power of the Holy Spirit, how do you access the power of the Holy Spirit, how do you hear from the Holy Spirit? And so I think that's the other piece of it is is is call out and, but yet do what you're called, what is natural for you, you know.

Coach Dustin: 19:38

I like that, you know you mentioned sales dust.

Tom Peterson: 19:40

I'm obviously a terrible salesperson, so you're not gonna find me on the sales team or on a call center, because that's not what I'm called to do. That's not where my giftedness is, so do that like that, yeah. And then the third piece is again, give give ourselves grace. We have a God of truth and grace and so often we're so grateful for the grace of Jesus, but we don't give ourselves that same grace. And you know, every day is a new opportunity. When and this applies to you know any of the six pillars yeah, give yourself grace. When you, when you fall short, when you don't meet the expectation, just commit that you're gonna try again. You know, use the resources you've got, call in the Holy Spirit and and give yourself grace so you can keep. Keep at it, don't give up.

Coach Dustin: 20:27

Yeah, I love those are great. Three tips and, honestly, anytime you just mentioned it, all those tips could work in all six pillars. Right, right, I love that. So, guys, make sure you go back and listen to that, write that down and we can put those in the show notes. But those were great, great tips. Thank you, this, this has been awesome. We will have the link to get the book because I'm going to sell it for him. Don't wait till the next book is out and Get the box, because it's just such an interesting premise that, you know, I never even realized that it's something I probably struggled with, right, it's one of those things that was so I Didn't think about it. I think that's. You know, that was that was my challenge there. I never, but now it's been a long time since I had to work for someone. But, yeah, I love the premise, I love everything out of it. This has been great. Rj, you got anything last words then.

R. J. Campbell: 21:18

No, it's a console. Where, where do we find you? Out there, somewhere, see your writings.

Tom Peterson: 21:24

Yeah, by all means, please join with me on LinkedIn. And again, linkedin is a really interesting place because I'm trying to put that, that square faith pig, in the round hole that is linked in. So you know, you know, connect with me there. Also, sub stack is where I have a Platform for you know what used to be blogs, but now is such. And again, you can find the, the book on on any, any online Book of vendor and maybe even a local book vendor who knows?

Coach Dustin: 21:59

Yeah, I love that. That's awesome. Well, thank you guys. Guys, make sure you go back. Write those tips down. This is great. Of course, you can always continue this conversation with us at the free balance business dad Facebook group. You can find that just by typing in balance business dad or you can go to dad up group. Come. You get a little bit of free training for me on how to use the data framework, as well as the link right into the Facebook and that guy's limited dad up, because people who love you the most deserve it.

R. J. Campbell: 22:27

I think we're done here. Well, we're out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I don't know the church's.