Liz Paxton,former IT Director for Customer Management at Diageo, now a management trainer

CABE gives me the opportunity to consider and debate business issues with my peers,  who largely share similar  aims and values and ethics. The network is diverse and interesting, sympathetic and challenging  and has made me rethink my own approach and leadership attitudes.

 

Resources

Some general resources and topical issues...

Entering 2011 - what matters to you most? And what might help you survive or even thrive. Peter Shaw suggests four strands: coherence, context, courage and co-creation.

A Blessing for Work. A prayer written by John O'Donoghue and John Gooding (Guildford Diocese)

Values and Principles

Vocation of the Business Leader: A Reflection  A set of practical principles for those in business to guide them in their service of the common good produced by Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace

A Conversation with America's Pay Czar, Ken Feinberg on Ethics, Faith & Executive Compensation  held at the Faith and Work Initiative, Princeton University on 2 March 2010

Different perspectives on the moral vaccuum and whether business people with a faith "keep it for after work or once they have retired so it doesn't impinge on their day job of making money" or use it "to transform societies while they are engaged in business". Listen to Mona Siddiqui, Philip Pullman, Archbishop of Canterbury and David Baddiel on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week (from 31:18 - 36:45 mins).

Some sound advice from Peter Shaw as we enter a new decade - What is success?

Uniapac's Declaration on the Financial Crisis was produced at their annual global conference "Values to build a better World" and their Corporate Social Responsibility Protocol which provides a practical methodology to look at CSR as an 'inner force' that encourages people within an organisation to live by sound values and principles.

Wealth Creation

Read David Miller's paper entitled "Wealth Creation as integrated with faith: A Protestant Reflection"

Faith and Business

God and Global Capitalism: Let's Say Something Positive an article by Richard Higginson in response to the events at St Paul's Cathedral.  Published with permission from Church Times: www.churchtimes.co.uk

Reedeeming our Businesses, some thoughts about what we can/need to do from Eddie Donaldson at this year's Detling Summer Conference.

In search of 'faith-friendly' employers. Jonathan Evens interviews Catharine Pusey, interim CEO of the Employers' Forum on Belief published in the Faith in Business Quarterly.

A Comeback for Faith in the UK: New spiritual interest emerging from the rubble of arrogant materialism. Jonathan Aitken, Executive Director of the Trinity Forum in Europe, reports on a rise of faith in response to an age of anxiety. 

"Religion has a key part to play in ensuring economic recovery" suggests Zaki Cooper in the Independent.

Read Zaki Cooper (Director of Business for New Europe)'s article on Faith and Business - a new deal for the modern workplace.

Even debated at the Church of England Synod. Read the background papers and listen to the motion passed that "This Synod affirms daily work, be it paid or unpaid, as essentially a spiritual activity; recognises the importance of Christian values in economic life; encourages bishops and clergy to give greater priority to equipping and resoourcing church members through teaching, prayer, affirmation and celebration, to fulfil their vocations, ministries and mission in their places of work; and commissioned the Mission and Public Affairs Council to convene a symposium and provide resources...

Disscussed at a Level Seven event. Read the report.

God's business or None of His Business? Mark Greene picks up this topical issue.

Managing Faith in the Workplace was the subject of an evening organised by the Chartered Management Institute and the Three Faiths Forum. Read the report.

Debated by Lord Griffiths, Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra (chair of Interfaith Relations Committee at the Muslim Council of Britain) and Douglas Murray (director of the Centre for Social Cohesion). Brief overview.

Principles for Business: Group Discussion Template

A useful framework for Christian fellowships, churches or other workplace groups. Is there consistency between the way you behave at work and the way you behave at home/church...? How can you support and encourage each other to put your Christian principles into practice?