Fire Your Boss: Interview with Aaron McHugh - Ep 12

09/10/20 • 34 min

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Welcome to the Soma SoulWorks Podcast! This podcast serves to help people, particularly those who may label themselves as "creatives," to seek wholeness and calling so they are ready to embrace the mission God has for them. Consider this podcast a rogue harmony of professional development and self-care, hosted by John Bergquist and Chris Skaggs.

What’s covered in this episode:

In this interview with Aaron McHugh, author of Fire Your Boss, we look into the workplace and how we can change our mindsets to help improve our role in them.
The idea that every employee is an interchangeable cog is prevalent in the workplace. There is an emphasis on the service and resources an employee brings, rather than on the human being themselves; this is expected and normalized in the workplace. “We’ve outsourced our happiness and contentment to other people,” Aaron says. “It’s a fundamentally flawed system...There is a spirit of slavery over the workplace.”
Aaron describes watching his grandfather work at Disneyland in its early years. Seeing the joy his grandfather had there helped him articulate something he wanted in his own work-life: Work is supposed to matter, make a difference, and be purposeful.
The fundamental question Aaron asks here and in his book, Fire Your Boss, is, “What would it look like to bring all of yourself in an honoring and godly way to your work environment? How do I move from fear, being compartmentalized, and being complicit as a victim to living out freedom, wholeheartedness, and being empowered enough to hold myself responsible and accountable wherever I am?”
Like in the serenity prayer, Aaron puts an emphasis that we should be seeking God’s input to understand what we can change internally and externally—that we can discern when we need to be adaptable vs. when we need to remove ourselves from a situation that’s causing us suffering.
The good change comes with a shift in your mindset. Rather than waiting for an ideal opportunity to do your work well, you should be bringing patience, dignity, honor, spirituality, forgiveness, grace, and love to whatever job you’re doing. That’s the way you get promoted. “That’s the way of the kingdom.” Aaron says, “Wherever you are, you can become the kind of person who learns to thrive.”
“Always believe that you are uniquely qualified to make a lasting contribution to the future of work.” - Aaron McHugh

Resources mentioned:

Email us ideas, questions or suggestions at [email protected]

What’s covered in this episode:

In this interview with Aaron McHugh, author of Fire Your Boss, we look into the workplace and how we can change our mindsets to help improve our role in them.
The idea that every employee is an interchangeable cog is prevalent in the workplace. There is an emphasis on the service and resources an employee brings, rather than on the human being themselves; this is expected and normalized in the workplace. “We’ve outsourced our happiness and contentment to other people,” Aaron says. “It’s a fundamentally flawed system...There is a spirit of slavery over the workplace.”
Aaron describes watching his grandfather work at Disneyland in its early years. Seeing the joy his grandfather had there helped him articulate something he wanted in his own work-life: Work is supposed to matter, make a difference, and be purposeful.
The fundamental question Aaron asks here and in his book, Fire Your Boss, is, “What would it look like to bring all of yourself in an honoring and godly way to your work environment? How do I move from fear, being compartmentalized, and being complicit as a victim to living out freedom, wholeheartedness, and being empowered enough to hold myself responsible and accountable wherever I am?”
Like in the serenity prayer, Aaron puts an emphasis that we should be seeking God’s input to understand what we can change internally and externally—that we can discern when we need to be adaptable vs. when we need to remove ourselves from a situation that’s causing us suffering.
The good change comes with a shift in your mindset. Rather than waiting for an ideal opportunity to do your work well, you should be bringing patience, dignity, honor, spirituality, forgiveness, grace, and love to whatever job you’re doing. That’s the way you get promoted. “That’s the way of the kingdom.” Aaron says, “Wherever you are, you can become the kind of person who learns to thrive.”
“Always believe that you are uniquely qualified to make a lasting contribution to the future of work.” - Aaron McHugh

Resources mentioned:

Email us ideas, questions or suggestions at [email protected]

Previous Episode

Breaking Strongholds: Wrap Up with Mark Söderwall - Ep 11

What’s covered in this episode:

What does the Performance Stronghold look like?
- Coming into something—an event, a job, etc.—and already feeling unworthy.
- Imposter syndrome: “I’m a fraud and I don’t deserve this.”
- Comparison
- “I’m not enough, so I have to really work at this.”
The Enemy will use strongholds like these to take artists out. In any creative culture, there’s the 24/7 work-pressure that eats artists up. Mark describes it feeling like, “you’ve got a barcode on the back of your neck.” It’s this fear of being replaced that you compensate by overworking yourself.
It comes back to identity. Having full awareness of who you are in Christ—that you aren’t alone, and that he co-labors with you—means you’ll be able to take pretty much anything that comes at you because your wellness is founded in The Kingdom, and not in the validation of your peers. Then, you’ll be prepared to respond out of love rather than defense.
It’s not about the paychecks, comparison, or the promotion. Invite the Holy Spirit into your work, and have a dialogue with him about it. Ask him what you’re constructed to do.
Mark describes a time when he began working for LucasArts as an art director for “Battlefront”. He felt the stronghold of oppression and imposter syndrome walking into his office for the first time. “I’m six feet, but I felt like I was 6 inches.” He said he asked himself, out loud, “What do I have to offer this place?” And he felt the Holy Spirit warm his heart and dispel the fear. It can be challenging not to put on a stronghold of comparison when you’re working in a building with skilled specialists, but at this point your choices are either to break down, or to break through and grow.
There will be people who are horrible to you. When you feel those strongholds, turn to prayer. “Hey, you knitted this person together. You know their heart, I don’t. What would you like me as a vessel to speak into this person?” Submit back to The Father. Adapt to the situation, and bless the people you interact with.
There were times when Jesus had to go into the wilderness and seek His Father’s voice. We need that rest, and the patience to wait for God’s voice. Many times there isn’t an answer right away. It’s about a posture of submission to him.
Take off the pressure that we have to be the best to have influence. Instead, you just need to show up, show love, and share your story.

Resources mentioned:

The Power of Vulnerability TED Talk by Brené Brown
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action by Simon Sinek
War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Seth Godin
On Moral Fiction by John Gardner
On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King
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Next Episode

Soma's Vision and Evolution - Ep 13

What’s covered in this episode:

Soma Games started in 2005, there was more at stake than just breaking into the videogame industry. “God started a game company, but didn’t start with games,” says Chris Skaggs.
Since then, God has opened doors. First with a mobile game, then the opportunity to work with Redwall, and soon the studio was turning heads. 2018 marked the release of Lost Legends of Redwall: Act I, and a chance to pause and think about the vision of Soma Games itself. This realization led to the 2019 Vision Quest.
What caught the public’s attention was not the game itself, but the people. John Dale, friend of Soma, made the observation once that, “all of your God stories are not about your product. They’re about the people. They’re about the influence that you had on people. That’s what God has gifted you with.”
From the beginning, the response to Soma Games has been overwhelming. People are encouraged by the fact that this kind of studio exists, and as potential game developers, they think, “if you exist, maybe I can do it too.”
The Vision Quest really helped to solidify this mission: To be culturally aware and build culture in the entertainment space, as opposed to building products.
This mission manifests itself in ways like Soma SoulWorks, the umbrella for our various ministry efforts outside of direct game development. It’s a message that mainly serves those in the “Warrior-Poet Phase” as Chris calls them. Young adult adventurers discovering life and their purpose in a time that offers plenty of questions and few answers.
Soma SoulWorks aims to equip followers with a firm foundation to balance creativity, honor, and faith, and feed their hunger to make the world a better place.
Mark Söderwall, a veteran in the gaming industry, says that Soma Games is different from most studios out there. The focus is on the people. “Once you know what motivates someone and what drives their heart,” he says, “you can help them feel more seen and heard, and give them momentum. Most companies are very much interested in the professional, and not the person.”
The purpose behind Soma Games is that it’s not enough to create a Christian game company, we need to create a mindset and give people the tools they need to have a good foundation and find their calling. “It’s not a leader, it’s not a company, it’s not a product. It’s an ethos.” - Chris Skaggs

Resources mentioned:

Email us ideas, questions or suggestions at [email protected]