Renegotiating 'value': what faiths offer 21st century business leadership is a seminar series which seeks to explore the benefit and challenge of faith traditions in leading sustainable businesses. Each of the faith traditions contain
resources for leadership in their spiritual values and teachings. Sometimes these come through the teaching of these communities and sometimes through the examples of past or current leaders. In recent years such teaching and examples have been increasingly applied to the realm of work with the result that a broadly-based Spirituality at Work movement has emerged providing additional resources relating to leadership.
Faiths in London’s Economy, which works with faith communities in order to create coordinated faith-community responses to the issues facing London's economy, has sought, through this seminar series, to explore a broader understanding of value than that linked solely to monetary value. These seminars are therefore intended to be a timely and necessary contribution to those challenges currently facing society generally and the world of business in particular.
Underpinning our thinking has been the idea that we may be in a moment in time when recession, the credit crunch and the ecological crisis are combining to bring about profound shifts in the global economy.
A ‘third way’ or ‘middle path’ is needed between nationalisation and capitalism based on agreed standards of ethics, environmental and social responsibility and a broad understanding of wealth and value. Our discussion of what faiths offer to 21st century business leadership and of ways in which inspirational leadership can be sustained in the face of human imperfections is a valid and vital contribution to the development of that paradigm shift.
Our first seminar was entitled
'Profit vs Prophet: making money and making a difference, are they opposed?' and was held at the
St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace on Thursday 7th October. Presentations from
Mannie Sher (
Tavistock Institute),
Abigail Morris (
ResponseAbility) and
Harmander Singh (
Faith-based Regeneration Network) provided a rich variety of faith perspectives on and approaches to the topic.
Mannie Sher began with the Biblical prophets, and the prophet Micah in particular, sketching out the context into which they spoke and highlighting the way in which they demonstrated the courage to denounce the corruption of rulers, sympathise with the poor and call for justice as being the essence of God's demands. The prophets however were opposed to excessive and unequal profits, and not to profit per se. In an Agrarian society, production cannot be solely for immediate consumption, some produce must be stored for future planting and a contemporary equivalent may be the division of one third for direct costs, one third for indirect costs and one third as profits for future investment. Time is a key factor as profiteers seek to shorten work processes to maximise profits and are solely concerned with profits in the present rather than investment for the future.
Current research undertaken by Sher, with Alison Gill, seems to suggest that bankers may inhabit a bubble where their only talk is of investments and decisions are made solely on the basis of how much a particular investment has increased. In speaking about the banking crisis they seemed only able to talk in terms of headline phrases and seem unsure of how to judge their part in a systemic failure. The system seems to be drunk on debt and has distorted negatives into positives, so that 'Greed is good'. A middle way is needed which understands that money is more than the value of the things we buy, as it is also a vehicle for our fantasies (conscious imagination) and phantasies (inner unconcious). We need both prophets and profiteers in order to marry the wisdom, humility and care of the prophets to the wit and acumen of the profiteers.
Abigail Morris provided a different model for translating the wisdom of the Jewish tradition into the contemporary business world by utilising the insights of psychological and sociological research into wellbeing. Research demonstrates that beyond what is, in the West, a minimal level of wealth (£20,000 per annum) levels of well being do not increase with income. Levels of well being for those with wealth are reduced by surrounding poverty and levels of mental ill health are also high and rising in the affluent West. Positive psychology impacts on wellbeing, including health and longevity.
Based on such scientific evidence, the
new economics foundation has created a set of
five simple actions which can improve well-being in everyday life. These have clear corrollaries to teaching within Judaism: Give (Tzedakah) - being a volunteer and giving to charity has consistently been shown to be hugely beneficial, both mentally and physically; Connect (Kehilah) - people cope better if they are part of community networks and possess strong relationships with friends and family; Be Active (P'ilot v'kasher) - exercise is not just about physical health, but mental wellbeing as well; Keep Learning (Torah) - learning new skills stimulates the mind and can have long term benefits in reducing your chances of developing dementia or alzheimers; and Take Notice (Tefilah) - reflecting on your surroundings and your feelings can help you to appreciate what matters to you most. To these, and based on the work of
Martin Seligman, ResponseAbility add Gratitude (Berachot) as studies have shown that if people take time at the end of every day to reflect on things that have gone well there is a marked increase in well-being. It is worth noting that none of these steps towards well being are about making money. Instead, the scripture says, "choose life, that you may live."
Harmander Singh noted that the Sikh Gurus bestowed upon the Sikhs the concept of Miri-Piri and Raj Jog which is princely living according to Gurmat (Guru's teaching/thinking) and therefore is attuned to the Almighty. Miri-Piri is the balance between Spiritual and Temporal living and is denoted by the two crossed swords in the Sikh symbol, the Khanda. All Sikhs are encouraged to be householders but this does not mean becoming property developers or Peter Rachman's. It is acceptable to be rich as long as you live according to the principles of Gurmat and not indulge in un-Sikh businesses or those businesses which force you to a life that is anything but "honest living."
Here, the three basic principles of Sikhi always apply. These are: Naam Japna, Kirat Karni and Vand ke Shakna. Naam Japna is to remember God lovingly during all waking moments. Kirat Karni means making an honest living that is according to Gurmat living. Selling alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs, and being in the adult entertainment business are activities which Gurmat strictly forbids. Vand Ke Shakna is to share with others, especially the needy and vulnerable. As there is no Welfare State equivalent worth mentioning in certain parts of the world and certainly not in the times gone by, Sikhs donate (Daswandh or Darshan Pehta) whatever they can from their earnings to the Gurdwara - which is more than just a place for congregational worship as it provides a centre where support of all kinds can be sought either directly or signposted.
In her first public engagement since the Privileges and Conduct Committee report which suspended her from the House of Lords,
Baroness Uddin spoke at the second seminar in the series,
‘Bonus vs Pro Bono’, which explored the place of inspirational leadership in renegotiating 'value',
Baroness Uddin stated that, although speaking both as a woman and a Muslim, she primarily wanted to contribute as someone who has seen inspirational leaders in action throughout her professional career. She summarised the qualities for leadership in Islam as: hikmah (wisdom, insight); taqwa (love and fear of Allah); ‘adl (justice) and rahmah (compassion); courage and bravery; shura (mutual consultation); decisiveness and being resolute; eloquence; a spirit of self-sacrifice; and sabr (patience).
These are the qualities, she said, that build and sustain strong communities and enable the tackling of prejudice and Islamophobia as well as the male discrimination and family pressure that women suffer when seeking employment. Despite these challenges and stereotypes, more and more women, increasingly proactive, are interested in participating in ESOL and information technology classes. This willingness is a massive opportunity to engage women's participation. We need to move beyond lip service into the realm of equity, she argued, by genuinely reflecting the community in our workforces.
Peter Hyson of
Change Perspectives Ltd shared research indicating that ‘spirituality’ is an essential component of outstanding leadership and value. Any discussion of successful leadership and of value, he argued, must involve spirituality as business success requires outstanding leaders and for most of us the leaders we most admire exhibit strong presence of those spiritual values identified through US research. So why, especially in times of recession and economic struggle, is the silence so deafening? I answer, he suggested that there are two endemic problems: an unchallenged assumption that spirituality and work are like oil and water – never to be mixed; and a lack of a commonly understood and shared vocabulary.
Hyson identified approaches to time and space, tolerance of imperfection, servant leadership, and peace and equanimity as characteristics of leadership, value and spirituality before challenging participants not only to identify such characteristics but also to provide the opportunity, the greenhouse, where they can be nurtured.
The resulting discussions have explored among other issues:
• barriers to the discussion of workplace spirituality and means of overcoming these;
• the importance of the legacy which we leave in terms of empowerment and stewardship;
• the extent of engagement with spirituality outside of organised religion; spirituality as a driver for more meaningful work;
• tensions between the leadership ideals of faith tradition and the fallibility of human beings; the relationship between the systems we inhabit and our human emotions;
• the ability of wealth to feed a feeling of omnipotence and of common wealth to equal common well being;
• the importance of primary theology which begins with God's economy and challenges the current situation;
• the reality of change as organisations recognise that in order to gain business you also have to contribute to society;
• the understanding of wealth as a gift from the Almighty, a loan to us with a duty to ensure that everyone benefits according to their need;
• our responsibility for the way in which society promotes greed and consumption; the delinking, by Richard Nixon, of the dollar from gold and the hyper-Capitalism that we have experienced from this point onwards.
A third seminar exploring who it is that businesses are and should be accountable to and the difference this makes to their structure and operation is being planned. Ideas emerging for action from these seminars include a faith-based contribution to the Finance Lab and a Foundation for Business Ethics and Spirituality. Further information and debate on the issues and the seminars can be found at
http://renegotiatingvalue.blogspot.com/.
Renegotiating ‘value’ is a seminar series organised by Faiths in London’s Economy (FiLE) in association with:
Ethos HumanCapital;
Faith Regen Foundation;
The Grubb Institute;
Mission in London’s Economy; the
SmithMartin Partnership; and St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace.
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Ladysmith Black Mambazo -
Homeless.
