What if you were part of an organization that had great leadership, stellar management, equal yoking, unity, clear vision, abundant resources, sound technology, excellent teamwork, strong communications, and a clear definition of success? This would indeed be a world-class organization. If any organization was to achieve lasting success it would be this one. Right?

If you think so, you would be wrong. This is a description of the Tower of Babel project recorded in Genesis 11:1–9. The project seemed to enjoy success, at least for some period of time but, in the end, the project was judged by God and never completed.

The traits of the project noted above seem to be sound practices, so why would God stop this project? The answer is given in Genesis 11:4, quoted above: self-glorification was the project participants’ objective. God does not support self-glorification. God only supports man's efforts to truly glorify God (Colossians 3:23–24).

Motive is important to God. He is always looking at men's hearts, seeking to reveal wrong motives. God wants men to deny their own glory and give glory solely to him.

Arguably, human motive is one of the seminal factors to enable anyone to win at work. Biblically, winning is not really about power, fame, or money; it is about obedience—doing the work assigned to you by God. Power, fame, and money are, at best, secondary issues. They are simply tools to enable people to do the will of God according to the ways of God.

If you don’t recognize the importance of the right motives, you will build with the wrong motives, which will lead to judgment. In other words, if you have any other motives in life and work than alignment with the will and ways of God, you are building a Tower of Babel. And your Tower of Babel will be judged just as the first recorded Tower of Babel was judged.

Therefore wisdom to win at work begins with the right motive: glorifying God by aligning with the will and ways of God.

Here is your business tip: To build a world-class organization that will endure, one must build what God has authorized to be built. Building an organization for any other reason does not bring glory to God because it is not aligned with his will. Leaders and managers must ask themselves hard questions. Has God given them a directive to build their organization? If not, they should repent and seek the Lord regarding what they are to do. If they have a directive from God, they need to carefully evaluate the ways they are building to ensure they are building according to God's ways. God has both a will for what he wants done and ways he wants his will executed. To glorify him, management and leaders must build according to his will and ways. Any other method of building organizations is based on wrong motives, which will lead to judgment. Wisdom to win at work begins with the right motive—glorifying God by aligning with the will and ways of God.