Looking at the headlines of the past few years – Bernie Madoff, Enron, the subprime mortgage scandal and a host of other examples – we get the feeling that ethical practices play no role in that world dedicated solely to the goal of maximizing profits.
How remarkable then to discover that this past spring the Harvard Business School sponsored a group of Deans and Professors from around the globe at a symposium that HBS has run for several years, at which the focus of this year's event was "values." What they wanted to tackle was the sticky issue of ethics, of the responsibility business leaders have to "do the right thing."
And this was not an isolated event.
Two years ago I received an amazing invitation. A group known as the Gathering of Titans, comprised of 100 CEOs of major corporations in America, annually get together at a retreat – in this case at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – to discuss issues relevant to their business practices and to hear from prominent experts in various aspects of corporate management. As part of their program, they asked if I could come and lecture as well.
Stunned, I asked what role I could possibly play. I have no business expertise. My rabbinic background hardly qualifies me to teach these titans of industry how to improve their corporate bottom line.
"Somehow along the way we've come to confuse our self-worth with our net worth."
"We understand that," they countered. "That's not why we want you to address us. We all know how to make money. But somehow along the way we've come to confuse our self-worth with our net worth. More and more of us have come to recognize that in the process of making ourselves very wealthy we've impoverished ourselves spiritually. We've cut corners, we compromised our values and we realize we're in great danger of losing our souls.
“We don't want you to preach to us – we just want you to remind us of the proper relationship between business and ethics. We want to know what a religious leader such as yourself believes is the necessary balance between our obligations to our families and to society, between the capitalistic striving for more and the moral requirement for honesty and integrity."
The very first thing I did was to check if the Messiah had already arrived. It was very hard for me to believe that with all of the bad press business leaders were getting there was in fact a consciousness of conscience, an awareness by many that capitalism and moral principles not only could but must coexist.
Mission Statement
I attended that retreat, met with famous captains of industry and learned that "man does not live by bread alone" is not a biblical cliché but a profound insight into human nature.
Bread alone is unsatisfying. We need to feel a sense of purpose. We have to know that our lives have meaning. And so I shared with the Gathering of Titans a concept they were very familiar with in their corporate world and asked them to integrate it into their personal lives as well.
Every major company prepares a mission statement. It is a short and succinct summary of what they hope to accomplish as well as the ideals that motivate them. One of the most successful businesses of all time, Google, summarized their objectives as:
"We have a mantra: don't be evil, which is to do the best things we know how for our users, for our customers, for everyone. So I think if we were known for that, it would be a wonderful thing." – Larry Page
"Obviously everyone wants to be successful, but I want to be looked back on as being very innovative, very trusted and ethical and ultimately making a big difference in the world." – Sergey Brin
Imagine if we had similar clarity about personal goals and how we plan to achieve them. Imagine if we took our personal mission statement as seriously as a business manifesto. Imagine if we took the time to decide why God put us here on earth and then went ahead and fulfilled our life's purpose. Imagine if we made our life's mantra not only "don't be evil" but, in more positive fashion, "strive to be good."
Imagine if we took our personal mission statement as seriously as a business manifesto.
What I impressed upon the corporate titans was that surely making a success of our lives is as important as making a success of our businesses. And the two of them are inextricably intertwined. We can't be guided by ethics at home and the law of the jungle at work. One of the two must dominate and come to define our character.
The CEOs were intrigued when I told them that in Hebrew the word avodah means both work and prayer. The connection between them is profound. It is our work and the way we go about it that represents our most powerful relationship to God. Our daily business ethics are the deeds that speak far louder than the words we utter in synagogue.
Almost all of these corporate leaders wanted to see their names immortalized. They were prepared to donate large sums of money to have buildings named after them. Yet they seemed not to realize that what should matter far more than preserving the memory of their names was insuring the value of their reputations.
As a mini project, I asked them to make a list of the five people they most admired, heroic figures from history or present day. We then spent some time analyzing what it was about these men and women that defined their greatness. It quickly became clear that character rather than wealth was the key to the kind of successful life that warrants emulation. When the Titans took the time to consider what really impressed them about others they suddenly realized they lost sight of those goals in their own lives as they went about pursuing more and more material acquisitions.
The insight I shared with them from Ethics of the Fathers, to "Know before whom you are standing and before whom you are destined to give a final accounting," seemed to make a profound impression.
Business Oath
That's why I am very much in favor of a new innovation begun just last year for Harvard Business School graduates in their MBA program. One of the students, Maxwell F. Anderson, had an idea. There should be an MBA oath, in some respects analogous to the Hippocratic Oath that's so famous in medicine. And it should focus on ethics. Perhaps it could help rehabilitate our current notion of business management and elevate it into more of a true profession, in the classic sense, like law and medicine.
With the encouragement of two of his professors and some fellow students, he began to formulate a pledge and to promulgate the idea. He reported that he would have been delighted if a hundred of his classmates signed the pledge before graduation. In fact, more than four times that many did.
And if Harvard MBAs get it, and corporate titans understand it, we certainly ought to focus our attention on the issue of business ethics as one of the most relevant concerns of anyone interested in tikkun olam – perfecting the world.
When we talk about the importance of business ethics as a barometer of spirituality, we need to remind ourselves of the remarkable passage in the Talmud that tells us that after we leave this earth to face our divine judgment, there are many things we will be queried about as the heavenly court reviews our lives. Yet the very first question posed will be: "Were your business dealings conducted honestly?"
And no one will be able to justify his misdeeds by claiming "It was only business!"
(10) rje, March 16, 2016 5:47 AM
"There's no such thing as business ethics."
John Maxwell, a prolific writer and leader, tells the story that he was asked by a publisher to write a book on business ethics. He replied that he can't do that. "There's no such thing as business ethics," he said. "There's ethics." He went on to explain that people are either ethical or they're not. A person cannot be a scoundrel at home and principled in business. He went on to use that sentence as the title of a book. I have read (and own) several of his books, though I have not read that one.
(9) Maxwell Pinto, August 31, 2011 6:55 PM
Business Ethics - A Complex Subject
Business decisions often concern complicated situations which are neither totally ethical nor totally unethical. Therefore, it is often difficult to do the right thing, despite what many case studies will have you believe! Moral values such as respect, honesty, fairness and responsibility are supposed to dictate our (ethical) behaviour, but are often ignored in times of stress and confusion, when one must stand by one’s principles. Leaders have to deal with potential conflicts of interest, wrongful use of resources, mismanagement of contracts, false promises and exaggerated demands on resources. In a proposed sale, is it the seller’s duty to disclose all material facts regarding the product /service in question or is it the buyer’s responsibility to conduct due diligence? Should the seller answer each question exactly as it was asked, and ignore some pertinent information or merely address the spirit of the question? Can ethics training or oaths prevent Bernie Madoff, Vincent Lacroix, Conrad Black, etc. from being themselves? No, but a well-designed & implemented program can (a) help good people to do the right thing consistently (b) make it more difficult for wrong-doers to succeed & (c) raise people’s ethical IQS For free abridged books on leadership, ethics, teamwork, women, write to crespin79@primus.ca. Maxwell Pinto, Business Consultant & Author http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MaxPinto http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/Management-TidbitsForTheNewMillenium.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p34hB50lv-8 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=maxwell pinto&x=0&y=0&ih=4_6_3_0_0_0_0_0_0_1.144_104&fsc=-1 http://www.lulu.com/product/item/leadership-flirting-with-disaster/6555485
(8) Anonymous, August 5, 2011 7:46 PM
I respect your efforts, but 'Titans' will always be driven by greed.
(7) Sara Levy, August 2, 2011 7:52 PM
Enjoy!!!
(6) SusanE, August 1, 2011 3:59 PM
100 of the Best Can't Decide on Ethical Behavior? red flag
They call themselves Titans? That would be the second red flag for this group. An oath won't keep them from doing harm. If they are MBA's and business giants, it should be already clear that getting there sidestepped ethics. Get ahead at whatever cost is what their oath has always been. Most of these men are hedonistic, and narcisstic. ~~~~~~~ What those business leaders want to know, Rabbi, is how to get it all..... to keep the wealth, and to be seen as ethical men that do good things similar to how Bill Gates is promoting himself and his organization. Those men want loopholes in nasty business dealings that they can explain away, according to G-d. They want an oath similar to 'first...... do no harm.' Well, that certainly didn't work with our physicians did it? A business oath for most attorneys is hippocritical. There are barely any ethics in either profession. When these men begin by restoring the Earth and distributing that wealth for the poor, maybe we can believe they are serious. Any business, government, profession, society, or religion that has not protected their women, children, and their poor has no ethics. In this 21st Century, we must add to that, the protection of the Earth. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And Yet I have hope that somehow the 'Titans' of business in the next decade can follow the words.....First, do no harm. And I hope your words and your mission statement continue to impress to these men to do better. Your example was wonderful. Thank you Rabbi Blech, ... as I step down from my soapbox.
(5) aaron rappaport, August 1, 2011 1:04 PM
but what does G-d say?
Rabbi Berel Wein tells in his commentary on Pirkei Avos a first hand incident with his mentor & predecessor as the OU Kashrus Supervisor - Rabbi Alexander Rosenberg. A holocust survivor came to him about short cutting the kashrus approval process to get his product quickly on the market. Rabbi Rosenberg had respect for holocust survivors.The man offered Rabbi Rosenberg 5% of the profits if he would agree. Rabbi Rosenberg was quiet. The man upped the offer & yet Rabbi Rosenberg still sat quiet with hs eyes closed. The man upped the offer again - thinking Rabbi Rosenberg just wanted more of a cut before he would agree. Finally, Rabbi Rosenberg opened his eyes and looked at the man and said Ober Vus Sugt Gut. -- but what does G-d say?
(4) Gerard Hallaren, August 1, 2011 12:07 AM
Would you share that oath with the rest of us?
Thank you.
(3) Anonymous, July 31, 2011 6:48 PM
I know vs I do
Wonderful article Rabbi! And it could apply just as well to our politicians. It is interesting how these so called Titans would agree about living life a certain way. I bet that they know right from wrong. I bet that they know what it is to live a good life not only in their family, community but also in the corporate world. But, there is a difference between knowing and doing. Obviously a lot of them do not 'do". Why? I suggest that it is the nature of the beast and they cannot. They must keep feeding the fires because the present corporate world only knows one thing: give. If the CEO does not deliver then the Board will get someone else who will. Thus the CEO might do things which might not be in accordance with his or her moral principles. The present day CEO has a number of masters. The Board is one and Wall Street is another. (Of course we have the shareholders.) He or she is at the mercy of both every quarter. There is no such thing as zero percent growth. It must always be positive. In such a climate something has to go. The investment community has ruined American business. That is what has to change. It is that business climate. When a corporation takes orders from the investment community at the expense of its own good then we should know that something is seriously wrong. I think we need something more than a MBA pledge. We need laws. But, that means we need honest politicians.
(2) Kevin Cullis, July 31, 2011 2:20 PM
I am my brother's keeper
Our nation has three legs to stand on which encompass consumers, businesses, and governments, and each of them are connected by ethics. Ethical behaviors are required at all points in a society, and ethics are the light in the unethical dark world.
(1) Rosen, July 31, 2011 1:14 PM
honesty in business and politics
With today's big business and politics, while many may have a good, honest work ethic, it sadly wouldn't qualify one for a political position or somewhere up in the business hierarchy (most of the time). But, one thing to note is that no worker for a private or public service has led to the economic collapse we face today. Societies are judged based upon how the poor and those who work hard for a living are treated.