Linda Harmon

How do you apply your faith and Catholic values at work?

One of the ways I apply my faith and values at work is through my meetings with clients and perspective clients. My goal with an initial client meeting is to first understand what is most important to a client within their life.

I seek to understand what they have faith around, what they trust, and what they value in their life. Often, this is the first time they have been asked to articulate their answers, and often the first time a husband and wife have listened to each other verbalize the life that is important to them.

This conversation helps people discern a life that brings peace, happiness and satisfaction, and helps guide them in prioritizing the financial goals to achieve the life they want to live.

Please tell a story about a time when applying your faith at work really made a difference.  

I was meeting with a woman who had decided to divorce her husband and wanted to know if I would help her plan how to “protect” her assets in the divorce.

After expressing my sorrow and empathizing with her pain around her decision, I asked permission to ask some questions about her decision. I asked her if she had thought about what the first day of life in her home would look like after she was divorced. I listened.

My next question asked her to describe what the first holiday would look like after the divorce. I listened. Then, I asked her what her children’s birthdays would look like after the divorce — and I listened.

We didn’t talk about protecting her assets that day, but we did talk a lot about hope and the vows made during the sacrament of marriage. I know now that the Holy Spirit was guiding me in these questions. It wasn’t exactly a conscious decision to apply my faith, but rather the graces I had received early in life — and those graces working in that moment. Ten years later, the marriage is strong and the family is prospering.

Who or what has been most inspirational to you in bringing your faith to the marketplace?

The Holy Spirit and the Catechetical Institute. I am a 2011 graduate of the Catechetical Institute, a two-year program offered through the St. Paul Seminary that walks students through the study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The first night of class, in my small group discussion, was the first time I had heard the term (and learned the meaning of) “cafeteria Catholic.” That night, I realized I had been a cafeteria Catholic my whole life!

By the end of the two-year study, and with good spiritual direction, I could “see” how the Holy Spirit had been present in my life. I could “see” how past decisions were made by me versus decisions that had been guided by the Holy Spirit.

I often wonder what my life would have looked like had I opened my heart sooner to the working of the Holy Spirit, but as I have come to learn — my journey of faith has all been part of God’s plan of sheer goodness for me!

What achievement at work are you most proud of?

Being guided to my fellow business associates, Colleen Hartmon Bollom and Jennifer Rath, and together building a workplace that supports our lives — and not a life that supports our work.

In what specific ways have you experienced God’s presence in your workplace?

When I experience God’s presence, I call it a “heart’s core” moment. It is a moment when you get the feeling that all is right with our practice and all the plans and hard work are good. I see these moments especially when clients visit our office.

Regardless of the purpose of the meeting, when clients are at our office, there is an air of genuine caring that exits between our employees and our clients. Our clients know our families as much as we know theirs. Client meetings feel like reunions of close friends and family.

Profile

Age: 52
Company: Harmon & Hartmon Financial Group
Title: Principal, CFP, CPA
Parish: St. John the Baptist in New Brighton
Spouse: Bob
Children: Margaret, 18, and William, 13
Volunteer activities: Parish Stewardship and Evangelization Commission, confirmation small group leader, Junior Achievement classroom volunteer, Wines to Wishes fundraiser event treasurer, Shepherd’s Little Flocks Ministry coordinator, Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute class representative, National Women’s Ministry core team, BestPrep Financial Matters Program speaker