Introduction
Business is a calling, a vocation.… The business leader needs to be able to
perform, to answer the call, with skill, competence, and peace of mind. Today, business demands constant vigilance on the part of the busy executive
who must attend ceaselessly to the enterprise to keep it viable and growing, to
meet competition, and, above all, to make a profit. The executive must account
for business decisions to the board, shareholders, lenders, other stakeholders,
as well as outside financial analysts in the case of publicly held companies. Moreover, the business enterprise itself plays a fundamental role in public
life. As they address the needs of their companies, as they evaluate, judge, and
act on behalf of their businesses, corporate executives and entrepreneurs are
constantly making moral decisions that affect not only themselves and their
organizations but also the broader community and society at large. In mediating conflicting claims to financial and social prosperity a business
leader must draw upon his or her convictions, beliefs, and experience about what
is the right thing to do. The executive is not lost at sea. Ethical and moral
values, like gyroscopes, provide the steady guides that ground the executive's
decision making, as well as the structures and systems that support the
executive's enterprise. Business is a calling, a vocation. Business people employ their own talents
and skills, the assets of their companies, and the structures and resources of
the wider society for the creation and maintenance of wealth, employment, and
products or services. The business leader needs to be able to perform, to answer
the call, with skill, competence, and peace of mind. Often, sleepless nights
replace peace of mind in a world of pressure-filled day-to-day judgments,
decisions, and actions. MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Woodstock Business Conference is to establish
and lead a national network of business leaders to explore their
respective religious traditions in order to assist the individual
executives: The Conference, grounded in the Roman Catholic tradition, welcomes
believers who are open to and respectful of one another's religious
traditions. It is committed to the conviction that ethics and values
grow out of one's religious heritage. The Woodstock Theological Center recognized over a decade ago the importance
of engaging business leaders in its work of "reflecting on serious human
problems of our day." From the experience of groups of business leaders who
met in pilot chapters begun in Washington DC, New York, and Milwaukee in 1992,
the WBC developed and tested a format and a method that are now available for
use by a wider national audience of business executives. These chapters address
the practical day-to-day issues confronting busy business executives. These
issues are explored in local chapter meetings against
the background of scripture readings and with topical background articles.
Participants discuss these topics within a proven
process that promotes cumulative and progressive understanding, sound
decision making, and action grounded in values The WBC also produces a newsletter for members of existing chapters,
individuals participating in earlier national conferences, and those who are
interested in expanding the WBC's mission through the establishment of local
chapters in their communities. Everyone searches for meaning in life. The search is not limited to the
private dimension of family, friendship, and personal development; but also
includes the world of work and profession. Often the search is accelerated by
feelings of agitation, restlessness, and sleepless nights. This search may lead
thoughtful men and women of faith to sense an apparent difference between faith
experience and experience in the market place. They may recognize a gap between
moral expectations and their actual experience in the corporation. On serious
reflection, a person may see through their faith that we are loved by God and
called to love one another as inconsistent with the sometimes harsh experiences
of life in the day-to-day world. Is peace of mind possible? Is this gap bridgeable? Is the apparent
discrepancy between what we profess in faith and what we see and do in business
either necessary or inevitable? Helping business leaders to answer these
questions, to navigate in troubled waters, is what the WBC is all about. WBC participants take care to identify values consistent with their religious
commitments, to the end that their decisions and actions will be based upon
ethical principles informed by and growing out of their religious faith.
Religion in general, and particularly the Judeo-Christian tradition, contributes
in a number of significant ways: Achieving the threefold goals of the WBC requires continuing, cumulative
effort over the course of a lifetime. If and when one does not constructively
work at it, stagnation and back-sliding results. Life is a process. The process has to be deliberate. Progress does not happen automatically; we
have to be giving thought and paying attention to what we are doing. The process has to have some design to it, concrete steps or stages that are
practical means to the end desired. (The end desired is the three-fold goal of
the WBC.) The format followed by the WBC local chapters is such a process, not only for
the meetings themselves, but also for use afterwards by individuals in
reflecting on their daily work and making practical decisions about it,
especially where there are ethical implications. To assist those starting WBC chapters, the WBC national office has gathered
materials for 16 discussion topics. Normally, topics arise out of the needs of
each particular chapter and are generally based upon the discussions of a prior
meeting. The 16 suggested topics are available for use by WBC chapters as the
occasion arises. Accompanying each suggested topic (e.g. loyalty, decision
making in the gray area, compensation, living as a person of faith in American
society) is a scripture text, focus questions, and background materials from the
business press. The WBC national office supports chapters by providing resources
for additional topics and issues that have been found relevant and interesting
by participants in the various chapters. Cases for discussion are also chosen
with a view to exemplifying or illustrating a dimension or phase in the process
itself. A typical chapter meeting runs about an hour and a half. The following format
is generally used: The leadership of the Conference is in the hands of lay business leaders who
grapple daily with difficult decisions in a complex business environment. They
are the people whose decisions and actions have a significant impact upon their
businesses, their communities, and society at large. For more information about Woodstock Business Program Website: http://woodstock.georgetown.edu/index.htm
Contents
Introduction
The Mission
Why the Conference?
The Process
Curriculum
Chapter Meeting Format
Leadership
the Woodstock Business Conference contact:
Woodstock Theological Center
Georgetown University
Washington, DC 20057-1137
202-687-6565
FAX 202-687-5835
Email: wbc-wtc@georgetown.edu
See also: