Torch, Winter 1992

In the United States, we have strong private institutions. Those of us who lead them have to recognize that the lack of values puts us on the road to a lot of problems. I taught at Kent State University College of Business Administration for two years after my retirement. In my ethics class, I took a survey during the first week of every semester. I gave the class a list of ten professions, and asked the students to rate them, with the most ethical profession being a "l" and the least ethical being a "10." Every class ranked them exactly the same. The most ethical was clergy. Politicians came in last. The media was number 9. People in large business and lawyers also came down near the bottom of the list. The law, business, the media, and the democratically-elected government are the basic institutions that are key to our way of 1 ife. Yet people don ' t trust the people in them, and that is frightening. People seem to trust one another more than they trust the leadership of the major societal institutions. Yet when there are problems, they still look to the government to solve them...not because they have confidence in government, but because: -they don ' t know what to do, -they don't feel they caused the problem, and -they assume the government has enough power to do something. The last place the average person will turn for a solution is himself. But that ought to be the first place he turns. Taking responsibility means asking yourself, "What can I do?" So as we look at these emerging problems in our free market system, we need to ask ourselves what we can do to help. There are some simple answers, all focusing on how we can be trustworthy people. First, everyone can give a full day's work for a full day's pay. Hard work, initiative, and responsibility on the job are the way for American companies to regain supremacy in quality and productivity. Colossians 3:23 tells us to work "as to the Lord," with an attitude of service. If we all applied that, we'd have an entirely different attitude about work and our responsibility to each other. In their book, Why America Doesn't Work, Chuck Colson and Jack Eckerd explain how we have lost our sense of the value of work. Their answer to the question, "Why should we work?" is Because work gives expression to our creative gifts and thus fu lfills our need for meaning and purpose... . Because we are commanded to exercise stewardship over the earth, participating in the work of Creation in a way that glorifies God. Because we are citizens of this earth and have certain responsibilities to our fellow citizens. (p. 178) None of those reasons comes even remotely close to "so I can be wealthy ." Here is the path to true job satisfaction: "work to serve," not "work to earn." What can I do through my work to serve my customers, my boss, my colleagues? Anyone who takes that attitude on his job is providing leadership. And he will become more productive and happy. Robert Caldwell used the term "servant leadership" in his book by the same name. Caldwell, an executive in charge of training at AT&T, had worked his way up from an entry-level position. He knew that most of the problem of lack of productivity really rested with managers. So the second answer to how we can help our free market system is that managers need to lead by example. Our managers, teachers, and churches need to communicate that it is important to work as a servant, not only for money. Colson and Eckerd suggest six steps for restoring the work ethic. They start with management valuing the worker and end with leadership that enables others to meet their goals. Being a servant-leader means doing the tough things. When you ' re convinced that you ' re right, don ' t cave in to the pressures of the moment. When I was CEO of the bank, the security analysts would say I had to convert low– yielding investments to high-yielding loans. I would ask, "What's wrong with our return?" They said "It's great, but you can ' t maintain it, because rates are going down. So you ' ve got to make longer-term, higher-risk loans." That's what drove a lot of banks to make bad loans and get into problems. If the leadership had been strong enough to reject risky loans as bad business, we would not have as many banks and savings and loans in trouble today. Every CEO wants to be liked by the analysts and the stock market investors. The investors ' money makes your value and the value of the company go up. Too many people caved in to that kind of pressure. But a banker needs to serve the person who puts his money in the bank, not just those who want a loan, those who want to make interest off that deposited money, or the shareholders. Third, we can bring these ethics into every institution in our sodety. And the institution to start with is the church. Far too many church leaders do not understand or subscribe to these principles. They need to model servant– leadership. Then church members will take it into the world the other six days of the week: at work, the YMCA, in the home, on a school board, or any other institution to which they belong. Free enterprise works best in an atmosphere of voluntarism and philanthropy. So fourth, I encourage people to earn as much as they can so they can share some of that with people who are less fortunate. The more prosperous one becomes, the more one ought to have a giving heart. Some people think that being a self– interested participant in a free market, (as in looking for the best deal or trying to make a profit), is equivalent to being greedy. But the Lord has given us talents and abilities, and we should make the most of what we have-that is stewardship. It is like playing football. You want to win. But even if your team is not ranked number 1, you play the game the best you can. Doing your best in business will earn you more than if you don ' t try to use your talents. Hopefully, that will give you the wherewithal to give something back. I have talked to many people who give, and they all say it is great to be able to share. But you can't share if you don 't have anything to share. And it does not have to be money. It can be knowledge or a skill you have obtained in the marketplace. If we will apply these principles in all of life, we will have a society in which people can trust one another: labor and management, buyers and sellers, citizens and government officials. Together we can overcome any obstacles which would keep our economy from working for everyone. Colson, Chuck and Eckerd, Jack, Why America Doesn't Work, Word Publishing, 1991. Fulghum, Robert, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Ivy Books, 1991. Greenleaf, Robert K., Servant Leadership, Paulis! Press, 1977. Gordon Heffern is President and CEO of the Akron Community Foundation in Akron, Ohio. He retired in 1987 as the chairman of the board of Society Corporation. Mr. Heffern continues to serve on the boards of several community foundations, educational institutions, and businesses.