Issue 204 - What We've Been Reading
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September 2019
In this issue, we reflect on what we've been reading. For Jan, it's a recent best-seller. For Bill, it's a book he found at a thrift shop. Neither book will be shelved under religion, but they both have a lot to teach about integrity, virtues and values.
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Business for the Common Good
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An inspiring book – published by Harvard Business School Press? To my surprise, yes!
L. L. Bean: The Making of an American Icon, was written by Leon Gorman, long-time president of the Maine outdoor-goods supplier (and grandson of company founder Leon L. Bean). As a former resident of Maine, I was curious to learn more about the company that has achieved – at least within Maine – a truly iconic status.
I already knew that Gorman was a successful business leader. Sales grew by an
average of over 20% annually during the three decades he led the company. What I learned is that Gorman saw his career as a vocation (although he doesn’t use that word) and saw himself as a steward of the company he ran, a steward for the common good.
In an age when business leaders focus heavily on short-term profits and shareholder returns, Gorman took a broader view, stressing his responsibility to the company’s “stakeholders,” all parties impacted by the business: “I believed we had responsibilities to all of them. We owed our
customers superior-quality products and personal service, our
employees fair wages and benefits and superior working conditions, our
owners a fair and secure return on their investment, and our
communities good citizenship and active participation.”
A repeated theme throughout the book is the importance of knowing your identity and remaining true to your identity under changing circumstances. Sometimes this is discussed in terms of maintaining the L. L. Bean brand, but for Gorman it ran deeper than that. Once, when asked by a group of senior employees where he expected the company to be in five or ten years, Gorman responded, “I don’t see this company in terms of numbers…. Are we continuing to live the values we have assumed as a company and are we meeting our customers’ needs?” That was what was important.
Two excerpts from a statement Gorman made to company managers in 1998, when the company was undergoing a major restructure, are telling. After announcing goals for sales and profits for the year 2000, Gorman talked about why profit was important: “L. L. Bean will never regard profit as an end in itself.” It was a means of caring for all the stakeholders: “the flow of profits enables us to reinvest in the purpose of our company.”
And he promised: “We will be relentlessly ethical in everything we do – no matter the cost. That means practicing the Golden Rule with an outdoors orientation. The others we do unto are our stakeholders: our customers, employees, owners, communities, and our natural environment.”
As a pastor, I have seen the tremendous damage caused to human lives by companies focused only on short-term profit. As a corporate employee, I saw, and experienced, employee morale suffer under a top manager who focused obsessively on cost-cutting. How refreshing to read of a company that reached great success by following great values!
-- Bill
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There are many spiritual autobiographies on the market today. Some of the most impressive that I’ve read are the deep and tender personal stories of two holy men:
The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom by Henri Nouwen and
Becoming Human by Jean Vanier. There are many others; each reader probably has a favorite. My new favorite is
The Second Mountain by David Brooks.
Author David Brooks is better known as a writer and a columnist than a spiritual guru. He’s the guy who appears regularly on PBS NewsHour and Meet the Press and whose column is found in
The New York Times. People read his opinions and analyses of politics and world affairs every day.
In
The Second Mountain David Brooks writes about the quest for a moral life. He invites the reader to journey with his life-story as he discovers and names the essentials, as he sees it, for a meaningful life. He calls it the “two-mountain shape”:
. . . goals on this first mountain are the ones our culture endorses: to be a success, to make your mark, to experience personal happiness. But when they get to the top of that mountain, something happens. They look around and find the view . . . unsatisfying. They realize: This wasn’t my mountain after all. There’s another, bigger mountain out there that is actually my mountain. And so they embark on a new journey. On the second mountain, life moves from self-centered to other-centered. They want the things that are truly worth wanting, not the things other people tell them to want. They embrace a life of interdependence, not independence. They surrender to a life of commitment. (source: jacket)
As a Spiritual Director, I have sat with people for 30 years while they awaken, assess, and act to fulfill their purpose in life. Each awareness is conceived in an “annunciation moment” which, in time, unfolds into a meaningful life. David Brooks clearly relates his annunciation moment – indeed, several moments – which set him on a path to fulfill his vocation. In
Part II, Vocation, Brooks’ telling of "What Vocation Looks Like" and "The Annunciation Moment," is a powerful yet tender reflection on the beauty and value of living one’s truth.
In the chapter
Philosophy and Faith, Brooks brings the reader to understand the value of community. His conclusion is clearly laid out: “The Relationalist Manifesto” – finding joy, hospitality, and solidarity. He writes:
…you realize joy is not just a feeling, it is a moral outlook…. When relationships are tender, when commitments are strong, when communication is pure, when wounds of life have been absorbed and the wrongs are forgiven, people bend toward each other, intertwine with one another, and some mystical combustion happens. Love emerges between people out of nothing, as a pure flame.!
(P. 312)
--by Jan
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Dear Friends, in a recent issue we celebrated 10 years and 200 issues of this newsletter. We also shared with you our dreams and plans for expanding
Soul Windows Ministries. We are so grateful to you for your feedback, support, encouragement, gratitude, and especially those of you who took the time to write us notes, emails, or cards. We appreciate you so much.
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Recent Issues
Issue 203 - Storytelling
Issue 177 - Mr. Rogers
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Please share Reflection freely by forwarding any issue (forward in its entirety), but remember to respect copyright laws by not altering, copying, or reproducing Reflection, text or photos, whole or in part, without written permission.
Copyright (c) 2019 Soul Windows Ministries
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Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
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