Category: Markets, Enterprise, and Well-Being
Why Work? (Comments on Dorothy Sayers’ Famous Essay)
A Response to a Classic Essay on Work
In her 1942 essay “Why Work?” Dorothy Sayers made a strong case that we should not undertake work for the money it provides but for the sake of the work itself. This is a compelling idea that pushes back against some of the negativity surrounding the concept of work.
But she also criticized the validity of money as a motivation for working, beyond meeting basic needs, and seemed to think our work should not take into account the needs and wants of others. Both of these points can be challenged.
Video Archive: Michael Novak on Business as a Calling
In April 2010, the Center for Faith and Enterprise brought scholar Michael Novak (1933-2017) to California for a speaking tour. We sponsored speaking events at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena (hosted by the Max De Pree Center for Leadership), Biola University in La Mirada, and La Canada Presbyterian Church in La Canada/Flintridge.
At La Canada Presbyterian, the subject was Business as a Calling. In this talk, Novak provided an update on his thinking fourteen years after the publication of his classic book by the same name.
Michael’s observations remain very insightful for today’s business environment.
Societal Complexity and Human Well Being
Three weeks ago I had the pleasure of hearing psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi speak at the Western Positive Psychology Association conference. Csikszentmihalyi is one of the founders of positive psychology (with Martin Seligman) and is well known and highly regarded for having developed the concept of flow.
Csikszentmihalyi provided a preview of a paper on which he and Daniel Gruner are working called (as of now) Complexity: Towards a New Measure of Societal Well Being. He presented data that showed a correlation between societal complexity and various measures of societal well being.
The topic surprised me. Before hearing the talk, I probably would have been more inclined to associate well being with simplicity rather than with complexity. When I think of societal complexity, I think of burdensome policies and procedures and a regulatory system creating complex rules faster than they can be understood. But Csikszentmihalyi and Gruner mean something quite different.
Bad Seeds (Meant Literally)
This month’s Reason Magazine (March, 2017) has a very interesting article by Francisco Toro on the bad seeds of Uganda. He means bad seeds literally – – seeds that do not germinate when planted.
I have a special interest in what Toro has to say about this because I have been involved in a small way in several small agribusiness ventures in Uganda. I can vouch for what he is saying – – the bad seed problem is real and awful. Farmers can buy apparently good, certified seeds, and then have very small crops because a high proportion of the seeds do not germinate.
The fundamental problem is counterfeit seed. . .
A Theology of Entrepreneurship
“The Entrepreneurial Calling: Perspectives from Rahner” by the late William J. Toth of Seton Hall is an extraordinary theological reflection on the entrepreneurial vocation and the deeper significance of the entrepreneur’s hope, risk, and service to others.
A central concept for Toth was that of “providential love.” This idea combines anticipation of the future with a desire to create something of value for others. The entrepreneur intends to create part of the future but, at the same time, recognizes that success or failure will be determined by those who are free to accept or reject the offer made by the entrepreneur.
Do We Really Want to Integrate Our Faith and Our Work?
Underlying much of the “faith and work” movement and many of the books on the subject is the assumption that religious people want to connect their faith and their work. In a recent presentation to the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Rice University sociologist Brandon Vaidyanathan questioned this assumption and made some very interesting observations based on his research.During his presentation, he raised the provocative issue that perhaps people usually see faith and work as two competing spheres with separate devotions and would actually prefer to keep them separate.
I think he is on to something important, but I think the problem is not so much that there is a necessary conflict between faith and work, but rather how we understand (or misunderstand) the nature of one or the other or perhaps both.
Conflicting Grammars of Life
Different spheres of life have different grammars. By this I mean that not only do we use different words in different spheres, but that the logical rules and structural relationships between the words can be quite different as well. This can create a problem when we are trying to connect our faith and our work — two domains with two different sets of grammar. This is especially true when the differences are unconscious.
Compare the grammar of business with that of the “typical” church.
Serious Business: Why It Matters (Article by Tony Mulkern)
In his article “Serious Business: Why It Matters,” C.F.E. friend Tony Mulkern summarizes some of the arguments made by Michael Novak during his C.F.E. sponsored speaking tour a few years ago, and then concludes with his own advice to business owners:
“When you wonder if it is all worth it, remember that you are a symbol, an example, and one of the drivers of a free people freely creating wealth, a society, and a world in which all can pursue their dreams, consistent with the freedom of others.”
