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Our environment currently faces profound threats. Every kind of company and organisation will need to be involved in transforming our economy and society for a sustainable future. As workers, each of us is an integral part of a corporation or organisation that can hurt or help that goal. But do we have the conviction and influence to change things – and could it really work? Can our faith spur us on to the task? Where can we even begin to change our complicated systems?

What does it take to grow into a long-haul leader in the challenging contemporary finance sector, or any sector for that matter? What difference does it make to be a woman in leadership, and a person of faith at that? Jody Jonsson chose investment because she loved the intellectual challenge, the drama of the market, and the human psychology at play. And she chose that sector precisely because the pace and content seemed sustainable for a career. During 30 years in finance, there have been counter-cultural decisions along the way about work, about family, and about what really matters in life. She and her family have often taken roads less travelled. She’s seen how God has used challenging circumstances to make her a more effective leader, better able to model Christian vulnerability and transparency, and better able to serve her clients and colleagues.

Since the Church was born, Christians have debated how to engage with power. Is it ungodly to seek influence? Surely it’s better to seek the lowlier places? They’re challenging questions and many Christians conclude that withdrawal is the best policy: from politics and indeed from the wider public sphere. Michael Wear is convinced that this view couldn’t be more wrong. Catapulted into the West Wing in his early twenties under the Obama administration, Michael experienced first-hand the highs and lows of working as a Christian in government. He helped manage The White House’s engagement on religious and values issues and directed faith outreach for President Obama’s historic 2012 re-election campaign. We may be unlikely to find ourselves inside the halls of power in the American administration, but many of us are in places where we do exercise power in the public space: in education, local government, business, the arts, media, science, indeed the Church. How do we use our places of influence to work for the common good in ways shaped by our faith in Jesus Christ? How do we be the kind of people who know how to use power well, whatever formal authority we have?