Thank you all for a good class this week. If chalk dust were the measure of achievement in the classroom, I would say that the fury of last night's equations yielded incredible productivity. Thank you for hanging in there. (As a woman who wears a lot of black suits, you can certainly appreciate my love of Excel.)
I also enjoyed the conversation in the Business Briefing section of class. Hopefully, I was able to demystify the structure of the credit card industry and satisfactorily explain how the players interact, giving you a framework for understanding market dynamics.
That said, I get the impression that a lot of you are interested in going a little deeper. What I mean is that once we learn the structures (whether, equations or actors), we are then free to explore core principles. You already know some of these core principles intuitively. For example, the law of Supply and Demand is quite familiar to you. There are many core principles (or laws) that relate to business and economics.
However, I offer to you that there is a law that is so fundamental to business that it could be described (dare I say) as the First Principle. It is simple, and it is this: God owns it all, and we are merely His managers.
I challenge you to think about what this means. I overheard a few of you capitalists (which is a moniker that I urge you to wear with pride) say that you want to blog about God this week. So, I would like to make an introduction. I want you to meet Carlos Villalba.
Watch this short video with an open mind. The producer of the video is a nonprofit organization called Crown Financial Ministries. I would recommend you check out their website to learn more about the work that they do (http://www.crown.org).
Unlike equations, to understand this First Principle, you have to have faith. Unfortunately, this is a gift that I cannot give. If you want it, ask for it. I guarantee that it will make you a better business person.
Thoughts?
MSBA511 - Applied Financial Management, exploring our vocations in business with a vision of service to God and community.
This video is intense. As someone who was raised Catholic (until I was 13, when I switched to Methodist) I do not know as many specifics about the rituals, prayers, and principles of Catholicism. However, what I do know is that I am Christian, Catholic or not, and I can speak on the specifics of that aspect.
ReplyDeleteI think that a wide view of this statement by other Christians is that it means everything here on Earth, God put here and we use it, hopefully to carry out work in His name. It may also mean that everything Here on Earth, we cannot take with us once we are gone. Thus, we shouldn't treasure such material items because they will not be with us once we leave and enter life after death. In this sense, I think it helps us manage stress, perhaps in crazy business situations. I'll give a real-life example from someone who trades bonds on a commercial bank's desk.
He had a trade that went really bad one day. Once he got off of the phones, his hands were shaking because it was dealing with more money than this person will make in his lifetime. It was a stressful day but he was able to shake it off later that night. This money is important, of course, but what enabled him shake off this anxiety was remembering that what he does MATTERS to his clients, but not to his ultimate purpose in life. This isn't what he's meant to do ultimately.
In this sense, remembering this First Principle can help us to keep in perspective the important things in life. It will especially help us in times of stress that business can often cause. Anyway, this is my take on the principle but I'd like to hear other ones that deviate from this interpretation.
Amelia, your post is quite intuitive.
ReplyDeleteJesus himself said "I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Thanks for the reminder. I think we all sometimes lose sight of this wisdom.
I think the concept that God is the owner and we are the managers is quite interesting. This would mean that we have a responsibility to manage as God would want us to. When I think of business in relation to religion, the thought always comes to my mind, what would God and Jesus think of our society, the way businesses are run and the economic systems that we adapt. The Lord's Prayer says: "On earth as it is in heaven." We say the words but do we actually live it??? What economic system would rule in heaven??? I don't think it will be capitalism. But would running our society in that manner actually work??? In a world full of sin and selfish people I doubt it.But that doesn't mean that we should lose sight of our religious values when in the business world, instead we should do the opposite and reinforce them as much as possible. That's just my random rambling on the subject, I think I put too much thought into these things sometimes.
ReplyDeleteMy roommate and I had a discussion recently about the act of worrying. It was initiated after she heard a sermon at church where the minister reminded the congregation that life is in God's hands and worrying won't change the course of action that He planned. We both agreed with the theme of the sermon and that worrying does not help a situation get resolved and only serves to add stress to one's life. There are certain aspects to life that are uncontrollable, so rather than worry, one should take action to do what she can, but ultimately have faith and trust in God that things will turn out the way they were intended.
ReplyDeleteCarlos Villabla realized this after years of living in debt. Despite having a strong Christian background, there was a disconnect between Villabla's business and his religious beliefs. He worried about his finances and did what he could to fix his problems, but did so without God. With the help of Crown Financial Ministries, Villabla was reminded that God is a part of everything--even money. Reflecting on his faith and his situation as a whole, rather than compartmentalized, he was able to make a decision that transformed his life. He needed to stop worrying, take action and have faith that his decisions were the right ones.
It's easy to separate faith from the rest of one's life. In the same way that ethics is not an individual class in the MSBA program and that it is embedded throughout all of the classes, faith should be present in all aspects of life--not just when one is in church. Once this is achieved, one can rest assured this her actions are in alignment with God's plan.
I feel as though I am always playing Devil’s Advocate in this class. I say this because I do not agree with the First Principle of Business “God owns it all, and we are merely His managers.” I still struggle daily with the notion that God even exists at all… and I especially, do not think that God is responsible for allowing businesses to flourish. If he was responsible for this, how does he decide which businesses will fail and which ones will survive? I was once told NO businesses last forever. So does God have some magic button he pushes when he decides it’s time for one to go under?
ReplyDeleteI also fail to see how having faith makes one a better business person. I think a person with no religious faith can equally be as good as another with faith in the realm of business. Faith does not always have to be defined by: Christianity, Judaism, Islamic, Buddhist, etc. One can have good morals or implement the “Golden Rule” into their life without having a defined faith. Furthermore, who is to say ONE religion is the right religion? And are all Gods—of each religion—the same? Am I going to be a bad business person because I’m not Catholic and question God’s existence? I don’t think so.
I know PLENTLY of successful business people without a faith and I also know PLENTLY of non-Christian successful business people too. I honestly believe God or Jesus cannot be attributed to the success of a business. Hard work, an education, and one’s own sense of values (religious or not) are traits which can be attributed to business.
Did Carlos really believe God was going to free him from financial debt? Last time I checked, Crown Financial Ministries did. Okay okay, CFM is a non-profit ‘religious’ organization, but is God sitting in their biggest office serving as the President? Carlos’ story was inspiring because he became debt free and was able to become a successful business man. However, I am not quick to attribute his outcome to God’s will.
Although Carlos was able to find God and have faith in his successful financial endeavors, the rest of the country is battling severe financial unrest. This is due poor governance and lack of economic stability, resulting in these high interest rates. Even though this entry refers to Carlos’ individual success, I feel as if it is necessary to point out the poverty and financial instability of Guatemala’s current economic and political infrastructure that is preventing many from prosperity and diminishing their faith. Their socialist government makes it difficult for many private business owners such as Carlos to make a profit, resulting in poverty amongst their entire population. This situation infuriates me because if the government had acted morally and prevented corruption and greed, the issues that faced Carlos to begin with would have been virtually non-existent. Carlos had the faith and morale to support his fellow citizens during a time of economic instability, yet if the taxes and interest rates were lower others would have been able to capitalize on third world emerging markets.
ReplyDeleteDoes God Exist?
ReplyDeleteThat subject is a good starting point otherwise there is not much debate about anything, because there may be as diverse of “truths” or “answers” as there are creatures.
If God does not exist, then, we certainly do not have a first principle here. In fact, we could not have a first principle at all, because the definition of God is exactly that, “#1”. How is it that money is not our own, and yet, we do have a natural right endowed by our Creator, to private property, such as money? Regarding possession, I seem to possess the cash in my wallet now. Well, there are different levels or degrees of possession of something. Something that has the ability to Create something from nothing, an ability never yet replicated, has a greater possession of the created object than one who is also created (such as a person) and as a created being (instead of a Creator), receives everything it owns, even receiving the gift of himself. I did not give myself to myself; otherwise, I would not have a beginning. Yet, everything in the universe, by being created and not giving itself existence, points to a beginning. There is a reception here, because I did not create myself, I received myself and thus everything I have from another and others, and, so did all of creation, because it too, did not give itself being. Yet, this process of receiving cannot go on ad infinitum (forever), because everything created has a beginning, which points to something else that came before it. This points to, among others, Aristotle’s First Cause, Prime Mover, Mover Unmoved, etc., and the list goes on by many philosophers to which many religions have given a name and developed theology. And this is only one of the summaries of many philosophical proofs for the existence of a First Cause to which we attribute the beginning and thus real possession of creation. Just as I did not give myself existence, I was unable to create the money from nothing. But, I was able to acquire it through hard work, education, etc., for myself. So I have possession of it, but the possession is of a lesser degree than that of one who is able to create the possession from absolute nothingness. The Being that is able to create and hold something such as money in existence while “giving” it to the use of another creature, who, like money, did not give itself existence, is the Being who has the greater possession of the money. If we are received, because we did not give ourselves existence, and thus, all of creation is received, creation is a gift pointing to the giving of something we may call a Giver, one whose “realm” is obviously outside time, outside beginnings and endings, outside creation. The human person is the only creature on earth endowed with reason enabling him or her to receive gifts properly. The only appropriate way to receive a gift is through gratitude, and to treat the gift in accordance with its’ design. And sadly, I do not have time to go into other proofs at this time. My explanation is inadequate, but it is limited also to the shortness of blogging. Nevertheless, Aquinas does a good job of elaborating on proofs in just a few paragraphs so I will leave the subject to one of the professionals: http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1002.htm.
How is it that money is not our own, and yet, we do have a natural right endowed by our Creator, to private property, such as money? If it was a right given by humans alone, then it would not be an innate or “natural right”, we would be at the mercy of whoever is ruling.
And since nothing created, such as wealth, can inherently make one person greater than another person, otherwise we would be saying that money is innately greater than a human because our greatness as a human depends on money, we are bound by natural laws to use our wealth well. These natural laws dictate that all of creation is for the common good. We did not design creation because we did not give it existence. Therefore, we are bound to treat things in accordance with their design (ex. If I wish to walk through a brick wall, its not going to happen, the wall is solid by design and not of my own accord). That is why we must manage our money with the common good in mind, by which we also will find a deep fulfillment because we would have treated the gift in accordance with how Another designed it. We also have free will, and do not have to treat things in accordance with their design, if we so wish for different kinds of results. To answer the other question raised in this blog: Why does evil exist? Answer: Free will. In this way, love would be true love in being able to be freely chosen through a free will. And succinctly (since volumes are written on the nature of evil and evil is ultimately a mystery), it is this ability to choose, this free will, which allows bad things to happen to good people. It is this free will which enables us to not treat things in accordance with their design, and thus purpose, explaining in part why we see so much impoverishment.
ReplyDeleteNumerous religious people tend to separate their faith from money, doing business and other areas of their lives. I personally came to realize that compartmentalizing God weakens the power that He has put in us through the Holy Spirit. My believe is that we are here to bless others, fulfill the mission He has for us, enjoy life and praise Him all the while. That is easier said than done; hence, the Scriptures were left to us as a tool to go through challenges fruitfully. What does that have to do with business longevity?
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Stephanie that a lot of successful entrepreneurs and leaders are not Christians or of any other religion. However, one can only see the works of faith during trials; that is why we have them: to grow within ourselves and become stronger. For instance, there has been an increase in suicides since the beginning of the economic crisis, why? Most Americans have nothing else to hold on to than material things, especially since relationships can drastically change when you are not on top of the mountain anymore. Providentially, it is at that precise moment that the relationship you have with the Father lifts you up, and creates hope and joy out of thin air.
The first principle is more than relevant today, just like our life is not our own; what we possess is God’s and should be treated as such. He said that we already have all that we need to succeed in the physical realm, and be philanthropists to our less fortunate peers. It is illustrated in the “Widow’s Oil” parable (2 Kings 4.1-7), the pot of oil that had no value in her eyes became the source of provision she was yearning for. Yes, Carlos was a good manager even while struggling with debt. Although, like the widow, Carlos sought God and surrendered to His will, he then saw and transformed an untapped asset into leverage to erase his debt.
I would like to leave you with a portion of poem I came to appreciate:
‘When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.’ (When I say I am a Christian, Maya Angelou)
To allow oneself to realize that God is the end-all, be-all to our existence will allow us to more easily accomplish our goals. This is not to say that we need to go through life like Ned Flanders but that we have to order ourselves in a rational and disciplined way.
ReplyDeleteGod IS ordered, true, and just. If He wasn't, he wouldn't be much of a god. To run our business so that our transactions are ordered, honest, and just not only makes good business sense but it acknowledges that we give ourselves over to notions greater than ourselves. That is, it proves that we realize that there are certain undefinable elements that react to our actions. Whether you call that force God, Allah, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster is not really my concern (or problem).
To assume that we make our own luck and that there are no consequences to our actions is naive and dangerous.
The earth is the LORD’s and all it holds,
ReplyDeletethe world and those who dwell therein,
-Psalm 24, 1
“Yours, O Lord, are grandeur and power,
majesty, splendor, and glory.
For all in heaven and on earth is yours;
Yours, O Lord, is the sovereignty;
You are exalted as head over all.
“Riches and honor are from you,
And you have dominion over all.
In your hands are power and might;
It is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.
-1 Chronicles 29, 11-12
So what is the difference between being a steward of Earth and being an owner?
I believe there is a material difference between Stewardship and Ownership. Stewardship acknowledges that we don't "own" our resources, but we are stewards over them for the short term. So what does this mean for all humans? That we are to use our assets for the purpose of a higher authority and for Christians that means God. Thus, all that I have materially (property and money) and personally (family and friends), actually "belongs" to Him, but has been given to me as a "steward" while I live. Why is it important to be a steward instead of an owner? Fundamental thinking. Being a steward changes how we look at and implement virtually everything, from our businesses, to our relationships, to ourselves. An owner may do with his/her resources as they see fit for their own purpose, whereas a steward knows that they are the caretakers of God’s property and as such they have to make decisions based on what He would want.
For example, as “owner’s” of the earth we are entitled to do want we want. So if we want to build a city in the middle of a rain forest full of life we can do that. As stewards of the Earth, we can’t do whatever we want because we have to take God’s opinion and wants into the picture. We have to balance what we need against what He wants.
I find myself in that "happy medium" when it comes to these things. I think Steph touches on some interesting points. The video seemed to overlook the fact that Carlos was not making good use of a prime piece of real estate in a busy city - and that was a poor decision in it of itself. Instead, the video focused on Carlos holding onto it because of a childhood dream, and that selfishness, possessiveness kept him in debt. He could have easily leased it or something to help make end's meet. I think God's hand here only coincides with a good business decision (selling the building to relieve debt), not necessarily a causal thing. Furthermore, while I don't think the video suggests that belief in God is key in running a good business, I do think it is easy to draw that conclusion. Of course, I believe that the principles of Catholicism (or Christianity) would rarely (if ever) clash with "secular" principles on good business skills - and I absolutely think that people who don't believe in God, but like with strong principles and ethics/morals are just as capable.
ReplyDeleteBut with that said, I do find myself relying on God's strength to get me through thins, especially now in this stage of my life. I find myself tethered to the idea of "God owns it all" - though my struggle is often whether or not I'm being a good manager. I not only feel an obligation to God, but also a genuine desire to be a good steward. That of course shapes a lot of how I think, act, and feel. That is not to say that I fall short - because I often do. But I feel as if I am oriented in a certain way that makes me believe in this "First Principle." I personally don't think the video really made a strong argument for it, but I'm nonetheless convinced that the principle is accurate and relevant in my life.
If Dr. Abela taught us anything, I think it was that we need to look at the purpose of business and find that there is something deeper than just making money. It may not necessarily be serving God, but I think it's certainly deeper and more insightful than just simply satisfying the human need for money. And I think part of that is looking at the bigger picture - and for many, that "bigger picture" means looking at God's place in our lives. And business figures prominently in our lives.
Many interesting responses to an issue which in some respects is contrary to the modern conception of personal property and wealth. I believe that Rene touched upon a strong point when she mentioned that the Church holds personal property as deigned by God and as such is intrinsic to our time in this world. That said it is important to recognize the power from which this right is granted, and that those rights revert to said granting power upon death. In this way we all have the responsibility to return that which God gives us in good order or improved upon. Much as the parable of the servants who were given the talents, we are expected to capitalize upon that which we are given, managing it wisely until it is returned to God.
ReplyDeleteI think Frankie touches on a good point of God's involvement in our lives. It's a very personal touch where God provides inspiration and motivation to make the most of our lives and do good work. Faith brings the idea that whatever we do in this life matters on our judgment day. As to whether God owns business, if you think about it, he has the ability to affect it in ways no one else can control. How many times do we feel that we are in control and we have a plan and then God just throws it back in our face and says "Ha, you think you are in control." He has control over his creation. He owns his creation but allows us to have free will as to whether live in belief of that. The reason I like Frankie's comment was because he brought up the bigger role that God plays in business and in our personal lives. That, if you believe in His control, if anything or everything goes wrong, you have the belief to know that He has a plan and that things will work out. It is only then can you understand God's ownership of all things.
ReplyDelete