Your Company Will Save the World!

by Bradley J. Moore

Right before I left for my Caribbean cruise earlier this month, I grabbed some magazines piled high on my office desk and stuffed them into my briefcase. I figured with all that potential free time at sea, I could get caught up on reading about the latest Big Ideas in business.

I then proceeded directly to my awesome vacation and promptly ignored that heavy briefcase. Which was the appropriate thing to do, of course. However, by day five of my empty-headed junket, I was ready to engage my mind. After applying one more round of sun screen, I reached down from my sunny lounge chair on the deck and pulled a random issue of Harvard Business Review
from my briefcase stash, turned to the cover story and started reading.

The first few lines were like a smack up the side of my sunburned head. The essay was called, "How to Fix Capitalism," by famous Harvard Business School Professor and strategy guru, Michael Porter, and he opens with this bleak assessment: Business is increasingly viewed as a major cause of social, environmental and economic problems. Ouch.

He's right. Levels of public trust in business have fallen to all-time lows, probably not seen since, oh, I don’t know, maybe medieval feudalism? Instead, Porter suggests, the perception out there is that business prospers at the expense of the broader community. For most companies, this reality is driven by the short-term quest to please investors with ever-increasing profits.

Unfortunately, a mindset of tradeoffs is embedded in business today, making it a zero-sum game. In order to keep the profit machine spinning, we must keep chipping away at the non-essentials—through layoffs, slashing benefits, outsourcing, off-shoring, taking environmental and safety shortcuts—while fattening shareholder wallets in the process. The government is then forced to step in and police business activity through burdensome policy and regulation, which ends up hurting business even more. It’s a vicious cycle.

Porter has had enough, and thinks that capitalism is ready for a transformation—a full-fledged overhaul. His proposal: Companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together through a concept he calls “Shared Value.” In this model, business creates economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its very needs and challenges. This approach, he says, will in turn reward the company with long-term success.

In essence, Porter suggests that rather than driving profits, at the heart of corporate America should be a compelling intention for social progress: to reduce poverty and hunger, say, or to enhance the health and well being of employees or of a third world country; to replenish natural resources or reduce environmental impact. He uses examples of Walmart, Wells Fargo, Intel and IBM, all of whom have developed serious initiatives that re-conceive the intersection between society and corporate performance. Intel and IBM are both coming up with ways to help utilities economize on power usage. Wells Fargo has developed a set of tools that help customers budget and pay down debt. Walmart has cut 100 million miles from its trucks' delivery routes, lowering carbon emissions significantly.

Porter is on to something big, no doubt. But I am afraid he is missing something. Throughout the article, he barely mentions the role of leaders and managers in all of this. How can society be transformed for the better without the surefooted resolve of trustworthy, intentional leaders at the helm?

Porter calls for "companies" to take the lead in mending society’s ills, but a company in and of itself does not have a soul or a spirit or a moral center to take such a stand, does it? A company is nothing more than a legal entity designed to organize activities and get stuff done within a framework of an economic, governmental and legal system. But it is the people within the company who will dream up and execute on those choices for the greater good.

This level of transformation can only come from individual leaders who are filled with purpose and intent, and who possess, dare I say, a certain level of spiritual self-awareness. Those who are clear about their own convictions and values will then manifest these beliefs through the work they are doing, influencing and inspiring others along the way. Without spiritually intentional leaders, we are left with nothing more than a corporate shell.

Capitalism in and of itself can’t save society. Only people can–leaders who have the capacity for compassion and love and the ability to envision a purpose for their lives that transcends the upcoming quarterly financial statement.

Perhaps we should concentrate on fixing that first.

What purposes inspire you to transcend the quarterly financial statement?
As a follower of Jesus, what role do you see business playing in the common good?

Editor's Note: This piece was originally published on The High Calling. The image is from Urban Don.

Comments

Dan Little

QUOTE from B.J. Morre article: "Porter has had enough, and thinks that capitalism is ready for a transformation—a full-fledged overhaul. His proposal: Companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together through a concept he calls “Shared Value.” In this model, business creates economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its very needs and challenges."

The government (Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac) thought everyone needed to OWN a house and the rest is recent history. So my question is who decides what the needs are?

Does the government, the C.E.O.s of the newly overhauled companies? Do the people sit down with the companies and outline their needs?

I pastor an inner city curch, give out tons of food and lots of clothes but we often have a different view of needs from the people who are telling what their needs are. If we did give them what they tell us they need we would not be helping them at all but hurting them.

So, I have to find this article and read it for myself.. Saving the world is a tall order.

Marcus Goodyear

I'm a big fan of business, though I'm not in business. The business people I know face tremendous pressures to meet payroll, please customers, negotiate with contractors, and all sorts of other details.

But here's the thing about business. It is the only economic sector that creates wealth. A good business turns a profit, and in the process redistributes wealth to the people who helped create the profit. It's not a perfect system. Some business leaders have been accused lately of keeping too much of the profit for themselves.

But turning one talent into two talents is a sound Biblical concept, and a strong encouragement to Christians who are called to business.

Jeff Nelson

Transform the business world, great! but business's or people will not be the savior our society. The history of Harvard is one of success but it has also taught us that the further away from Christ we get the more we rely on our own ingenious knowledge to save the world. Harvard's early Motto over three hundred years ago was 'Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae' Truth for Christ and the Church, they began the school as a seminary to educate leaders about Christ and the Good news of the Gospel. They have since changed that motto and the motivating force behind its humble beginnings. Trusting in Christ is something that we shouldn't be ashamed of or need to hide for fear of offending others because of it. The writer of this article tossed out vague terms like being "spiritually aware" or filled with "purpose and intent" and spiritually intentional, those terms are so broad that they can mean anything the reader wants them to mean, it is like the spiritual shotgun approach trying to get everyone in one shot. The Gospel does not use this approach it is very clear about who we should put our faith in and it is not us or business! If we have become so clever as to think that we are the savior of our society then it is clear to see where the problem really lies. The bible leaves a lot to the thinking mind to ponder but on this issue it is crystal clear.

Marcus Goodyear

Jeff, your comment puzzles me. It feels like you aren't giving Bradley a fair shake just because he is avoiding the particular Christian phrases you are expecting him to use.

Bradley is a good Christian man. I know him personally and admire him greatly. Sure he uses some phrases that are more open than they might be, but he does so because he works in a secular world that tends to prejudge him if he comes on too strongly with the faith language. As a result, he has learned to ease people into the conversation about faith by choosing language that is more open.

However, it isn't fair to judge him for his rhetorical sensitivity.

In fact, as Bradley's editor at The High Calling, I have coached him (and all our writers) to tone down the Jesus talk. Jesus talk is the easy way out. Much better to share ideas that are Biblically sound. We are less interested in throwing the name of Jesus around than we are in loving God in our work and loving our neighbors as ourselves in our work.

Bradley is not putting his faith in people. But he is being practical when he asks, "As a follower of Jesus, what role do you see business playing in the common good?"

I challenge you Jeff, to answer that question with an open heart that isn't looking to judge Bradley.

Sarah Taylor

Marcus: I love that you are teaching your writers to tone-down the faith talk. Too many believers speak Christianese. Those who don't speak this language don't know what it means! Kudos to Bradley and your team at High Calling for living out your beliefs.

Jeff: Placing your whole faith is in Christ doesn't negate the need for followers of Jesus to be invested in business and the welfare of society. This post seems like it is trying to walk the line between being in the world and of the world.

Jeff Nelson

Marcus, I do apologize and to Bradley as well for coming off too strong, sometimes that's one of the hidden traps I can fall into because of the impersonality of the internet. Since I do not know Bradley I focus solely on the words of the article and not on the person who is toiling over those words. And like Bradley my life has also generated a fair amount of, shall I say credibility that doesn't show up in one or two posts on the internet. Please allow me to explain, over thirty years ago God drew me out of a wild life of drugs and alcohol and most every thing that is associated with that free wheeling lifestyle. I came to Christ in an unusual way, through the Jesus freak movement and so by that very creative beginning I’ve had a certain sensitivity for differences and the various and diverse ways how God operates through others. I saw from the beginning how religion was stuck in a bubble of stale air and how easily people would fall prey to it and toss around words that helped them fit in to that bubble. For more than thirty years I have made it my mission to be able to talk to co workers, friends and business people about the love of Christ without using the "easy words" that so many well meaning Christians come to rely on, but God keeps whispering in my ear, tell them about my Son, tell them about what he’s done for you, tell them!

Between my wife and me we own three small businesses and because of that I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a few months in Japan helping the people here rebuild their homes and their lives that were devastated by the tsunami. The Japanese people are so curios why people would come from around the world to help them, and so we quietly work hard and show them love with the work that we do with our hands and regularly we get to back up our actions with words by simply telling them about the love of Christ.

And so when I see someone like Bradley who is working hard to be sensitive to others and yet not completely free to make the ultimate point about the Savior of the universe then I'm simply shedding some light on the issue by pushing myself past my own comfort zone of sensibility and doing What my father in heaven is telling me to do, Tell them about my Son!

Rhoda Berrios

I remember when I was an impassioned undergrad in my senior year at a conservative, evangelical college. I came home from school one day to excitedly tell my mother about the Right to Life march my friends and I were planning on participating in that coming weekend. She listened patiently while I discussed our plans and the importance of taking a stand against abortion.

Finally, she sat down and took my hands in hers saying, "Rhoda, how do you think it looks to those women who have had abortions, or one who may be considering an abortion? Do you think they might feel judged and condemned by your actions? Is that really the Jesus model of ministry?" We spoke about this for a bit and I had to acknowledge that yes, they probably did feel judged.

She ended her conversation with me by saying this, "The problem with abortion, Rhoda, is that it is a symptom of a fallen world, and if we ministered the love of Christ to a pregnant unwed mother, or to the woman who ran an abortion clinic, or to a Doctor who did abortions, we would truly be addressing the root cause of the issue; and that is fallen man. If all the doctors had an encounter with Jesus it would no longer be an issue because there would be no-one to perform abortions. We should think more about our witness then our activism."

I didn't participate in the Right to Life march and chose instead to get involved in an inner-city outreach to street kids. Her words have impacted every single interaction since when my values crash into a lost a dieing world. The world changes when the people in it change. As an agent of change it is my job to think globally (lost and dieing world) and act locally (being kind to my pugnacious neighbor.) We change the world one heart at a time

Ross Chapman

Just finished reading Dorothy Sayer's Essays, "Why Work?" and "Creed or Chaos." I wonder how those essays speak into this article from Harvard.

My sense of Porter's theory is that business activity should work to serve the community (society, humanity). Is that a fair assessment of the article?

This certainly is how God often works in the world--through our jobs, vocations. And He is working through people, not companies, as Bradley notes. The implication then is that people transformed by the Gospel must rise to the occasion of leadership in these companies or start and lead companies with this kind of mindset.

However, Dorothy Sayers' challenges the notion that we must work to serve the community. She posits that the worker's duty is to serve the work. She states, "If we put our neighbor first, we are putting man above God, and that is what we have been doing ever since we began to worship humanity and make man the measure of all things." She goes on to say even more poignantly:

"There is, in fact, a paradox about working to serve the community, and it is this: that to aim directly at serving the community is to falsify the work; the only way to serve the community is to forget the community and serve the work. If your heart is not wholly in the work, the work will not be good – and work that is not good serves neither God nor the community; it only serves mammon."

I do not believe these two points are mutually exclusive. They can work together. When a Christian workers does his or her job well, whether that is leading, managing, taking orders, serving on the assembly line--when this happens, the good work will serve human flourishing.

So, do your job well by your job's standards--not to make money, create an identity for yourself, or to serve the community. Do it as if you're working to God, and let Him work for the common good through you.

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