What does love
It’s more. Admittedly, love is a flaky topic for hard-nosed business leaders. Actually, it’s flaky for 99.9% of all business leaders. This includes the Catholic leader, the target reader of this blog and who should inherently know that love should be driving all their actions whether they be at home, out in society or at work.
In 1 John 3:16-18 we read “By this, we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay our lives down for the brethren. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth.”
When we read in 1 John 4:8 “He who does not love does not know God: for God is love.” Worth repeating, since we often forget. God is love. You do realize he isn’t writing about a selective love, you know the ones I may choose to love like a spouse or offspring – it’s all people we are
So what do we do oh fellow mighty business leaders? We make the word “love” more palatable to ourselves and to others in the marketplace. We swap out that mushy word “love”, a word that has much significance at Holy Mass but no significance in the real world of business.
We instead use phrases to describe movements like “servant leadership”, “corporate social responsibility”, “conscious capitalism” or “B Corp”. These movements, secular all, point to the importance of love of others and to the higher purpose of business but never utter the “L” word.
Our need, our drive to do good, to be a force for good is inscribed on all of our souls. (Hebrews 10:16) The movements I mentioned above are headed in the right direction and I support their efforts!
What these groups don’t realize, or maybe don’t want to admit is how aligned their mission or purpose is with Catholic social teaching.
They are missing the link between doing good and why they are driven to do good. The Holy Spirit may help them with attaining that higher level of spiritual conversion eventually. That’s going to be a tough sell someday to our post-Christian brethren in the world.
To demonstrate the alignment – I’ve borrowed from these movement’s websites and have associated the pillars of Catholic social teaching.
B Corp Website: “We envision a global economy that uses business as a force for good. That we must be the change we seek in the world. That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered. (Catholic: the dignity of the human person) That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all. (Catholic: contribute to the common good) To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations. (Catholic: solidarity)
Conscious Capitalism: Conscious businesses will help evolve our world so that billions of people can flourish (Catholic: the dignity of the human person), leading lives infused with passion, purpose, love, and creativity; a world of freedom, harmony, prosperity, and compassion.” (Catholic: the common good, solidarity, dignity of the human person) https://www.consciouscapitalism.org/credo
Conscious Business Institute: We are faced with increasing complexity and challenges that are coming at us globally, impacting us professionally, and touching us personally. Businesses can become true agents of change and bring us to a better way. They can lead with how (and why) they operate, and with the influence, they have on the mental and emotional health of their people. People who are not only ourselves, but also our colleagues, husbands, moms, daughters, neighbors, and friends. People who not just work in an office, but live outside of one too. (Catholic: solidarity, the common good, the dignity of the human person)
https://consciousbusinessinstitute.com/our-company/
Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant leadership: Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enrich the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world. (Catholic: contribute to the common good) A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. (Catholic: solidarity) While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. (Catholic: solidarity, subsidiarity)
https://www.greenleaf.org/what-is-servant-leadership/
