Blog

Livestream Broadcast: Finding Beauty

Devry Boughner Vorwerk, a member of our board of directors and a Young Global Leader with the World Economic Forum, is involved in their “#FindingBeauty in Quarantine Times: A 24-Hour Livestream of Art, Culture & Sport” taking place today and tomorrow.

What their program reminds us of is art – beauty, a deeply moral emotion actually open to all of us. We so often let our attention and concerns get wrapped up in organizations, hierarchies, contests of will and power, technologies, money and cold, hard laws of science that we overlook beauty as a source of meaning and hope.

Was it not philosophers who sought to center our lives on truth, goodness and beauty, each one supporting the other?

You can learn about the live streaming here.

I hope you might have a moment to listen in.

Working Together to Find a Way Forward

Just now in the U.S. and I presume in many other countries struggling to contain the coronavirus, there are differences of expert opinion on how fast to remove restrictions on our personal lives and the economy. There are also conflicting demands from citizens as to what governments should do. Some give priority to getting back to work, while others prefer longer periods of quarantine, just to be sure the virus is in full retreat. Experts differ over the facts, while people have different levels of risk tolerance and different situations – some needing work immediately.

What to do?

Our Principles for Business balance economic goods, narrowly understood, with the non-economic needs of customers, employees and communities, believing that what employment, commerce and finance make possible supports our lives in many important, intangible ways. Our Principles for Government advocate discourse to resolve differences and to mediate conflicting views and priorities on the proper use of public power.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, a small caucus of both Democrats and Republicans, the Problem Solvers Caucus, has proposed a common sense program for returning the U.S. to more normal ways.

You may find their recommendations here.

It is always gratifying when those in positions of authority and influence align their actions with good principles.

Podcast with Ven. Anil Sakya – Are Predicaments the Norm of Life?

Our podcast this week is a conversation with Ven. Anil Sakya, the Honorary Rector of the World Buddhist University in Bangkok, Thailand. He and I have collaborated in writing commentaries on the first sermons of the Buddha on the Dharma and how we should live well in the reality surrounding us in every dimension, material and spiritual, as providing us with reliable guidance on achieving sustainability in our time.

Ven. Anil was born in Nepal into the Sakya Clan, the family of the Buddha. He came to Thailand where he has been a Theravada monk. He graduated with a M.Phil from Cambridge University and later with a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology at Brunel University in the U.K. He served as Secretary to the late Supreme Patriarch of Thailand.

Currently, he is residing at the royal monastery of Wat Bovoranives Vihara in Bangkok where he is an Assistant Abbot. He is the Honorary Rector of the World Buddhist University under the World Fellowship of Buddhists and Deputy Rector of the Mahamakut Buddhist University.

Some years ago, I found in St. Louis a little plaque with the words “All Crises Pass.” Believing that we have many crises in our life but, in the end, they do pass, I bought it and have it in my office as a reminder to “keep calm and carry on” to do our best with hope and fortitude.

Our podcast with Ven. Anil talks about resilience and living in and through crisis, whether caused by a virus or by our own wayward thoughts and emotions.

His lively wisdom and succinctly presented insights will impress and reassure you.

New Office Address and Round Tables via Zoom

We have moved our office to the Landmark Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Landmark Center was built in 1902 as a federal courthouse.  The exterior is pink granite ashlar with a hipped red tile roof, steeply pitched to shed St. Paul’s snows and enlivened by numerous turrets, gables and dormers with steeply peaked roofs; cylindrical corner towers with conical turrets occupy almost every change of projection.  There are two massive towers, one of which houses a clock.

The interior features a five-story courtyard with skylight and rooms with 20-foot ceilings, appointed with marble and carved mahogany finishes.  Its Richardsonian Romanesque is similar to the Old Post Office Building in Washington, D.C.

In 1972, a group of determined citizens saved the building from the wrecking ball and restored it to its previous grandeur.  It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and reopened to the public as Landmark Center in 1978.  Today, it serves as a cultural center for music, dance, theater, exhibitions, public forums and hosts countless special events.  Owned by Ramsey County, it is managed by Minnesota Landmarks, a not-for-profit organization.

Landmark Center also houses Anita’s Cafe, Landmarket Gift Shop, five gallery spaces and a number of St. Paul’s premier arts and culture organizations.

Our new address is: 75 West Fifth Street, Suite 219, St. Paul, Minnesota 55102.

Secondly, as around the world we are getting accustomed to using Zoom and other internet platforms for meetings, we would like to convene round tables using such technology.

Zoom and similar technologies are particularly well designed for a global network like ours.  At minimal expense, we can convene thoughtful leaders from around the world.  The internet, sadly, does not permit the personal exchanges, formal and informal, of gathering in a place, such as Mountain House in Caux, and which lead to new friendships and deeper learning from one another at tea breaks and during meals.

Our plan for these round tables is to propose topics and set reasonable dates and times for the discussions.  At first, I think we should open them to a limited number of participants.  We would ask those interested in participating to RSVP, with the first 25 to register to be admitted to the session.  We will send invitations to those so registered.  If a larger number would like to participate in that discussion, we would then consider convening a separate session later to accommodate their interest.

We now are thinking about a series of round tables on 1) the most important lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic and 2) on the application of our principles going forward, as we adjust our global community to living with the virus and its potential mutations for some years to come.

We would like to have our round tables facilitate the drafting of proceedings on the topics discussed for subsequent distribution.

Please send us your suggestions regarding how best to structure such events and what topics you believe should be tabled for consideration by participants.

Ethical Precepts in a Global Perspective

Our global community, in some unexpected ways, is more coherently united today thanks to the coronavirus than before. But what do we share in common, other than fear, a perceived priority to be given to self-protection and the need to work?

Several years ago, John Dalla Costa proposed using a Talmudic format from the Jewish tradition to assemble thoughts and reflections from across wisdom traditions which would stimulate deeper perceptions into selected ethical objectives. We turned to rabbi Naftali Brawer of London to help us.

Our Talmudic or Midrashic layout and format of these objectives and commentaries related to them can be read here.

I believe from recent Zoom meetings and other conversations that such a compilation of wisdom is far more relevant to our lives today than it was when John first suggested it.

Caux Round Table Publishes Important Book on Leadership for These Times

We live now in very trying times, which may continue for some time. Quite timely comes Klaus Leisinger with a book on the art of leadership. The Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism is very honored to be authorized by Klaus to publish his new book, The Art of Leadership.

There are many trite phrases about the need for leadership in trying times: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going;” American philosopher William James advocated national service to serve the common good as the “moral equivalent of war.” “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.”

In his book, Klaus sets forth a practical agenda for every person to put into effect leadership skills. Klaus transposes the personal ideals which Erich Fromm notably articulated in his book, The Art of Loving.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs has written an endorsement and Professor Ulrich Lehner has kindly written a trenchant foreword. Prof. Lehner was Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of Deutsche Telekom and Thyssen-Krupp.

The paperback is available here.

The Kindle version is here.

In addition, Klaus has written a commentary on the requirements of good leadership, which you can read here.

Klaus is one of the best minds I know in business ethics. He is a Professor of sociology at the University of Basel. He worked for Novartis and served for many years as the Director of the Novartis Foundation, where I first met him. Klaus has advised the U.N. Global Compact and Hans Kung on ethical principles for global application.

You can learn more about Klaus here.

I invite you to read Klaus’s book and, if you enjoy it, please return to Amazon and leave a review.

Notice of Dialogue Meeting – October 19, 2020 – Mountain House, Caux, Switzerland

Even though we are all right now caught in the webs of prevention and precaution seeking to stop the transmission of the coronavirus, we should not be so consumed with what is immediate that we forget to plan ahead.

We plan to hold a dialogue at Mountain House in Caux, Switzerland on Monday, October 19, 2020, to mark the 25th anniversary of our Principles for Business and consider what should be done next to hone their efficacy. The dialogue is sponsored by Initiatives of Change, which manages the conference center at Mountain House for most worthy purposes, enhancing the prosperity, sustainability and moral courage of our global community.

Antoine Jaulmes of Initiatives of Change and Brad Anderson and Tunku Abdul Aziz, our Co-Chairmen, and I join in sending you notice now of the proposed dialogue.

You may find the notice here.

The dialogue is subject to cancellation if circumstances do not permit us to convene at Mountain House in October.

We look forward to having you join us then – “The good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise,” as they say in the southern Appalachian hills and hollers of my country.