Episode 92 - Navigating Challenges in Business (part 1) w John Beckett

You step into the family business to work alongside your father...within a little over a year, he passes away due to heart attack, the factory almost burns to ground, and you're wrestling with trying to understand how your faith intersects with the grind of business life.  Sound challenging enough?

On this episode Ken Powell, host of FCCI's Pathway to Purpose podcast pulls a keynote presentation from the FCCI archives that features John Beckett.  John D. Beckett grew up in Elyria, Ohio and graduated from M.I.T. in 1960 before working as an engineer in the aerospace industry. In 1963 he joined his father’s small manufacturing business, R.W. Beckett Corp., and became president in 1965 upon the death of his father. The company has grown to become a worldwide leader in producing engineered components for residential and commercial heating.

Along with its affiliates, the company employs some 700 people. Mr. Beckett is a founding board member of The King’s College in New York City, serves on the board of Campus Crusade for Christ, International, and is a director of Graphic Packaging Corporation, a  NYSE-listed manufacturing company. He served as the college’s interim chairman from May 2007 to December 2008. His first book, Loving Monday: Succeeding in Business Without Selling Your Soul, was published in 1998, and is now available in fourteen languages. His second book, Mastering Monday: A Practical Guide to Integrating Faith and Work, was released in July 2006. Mr. Beckett received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Spring Arbor University in 2002 and The King’s College in 2008.

He was also named “Christian Businessman of the Year” by the Christian Broadcasting network (1999) and manufacturing “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young (2003). He resides in Elyria, Ohio with his wife of 47 years, Wendy. They have six children and eighteen grandchildren.

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