March
April
2011
Where Christian faith
gets down to business
Jeff Van Duzer:
Why business
matters to God
Flush with advice
for water worries
Garbage picker today,
entrepreneur tomorrow
Inside this issue:
MEDA ENGAGE!
1
The Marketplace March April 2011
Roadside stand
Do you give to panhandlers?
The city where this magazine
originates has experienced a
media debate on how to deal
with panhandlers. People on
one side prefer laws to limit
public panhandling, especially
the aggressive kind. They are
sometimes branded as being
un-generous. On the other
side are folk who think there
should be no restrictions on
“the poor,” the assumption
being that the people who beg
money on the streets are in
fact poor (some evidence suggests not all of them are).
The discussion highlights
the difference between
“wealth redistribution,” which
means to give money away,
and “wealth creation,” which
means to employ donated
money in ways that make
prosperity, or at least survival,
available to more people.
Much of the mindset of the
public, and also many religious
commentators, is on the side
of wealth redistribution — you
take some of my resources and
give them to someone else.
And that’s the end of it. Once
given away, it’s gone; there is
no more. Those who favor the
other side yearn for more lasting solutions.
A recent issue of Christianity Today magazine carried an
article titled “Should Christians
always give money to street
people who ask for it.” It
asked three Christian leaders
to respond. One answered the
question with, “Yes, freely.” A
second said, “As a last resort.”
The third said “Absolutely
not.”
That third answer came
from Ron Sider, author of
Rich Christians in an Age of
Cover photo of Jeff Van
Duzer by Brian Smale
The Marketplace March April 2011
up, so that we not only find
a solution to their poverty of
today, but also the poverty of
tomorrow.
Investing in the poor,
through programs that liberate
and empower, is not only a
more effective way to give,
it also makes poor people
partners in their own economic
recovery. It gives them more
dignity than to be mere recipients of charity. Even more than
dignity, however, it gives them
a future.
Robert ruled. Ever wonder
about the origin of Robert’s
Rules of Order, often regarded
as the holy writ of committees? Apparently they were
born in church. The story goes
that in 1876 Henry Robert, a
former military officer with a
penchant for disciplined conduct, was leading a trustees
meeting at First Baptist Church
in New Bedford, Mass. The
meeting plodded on, slow
and sloppy, and the frustrated
Robert resolved to never again
chair a meeting unless he had
some rules and procedures. He
set out to write his own, and
they’ve been used ever since.
(Christian Century)
Hunger and one of the most
visible Anabaptist promoters
of the poor. In elaborating his
response, Sider said “a quick
donation is, at best, cheap
love.... A small, quick handout lets us off the hook from
a more thoughtful response
to the person’s need.... A
handout lets me feel morally
righteous while obscuring my
obligation to work for sweeping reflection and change.”
What then should we do?
Sider’s answer: “We must give
in ways that truly liberate,
empower, and transform.”
That is the crux — to give
in a way that liberates and
empowers.
It’s no surprise to regular
readers of this magazine that
this is the goal of MEDA and
other organizations committed to business solutions to
poverty. We give by investing
in what we hope will be
transformation. As someone
has said, “When you invest in
MEDA, you get to keep the
change.”
We want our stewardship
to grow on behalf of the poor.
We want to give them a leg
Duh? Do these things really happen, or do people
just make them up and feed
them to the maw of a hungry
internet? In its roundup of
“Strange but true workplace
tales from 2010,” the Globe &
Mail reports that a recruitment
ad seeking “reliable” and
“hard-working” employees for
a British hospital was turned
down by a job center because
the job description might
offend unreliable applicants.
Then there was the careerending move by an Ontario
woman who decided to do a
little shoplifting after meeting
2
a store’s manager and leaving
her resume. Police tracked her
down quickly.
Who’s rich? The latest wealth
tally says the world now has
24 million people whose net
assets (including home, pension, etc.) exceed $1 million.
Most of them actually earned
their money (only 16 percent
inherited). “You do not have
to be a genius to build a
million-dollar business, but it
helps if you are intelligent and
extremely hard-working,” says
The Economist. And what does
the typical millionaire look
like? “Surprisingly ordinary,”
the magazine says, quoting a
recent wealth profile. “He has
spent his life patiently saving
and ploughing his money into
a business he founded. He
does not live in the fanciest
part of town — why waste
money that you can invest?
And his tastes are so plain
that you can barely tell him
apart from his neighbours. He
buys $40 shoes, and his car of
choice is a Ford.”
Word inflation: There is no
end to the growing inclination
to use more words when fewer
will do. One financial journal
recently weighed in on the
rising use of “high-net-worth
individual” which it describes
as “consultant-speak for rich.”
Another came our way while
traveling on a U.S. air carrier.
The flight attendant pointed
out the overhead location of
the “reading control device.”
Most of us thought it was a
light switch. — WK
In this issue
6
Deluged by guilt, grace or irrigation? Page 11
11
Wet & wild
17
What to tell
Menno and Vera
2 Roadside stand
4 Soul enterprise
22 Reviews
24 Soundbites
26 News
18
Singapore and
“Garbage City”
A globe-trotting businessman ponders the possibilities of unleashing entrepreneurship, from
emerging markets in Asia to business-savvy teenagers in Egypt. By Donovan Nickel
20
Volume 41, Issue 2
March April 2011
Editor: Wally Kroeker
Design: Ray Dirks
“Water worriers” drown us with statistics about
our unsustainable water bootprint. Is there a productive pathway through the sea of daily showers
and double espressos? By Al Doerksen
It’s a dilemma faced by many in business. Should
you invest to expand your business and create
more jobs, or should you donate your profits to
your local church or Christian agency?
Departments
The Marketplace (ISSN 0199-7130)
is published bi-monthly by Mennonite
Economic Development Associates at
532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS
67114. Periodicals postage paid at
Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in
U.S.A. Copyright 2011 by MEDA.
The meaning of business
Why does God want people to go into business?
For one, to provide goods and services; for another, to provide meaningful jobs, says author and
business professor Jeff Van Duzer.
Change of address should be sent
to Mennonite Economic Development
Associates, 32C E Roseville Road,
Lancaster, PA 17601-3681.
Embroidery revolution
With help from MEDA, a small economic revolution is underway in South Asia’s “embroidery
belt,” one of the most remote and impoverished
areas of Pakistan. By Linda Whitmore
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relating to delivery of the magazine,
please contact [email protected]
For editorial matters contact the editor
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Postmaster:
Send address changes to
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32C E Roseville Road
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Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), whose
dual thrust is to encourage a Christian
witness in business and to operate
business-oriented programs of assistance to the poor. For more information
about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026.
Web site www.meda.org
3
The Marketplace March April 2011
Pastors and businesspeople:
Bridging the gap
their members in hospital. Through the visits they could
When businesspeople have a tough decision to make,
see what their members do during the week, and get a
how often do they go to their pastors?
firsthand perspective on some of the tough decisions busiAlmost never.
nesspeople have to make — hiring and firing, expansion,
In a study done a few years ago, businesspeople
dealing with unions, etc.
ranked clergy ninth — behind “no one” — when asked
Likewise, businesspeople could take time to hear how
whom they consult in making decisions about business.
a pastor has to juggle various interests and personalities
When the chair of the business department at a
to reach a decision in the church, how carefully they have
Christian college conducted a similar survey, he found that
to weigh what they say on Sunday morning, and how
only 9.4 percent of the businesspeople in his community
they struggle with the enormous expectations that others
would consult their pastors in dealing with financial difplace on them.
ficulties.
Seminaries can play a role, too. Just as they teach pro“That says something about our relationship to the
spective pastors how to make hospital visits, they could
church,” he wrote. “It also says something about the
help them learn the importance of workplace visits. Just
church’s relationship to business.”
as they teach liturgies for weddings and funerals, they
Now, to be fair, not all business decisions require a call
could teach liturgies to commission Christian teachers,
to a pastor. But still, the fact that clergy register so low on
plumbers, lawyers and other people in the workplace.
the list of who to call doesn’t bode well for the church —
Maybe then pastors can move ahead of “no one” on
and maybe not for Christian businesspeople, either.
the list of whom businesspeople consult when making a
Why so little contact between clergy and businessdecision. — John Longhurst
people? One reason is that businesspeople may be
reluctant to talk on Monday to someone who was
preaching on Sunday about the evils of money,
materialism and consumerism. Why ask advice
from someone who seemingly has nothing good
to say about money or spending it?
Another reason may be that the only time
some businesspeople expect to hear from their
pastors is at budget time — money is the root of
all evil until the annual fundraising campaign kicks
in. An old adage about Christians and business
goes: “If possible, avoid getting into business; but
if you do get into business, avoid making lots of
money; but if you end up making a lot of money,
the church sure needs it.”
Finally, pastors and businesspeople may have
different ways of viewing the world. For example,
businesspeople prefer practical measurements
such as profit and loss, while pastors may talk
about “kingdom values.”
Pastors are more comfortable with process and
consultation, while businesspeople often have to
make quick decisions with a minimum of discussion. Pastors may describe justice for the poor in
terms of redistribution of wealth, while a businessperson may talk of it in terms of wealth creation
“Follow your heart and passion and find a way to contribute to the
— jobs and improved economic opportunities.
world beyond simply making money. Truly serving others the way
How can pastors and businesspeople bridge
you want to be treated is much more fulfilling than simply making
this gap? One way would be for pastors to visit
money. Just making money is boring.” — Dan Price, co-founder
their members’ workplaces, just as they visit
and CEO of Gravity Payments and winner of the 2010 Small Busi-
Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs
ness Association’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year award
The Marketplace March April 2011
4
Sanctifying the corporate world
You don’t usually expect to see religious faith featured in the Wall Street
Journal, but a recent op-ed piece was titled “Doing God’s Work — At the
Office.” Its author, Rob Moll (who also produced our feature interview on
page 6) reports on growing numbers of Christians who see their business
careers as a place to live out their values.
“Christian business professionals have long had an uneasy relationship
with the church,” he writes. “Not only does the church tend to privilege
church and missionary service over business, but it often condemns business practices and implies the guilt of any participants. Yet there are signs
that this dynamic is changing — not least because churches rely on the
donations of business professionals.”
Moll says more and more pastors now visit their parishioners at work,
quoting one who explains, “It shows them that I care about their callings,
how they spend 50‑plus hours of their week.”
The new mindset is expressed by Dave Evans, co-founder of videogame
giant Electronic Arts, who “talks more like a theologian than a former
Apple engineer.” Evans, Moll reports, believes Scripture teaches “that
humans were created in the image of God, so all of our work — not just
church work — is holy. We are called to be co‑creators, with God, of a
flourishing life on Earth.... When he began work in the 1970s, integrating
faith and business amounted to little more than being ethical and trying to
make converts. Much has changed, he says, as a younger generation seeks
to sanctify the corporate world.”
Another executive, an equity strategist, is quoted as saying that
on‑the‑job pressure provides an opportunity to “live out your faith in front
of colleagues. How do you treat employees? Do you lose your temper?”
Theologian-for-hire
It seems there is no end to the kinds
of jobs clever people can fashion for
themselves. Anna Madsen discerned a
market niche for a sort-of-pastor and
sort-of-therapist and started a business as a freelance theologian. Her
company, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., is
called OMG: Center for Theological
Conversation. “I realized that if someone is theologically out of whack,
then that person’s whole life is out of
whack,” she says. — Christian Century
Overheard:
5
Burden-bearing
in the office
“People fear showing love in a dog-eatdog world. One evening, I overcame that
fear and asked a colleague for advice on a
stressful situation. I told him I was on the
verge of drowning. He gave lots of advice
and volunteered to help me, which I accepted with gratitude. Just as I got up to
leave, he asked me if I knew anybody who
provided help to drug addicts. He said
his daughter had been arrested by the
police and tested positive for drugs. Tears
rimmed his eyes. He felt he’d failed as a
father. ‘I don’t know what to do, but I’m
willing to do anything to help my daughter,’ he said. At that moment, I felt God’s
loving presence with us. My colleague
and I were openly bearing one another’s
burdens. My colleague demonstrated love
by taking time to listen and provide astute
advice. And I sought to love my colleague
by supporting him in his personal pain.”
— Alvin Ung in Taking Your Soul to Work
“It’s a sin to die rich.”
— Chocolatier Milton S. Hershey
The Marketplace March April 2011
The meaning
of business
Christians in the marketplace, says Jeff Van Duzer,
are not second-class citizens of the kingdom
Interview by Rob Moll
D
What is the purpose of business?
A business should serve — internally, its employees, and
externally, its customers. A business exists for certain
purposes. One purpose is to provide meaningful work.
Another is to provide meaningful goods and services. It
does not exist to maximize return on capital investment.
There are a variety of things you might include that enable
you to achieve those service goals, but you should not do
anything that runs afoul of limits. A broad understanding of the notion of sustainability might be shorthand
for describing limits. As business pursues what I think are
its godly purposes, it must do so in a way that does not
transgress the “do no harm” standard of sustainability.
The third purpose is partnership. It’s a call for business to recognize its place in a system of institutions that
collectively pursue the common good. The common good
allows for the flourishing of the community and the individuals who make up that community.
espite many books and conferences in the past
decade that frame business as a divine calling,
churches still wonder how best to support the
businesspeople in their midst, many of whom
feel demeaned for not doing “real” ministry.
Jeff Van Duzer, in Why Business Matters to God
(And What Still Needs to Be Fixed) (IVP, 2010), offers
businesspeople guidelines for how to think about their
role in God’s plan. Christianity Today editor at large Rob
Moll spoke with the dean and professor of business law
and ethics at Seattle Pacific University about whether the
free market system is still the best provider of goods and
services, and how churches can help businesspeople face
ethically complex choices.
Why does God want people to go into business?
Two answers: to provide goods and services, and to provide meaningful and creative jobs.
Those are two different purpose statements. One has
an internal focus, and one, external. Externally, business is
the only institution that creates economic value. A university provides intellectual capital but does not make things.
Business takes the ideas and commercializes them. It relies
on an array of values from other institutions, but it’s the
only one that adds value into the system. Business plays a
key role by creating products and services.
But not every product a business could make is
equally valid in the eyes of God. So a Christian in business
should ask not only what will maximize the bottom line,
but also what product or service could be made, given the
core competencies under his control and the assets he is
managing, that would best serve his community.
The second piece is that God designed humans to
work. They are made in his image; God is a worker. And
God’s work is creative and meaningful. Business is not the
only institution that creates opportunities for work, but it
is certainly one of them, and this recent recession would
suggest it is a very important one.
The Marketplace March April 2011
Haven’t we seen a flood of books over the past
decade arguing that business is not only a legitimate
calling for Christians but even a high calling? Why
the need to continue highlighting this theme?
There has been emphasis on the broader understanding
of vocation and calling, and a broader concern about
a dualistic — Monday through Friday versus Sunday —
Christianity. Even in our church, every now and then we
will hear that someone is being called to “Christian ministry,” and you know they are not talking about accounting.
Businesspeople often complain that the church subtly communicates that their calling is a necessary evil
or at best a second-class vocation. Is this a legitimate
complaint? If so, why do churches approach business
like this?
Yes, it is [a legitimate complaint]. The entire world is the
Lord’s and all the work we are called to do is ordained by
him, in service to his kingdom. There are a lot of people
6
Photo by Brian Smale
Jeff Van Duzer: “If we live in a fallen world, how do we live in this messy middle?”
who have done sociological studies and have written
about how businesspeople feel demeaned by the church,
though I think the church is getting better.
comes across as if businesspeople are dancing with the
Devil. Another thing churches can do is celebrate Christians in different professions.
What can churches do to communicate to businesspeople the value of their calling?
Church leaders need to understand and learn about what
is involved in the day-to-day lives of parishioners. They
need to know how theology applies in the lives of people;
if they don’t know their
lives, they can’t apply
“A business
their theology. Hold a
conference and invite
exists for certain
business leaders to talk
about the challenges
purposes.
they are facing. Go to
the workplace and ask
One purpose
questions.
Leaders need to be
careful
with their lanis to provide
guage. There has been
improvement, but there
meaningful
is still a tendency to refer
to some things as miniswork. Another
try and others not.
Pastors need a richer
is to provide
understanding of the
pluses and minuses of
meaningful goods capitalism. They know
the minuses, which often
and services.”
enough are true. But it
Businesspeople complain about the church’s attitude
toward business. But don’t businesspeople see the
church as wishy-washy, touchy-feely, or out of touch
with the real world?
Absolutely. I talk about this in the context of the call to
partnership. Various institutions tend to see themselves as
godlike. They demand loyalty and insist on the extension
of their characteristics into other spheres. Government
and the church can be disdainful and distrustful of business, and certainly business is disdainful and distrustful of
government. We need to see other institutions as common allies in support of a common mission for the good
of humanity. We would then say to business [institutions]
that they shouldn’t apply their metrics, like efficiency, to
an artist or a church committee. There are other values
embedded in the nature of those institutions that need to
be respected.
You say that the free market is in the best position
to deliver goods and services. In today’s economy,
can we be so confident that this is still true?
Don’t make my claim stronger than it is. I certainly don’t
claim godlike status for markets. In fact, I think the free
market is one of the great idols of our age, particularly
among Christians in business. The market’s claim is to send
price signals to allocate resources. That is just one of a
number of goods that society should hope to have, and it’s
7
The Marketplace March April 2011
“The best way
you can unleash
creative juices
is to help
employees
understand
a long distance from shalom. Government should
play a significant role in
creating some protections against bubbles and
other things that distort
market signals. However,
relative to state-directed
economies, the free
market is more efficient
at allocating resources.
recent and fairly destructive idea that came about through
various and complicated reasons.
Do any companies practice business in the way you
advocate?
It’s hard to tell. A lot of what I’m talking about is motivational. We have Costco here in Seattle. Its mission statement — “To continually provide our members with quality
goods and services at the lowest possible prices” — aligns
directly with what I’m saying. As a practical matter, shareholders have done very well. It’s possible that the CEO
goes home at night, laughs, and says that what he’s really
about is maximizing returns — but I don’t think so.
that their work
Some socialist democracies, like the Scandiconnects to
navian countries, have
managed to produce
something bigger, goods and services
as well as further
something that
the common good,
offering an array of
social services like
has long-term
free health care and
free education. Isn’t
value.”
this a better economic
model for society, given your ideas?
I sometimes get accused of being a socialist. But there is
a fundamental difference between the view of business
I argue for and a socialist economy. In a socialist system,
the government is directing the economy. I’m not talking
about that. What I’m saying is that individual Christians
should align their vocations toward godly desires.
Every system has a mix of government direction and
the free market. There are a number of ways government can help the market run more efficiently. Different
cultures draw the line in different places. I’m addressing
Christians in their world and in business.
Would someone following this model be at a competitive disadvantage?
I don’t ever want to suggest that doing the right thing
will always redound to the bottom line. The phrase “good
ethics is good business” is true most of the time. If all ethics made money, we would never teach ethics at business
school. Increasingly the value and wealth of a company is
tied up in the creativity of employees. Even if the only thing
you care about is making money, you want to unleash
those creative juices. The best way you can unleash creative
juices is to help employees understand that their work
connects to something bigger, something that has longterm value. A model that tells you to think about how your
company can best serve the community is also the model
that’s most likely to tap into employees’ creativity.
Most Christians are employed by businesses that don’t
follow your model. What is your word for them?
This is the most important question churches could be
talking about today. If we live in a fallen world, how do
we live in this messy middle? When is it okay to compromise? When do you pay a living wage and ride the
company into bankruptcy because it’s the right thing to
do, and [say], “If God wants to rescue it, then he will”?
Or, when do you say you want to pay a living wage, but
you just cannot make it pencil out?
Christians can’t accept a position of compromise
until it is the very last option. They have to strain for that
creative solution that allows them to do it all. Then, when
they are absolutely forced to choose the lesser of two
evils, they have to acknowledge that nonetheless, they are
choosing evil. That should call them to confession, repentance, and a deep longing for the day when we won’t be
living in this kind of world anymore.
I wish the church would help us think through principles about how to navigate this messy middle. I try to
provide a theology that will help businesspeople understand how their activity can fit into the overall scheme of
God’s kingdom work. ◆
Your vision for Christian business would not be recognizable in many business schools.
There is a significant minority movement in business in
which people are saying that business has to be about
more than just maximizing the bottom line. You can find
it in what’s called creative capitalism or conscious capitalism. None of those ideas are precisely what I’m advocating. But they are not so far away that someone would
look at mine and think I was from Mars.
Some argue that your idea — that the purpose of
business is to help the common good — is old, and
that “maximizing profit” for its own sake is the new
idea. Do you think this is true?
Historically, maximizing shareholder value as the purpose
of business has not been the prevailing view. The notion of maximizing shareholder wealth dates back to the
1970s. Companies that existed before that had a different
initial understanding of what they were about. This is a
The Marketplace March April 2011
This article first appeared in the January 2011 issue of Christianity Today.
Used by permission of Christianity Today International, Carol Stream, IL
60188.
8
The market and
the messy middle
It may not be perfect, but it’s still part of God’s plan
Review by Craig Martin
Why Business Matters to God:
(and what still needs to be
fixed). By Jeff Van Duzer (InterVarsity, 2010, 206 pp. $20 U.S.)
T
he questions: What is the
purpose of business, and
what does it mean to be a
Christian in business, are
the seeds of inspiration for Jeff Van
Duzer’s book Why Business Matters
to God: (and what still needs to be
fixed). Van Duzer challenges the resulting dichotomy that “work (and
its product) remain neatly divided
between the secular (which hardly
counts) and the sacred (which is
ultimately all that matters).” He
finds this is bad theology in that it
“limits the advance of God’s kingdom” and God’s power to work
through business to advance the
divine plan. In doing so he starts
the needed conversation about
developing a Christian theology of business.
purpose is two‑fold: (1) God’s creation, including humans,
The first major challenge Van Duzer faces is that “in
is to flourish, multiply and fill the earth, and (2) humans
a narrow verse‑by‑verse sense there is not much to work
were to work with God to bring creation into its full glory.
with” in terms of biblical Scripture. As a result, rather than
From this general purpose for all of creation, Van Duzer
trying to create a theology of business based on a “handestablishes his theology of business: (1) businesses are to
ful of specific verses,” he bases his theology on what is
“provide the communities with goods and services that
called the “grand narrative.” This
theological method states that all
Scripture tells one basic story in
Excerpt: A place to serve
four great movements: Creation,
the Fall, Redemption and Consum“The purpose of business is still to serve. It is to serve the community by promation.
viding goods and services that will enable the community to flourish. And it is
In the first part of the “grand
to serve its employees by providing them with opportunities to express at least
narrative,” Creation, we find God’s
a portion of their God-given identity through meaningful and creative work.”
initial purpose for creation and for
— Jeff Van Duzer
humans within creation. That initial
9
The Marketplace March April 2011
Excerpt: Work harder
“...there is reason to suspect that Christians
should become some of the most creative innovators in business.... When Christians become
aware of tensions between their vocation as
followers of Christ and their vocation as businesspersons, they must work harder to uncover
new possibilities consistent with both callings.”
— Jeff Van Duzer
will enable it to flourish, and (2) to provide opportunities for meaningful work that will allow
employees to express their God‑given creativity.”
ber that the market “is
a product of the Fall and
therefore unable to bring
about God’s designed conclusion, in other words the
market is not perfect.”
However, we are no longer in the
Garden but are subject to the Fall. This means that all of
the intended relationships, “God‑human, human‑human
and human‑natural order,” are broken and not as God
has intended. It is into this environment that we must
place the institution of business. Van Duzer argues that
business, like all human‑run institutions, is subject to the
consequences of the Fall. Therefore, “markets are not
how God intended human beings to carry out exchange”
and whether “markets would have developed even without the Fall” is questionable. However, given our fallen
state, God is able to utilize the market system to carry out
at least part of the initial plan. As Van Duzer points out, to
date “the market system is the most efficient system used
by humans” to allocate resources compared to central
planning, feudalism, etc. But, we must always remem-
Given the fallen nature of both humans and
markets, what is a Christian in the business world to do?
For Van Duzer the solution is that businesspeople need
to operate and manage their businesses in a manner that
is sustainable. In this he not only means to be sustainable in an environmental sense but also with respect
to all stakeholders, shareholders, employees, suppliers,
customers and communities. This means that shareholders deserve “a reasonable, risk‑adjusted return on their
investment.” For employees this means being treated as
having “intrinsic value not just as a means of production.”
This means that suppliers are “entitled to honest and
transparent dealings.” Customers “are entitled to know
what they are purchasing” and that the products “meet
their reasonable expectations for usefulness and safety.”
In terms of communities, businesspeople must deal with
them in a “sustainable fashion” that recognizes that communities provide other forms of capital that help God’s
creation to flourish. The challenge for businesspeople is to
balance each of these requirements which can at times be
in conflict with each other. Van Duzer therefore places the
institution of business firmly within God’s plan but, like
all things since the Fall, it is not perfect and there is still
much that needs to be done.
This book is a necessary read for any businessperson
who takes both their business and faith seriously. Almost
more important, however, is that this book should be read
by Christians outside of the business world. ◆
Excerpt: What business does best
“Business leaders have great skills. They are the best
at getting the most out of a little. They can organize
and deploy resources with remarkable efficiency. They
tend to be optimistic and willing to take calculated
risks. They are trained to look for possibilities where
others just see problems. They are trained to look for
a third option — the creative win-win solution that
can break through deadlocks. And they often have
the capacity to gather substantial resources to direct
toward needed solutions. Big challenges motivate
them and they tend to persevere in the face of tremendous odds when convinced they are on the right
path.” — Jeff Van Duzer
The Marketplace March April 2011
Craig Martin is assistant professor of business and organizational administration at Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg.
10
Wet & wild
How can we part the water through
daily showers and double espressos?
by Al Doerksen
I
grew up in a family with eight kids. We never had a
lot of money but I don’t recall thinking we were poor.
We did have water restrictions however. We bathed
once a week in three to four inches of shared water,
and just doing number one in the single toilet was not
sufficient reason to flush.
The driver for these family rules was not water scarcity — it was a captive sewage system that had grossly
inadequate absorptive capacity especially in our frozen
Alberta winters. Water consumption, however, was never
an articulated concern in my growing up years; we added
ice cubes and tea bags and instant coffee as often as
we wished, and the hoses ran freely when flooding the
community hockey rink. In our local Mennonite church,
water was a symbol of everlasting life and the medium of
baptism.
Well, that was 50 years ago. Now I enjoy my daily
showers. I have graduated to double espressos and I no
longer play ice hockey, but I confess that concerns about
excessive flushing are still in my psyche. In terms of its
psycho‑metaphorical value, water thoughts seem to generate more feelings of guilt than grace.
The messages these days, with so many dire predictions from the water Malthusians, are not encouraging.
Water tables are dropping. The world is running out of
fresh water. We’ve got a time bomb. Our water is getting
more and more polluted with agricultural pesticide and
herbicide run-off, and industrial complexes still flush with
abandon. The next wars will allegedly be fought over access to water, and every double espresso I consume uses
up 140 litres of water. Eating beef is even worse — one
kilo is like consuming 16,000 litres of water — enough
water to fill the pool we no longer own. I am part of the
fortunate middle class world which owns a completely
unsustainable water footprint — 2,500 cubic meters per
person per year. One could drown in the statistics (and in
the empty water bottles). All of this gives me a headache;
I wish it was just the consequence of dehydration on a
hot day.
My first water career was with Trojan Technologies,
winner of the 2009 World Water Week Industry Award
for its global leadership in the development of large-scale
ultraviolet water disinfection systems. Our concerns were
about safe (chlorine‑free) drinking water, about safe
discharges of waste water back into the environment, the
removal and destruction of industrial contaminants in the
ground water and river systems. I was based in Europe,
where the EU Water Frameworks look at water from a
river basis perspective. The Rhine is used for agriculture,
fisheries, industry, transportation, recreation and tourism,
and using its water must accommodate the interests of
all.
My second water career is with International Development Enterprises. We encourage the productive use
of water; in our experience irrigation is one of the best
leverage opportunities available for smallplot dollar‑a‑day
farmers. We offer affordable technologies to pump/lift
water, store water and distribute water. The trouble with
irrigation, however, is that it
“One could
uses water — on average six
litres per square meter per day
drown in the in irrigation season. Some days
this feels perverse; in a waterstatistics (and stressed world, we are promoting the use of more of it. We
empty water are not likely to be able to wean
ourselves off food and water,
however, so our focus, especialbottles).”
ly in agriculture, which uses 70
percent of available fresh water supplies, will increasingly
promote the more careful stewardship of this resource.
A recent report by the International Water Management Institute, “Water for Food, Water for Life,” acknowledges the challenges ahead. It says, “The hope lies in
closing the gap in agricultural productivity in many parts
of the world … and in realizing the unexplored potential
that lies in better water management along with non‑miraculous changes in policy and production techniques.
The world has enough freshwater to produce food for all
its people over the next half century. But world leaders
must take action now — before the opportunities to do
so are lost.”
At IDE we will continue to pursue innovative approaches to more responsible use of productive water. On
the other hand, we will deepen our inquiries about falling
water tables.
And I will continue to be conscious of my flushing
habits. ◆
Al Doerksen is CEO of International Development Enterprises, Denver.
11
The Marketplace March April 2011
Who says?
Quotations and proverbs are grist for sermons,
speeches and clever conversation. But who said
them first? Take the following test and check your
Business I.Q. (For “I’m quoting...”). Disclaimer: our
use of these quotations does not mean we agree
with them (but we might).
1. “In capitalism, man exploits man. In
socialism it’s the other way around.”
(a) Cal Redekop
(b) R.H. Tawney
(c) Max Weber
(d) none of the above
2. “Greed has been severely underestimated and denigrated. There
is nothing wrong with avarice as a
motive, as long as it doesn’t lead to
anti-social conduct.”
(a) Conrad Black
(b) Milton Friedman
(c) Gordon Gekko
(d) H. Winfield Tutte
3. “I never let politics or religion affect
my business knowingly.”
(a) Malcolm Forbes
(b) Lee Iacocca
(c) Jimmy Pattison
(d) Jack Welch
4. “I don’t have time to be nice.”
(a) Harold Geneen
(b) Howard Hughes
(c) Wally Kroeker
(d) Gustavus Swift
5. “Few trends could so thoroughly
undermine the very foundation of our
free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money
for their shareholders as possible.”
(a) Milton Friedman
(b) John Kenneth Galbraith
(c) John Maynard Keynes
(d) Thorstein Veblein
6. “A holding company is the people
you give your money to while you’re
being searched.”
(a) Tony Campolo
(b) Bill Maher
(c) Will Rogers
(d) Rush Limbaugh
7. “When someone gets something
for nothing, someone else gets nothing for something.”
(a) Ogden Nash
(b) William Shakespeare
(c) Jeffrey Sachs
(d) none of the above
8. “Always do right. This will surprise
some people and astonish the rest.”
(a) Winston Churchill
(b) Sam Janzen
(c) Mark Twain
(d) Gerhard Pries
9. “The first step in the evolution
of ethics is a sense of solidarity with
other human beings.”
(a) Ivan Boesky
(b) Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(c) Albert Schweitzer
(d) none of the above
10. “Wealth consists not in having
great possessions, but in having few
wants.”
(a) Epicurus
(b) Mohandas Gandhi
(c) Warren Buffet
(d) Mother Teresa
11. “When I feed the poor, I am called
a saint. When I ask why the poor are
hungry, I am called a communist.
(a) Mohammad Yunus
(b) Michael Moore
(c) Dom Helder Camara
(d) B. Boku
12. “If a man write a better book,
preach a better sermon, or make a
better mousetrap than his neighbor,
the world will make a beaten path to
his door.”
(a) Ralph Waldo Emerson
(b) Benjamin Franklin
(c) George W. Bush
(d) Henry David Thoreau
13. “He who builds a better mousetrap these days runs into material
shortages, patent-infringement suits,
collusive bidding, discount discrimination — and taxes.”
(a) Peter Drucker
(b) H.E. Martz
(c) John Naisbitt
(d) Thomas Peters
14. “Professions, like nations, are
civilized to the degree which they can
satirize themselves.”
(a) Ted Swartz
(b) Garrison Keillor
(c) Eleanor Roosevelt
(d) Peter de Vries
15. “The trouble with the publishing
business is that too many people who
have half a mind to write a book do
so.”
(a) Michael Korda
(b) Alfred Knopf
(c) Ron Rempel
(d) William Targ
Answers: 1. d; 2. a; 3. c; 4. a; 5. a; 6. c; 7. d; 8. c; 9. c; 10. a; 11. c; 12. a; 13. b; 14. d; 15. d
The Marketplace March April 2011
12
What would you say
to Menno and Vera?
When they created seven new jobs, they almost felt
as if they were doing the Lord’s work
Those who work at “secular” jobs, whether in business or
other professions, are not always seen as active Christian
servants. Some are even regarded as second‑class citizens
in the kingdom of God.
Not all of us are gifted to be pastors or missionaries.
Nonetheless, we too have been given occupational assignments through which we can be God’s junior partners in
meeting the daily needs that help sustain God’s creation.
Scripture suggests that our daily work is a calling through
which we can exercise the gifts God has given us.
sarcasm.
People didn’t understand how vulnerable the company was. They didn’t realize that running a business meant
being in a permanent relationship with the bank and having to worry constantly about the prime rate. Things were
going well now, but the market was unpredictable. To
stay competitive in a changing environment, they needed
more trucks, a bigger building, and at least seven or eight
more workers.
That last part felt good. It was fulfilling to Menno and
Vera that their vision and hard work created good jobs
at competitive wages. Their employees meanwhile were
building their own capital base. Out of it they sustained
their families, paid for houses, helped finance schools,
and generally contributed to the community. When the
Wengers created new jobs, they almost felt as if they
were doing the Lord’s work, though they wouldn’t describe it that way at church.
Ah yes, church. Tomorrow was Sunday. Menno and
Vera would encounter some employees and their families.
Would the Wengers’ looming decisions interfere with
their worship? What would be the mood of the service
and the sermon topic? Would they feel joyous or guilty?
I
t was a quiet Saturday evening. Menno and Vera
Wenger were relaxing in their favorite chairs after an
active week in the business they jointly owned and
operated. Menno pondered the financial reports he’d
just read. They gave him a sense of both joy and dread.
Profits were up. Menno was grateful for a good year,
for their thriving company, for their 22 employees. On the
other hand, he felt unease because ticklish decisions lay
ahead.
Last year profits had been small, leaving few things to
decide. They merely increased wages where they could.
What little surplus was left went to upgrade equipment
and hire two new employees. Menno and Vera’s personal
income had been only slightly above average for people in
the area.
Menno wouldn’t forget the last time profits had been
this good. They had added a production line, hired seven
more people, and built a much‑needed warehouse. It was
a handsome building, conspicuous from the main road. Its
visible location gave customers easy access and projected
a dynamic image.
That, unfortunately, had been the problem, at least
for people quick to criticize. Menno and Vera felt the sting
of comments, only half‑humorous, that they were building a monument to themselves. Someone joked that it
housed an indoor golf course. Another muttered about “a
license to steal.” That hurt.
Menno almost wished this year had been like the last.
He didn’t relish making choices that would bring more
Questions to ponder:
1. To whom in the church can the Wengers go for counsel
and sharing? What can be done to create a safe environment? Is the church the place for this kind of sharing?
2. How should the Wengers balance priorities? Should
they expand the business? Give more in wages, bonuses,
and benefits? Give more to the church and charities?
What Scripture would be helpful?
3. Let’s say you’re the pastor of a church which
includes people like the Wengers as well as others who
don’t understand the Wengers’ dilemma. How would you
plan next Sunday’s service and message? How would you
bridge different viewpoints? ◆
This article, written by former MEDA president Ben Sprunger, is taken
from the book Faith Dilemmas for Marketplace Christians (available on
the MEDA website: www.meda.org)
17
13
The Marketplace March April 2011
Singapore and
“Garbage City”
A globe-trotter ponders the possibilities
of unleashing entrepreneurship
by Donovan Nickel
iStockphoto, Andrew Wood
D
sales on a new semiconductor factory in
uring the past 10 years, before retirnine months (working six long days per
ing from Hewlett‑Packard Co. in July,
week, lunch standing up); my own expeI led two of the company’s global
riences setting up and growing engineerbusiness divisions. In developing
ing teams in Bangalore and Singapore.
those businesses, I traveled 60‑70 times to Asia,
more than to any other region outside North
One of my favorite examples
America. I found the emerging markets in Asia
of unleashing entrepreneurship on a
compelling, for the energy, the openness to
large scale was the development of
learn and adopt new technologies, the amazing
Singapore — I always thought of it as
levels of investment and risk, and the aggres“Asia for beginners,” with its excellent
siveness to make things happen right now.
infrastructure and the use of English for
The pulse rate of business decisions, and of
business and education.
entrepreneurialism, is faster in emerging market
Donovan Nickel
When Singapore became an ineconomies than in developed economies, and I
dependent republic in 1965, it was a
loved it.
poor, small island country with no natural resources, no
Examples: the $1 billion company in Taiwan that was
manufacturing base, little industrial know‑how, very little
willing to invest $3 billion in a new factory (how many
domestic capital, and major unemployment.
$50 billion western firms are willing to put $3 billion in
Lee Kuan Yew and the early leaders established key
a new North American factory?); the start‑up in Beijing
development strategies to attract foreign investment
that had office space located, under contract, configured
to develop their manufacturing and financial business
with data center, furnished, and operational in a week;
sectors. They offered what they could. First, a low-cost,
the South Korean firms that went from groundbreaking to
industrious labor force with a strong quality and productivity orientation, and a labor union focused on keeping
labor productivity competitive. Second, tax structures
with significant long-term incentives for foreign firms.
(Singapore won here over other developing countries due
to its relatively incorruptible government and early investment in infrastructure.) As unemployment dropped and
a labor shortage arose, emphasis was placed on efficient
usage of labor through education/training, automation
and computerization technology. Tax incentives evolved to
encourage local research and development and financial
management in addition to manufacturing.
The result was a remarkable 40-year development
cycle which achieved the highest per capita GDP in Asia
outside Japan, very low unemployment, one of the
world’s top three shipping ports, a strong base of technolStrategic development: A Singapore school child assemogy, and in recent years, increasing local innovation and
bles a model of the DNA spiral.
The Marketplace March April 2011
18
14
In some of the
entrepreneurial business
start‑ups.
I could add that Singapore is also where you find
the world’s favorite airline,
great hotels, the best chili
pepper crab, and the tailor
who makes my suits, but I
want to shift attention from
emerging markets back to
the first step — Frontier
Markets.
most unlikely
circumstances
we found savvy
teenagers who
see a path to a
preneurs turning garbage back into raw materials and the
raw materials into new products for sale (scrap fabric into
new rugs and handbags, old newsprint into pulp slurry
and then into new heavy‑grained paper and then the
paper into greeting cards, calendars, and other products).
It was satisfying to see MEDA’s initiatives focused
on the education of children who work in a country
where child labor is big. This educational program teaches
a workplace code of conduct, gender equality, child labor
rights — and it also teaches computer skills, business
risk and mitigation, and entrepreneurial business management. These teenage kids are savvy and world‑wise
beyond their years — many will not have future opportunities through higher education and employment, but
they see a path to greater future opportunity through
entrepreneurship.
Our faith and values call us to be helpful stewards
in our worldwide community. But we know that turning good intentions into effective actions and outcomes
is hard. That’s why I’m a big fan of MEDA’s mission and
programs. It’s why I’m a member, a contributor, and an investor in Sarona Funds. It’s a long-term commitment, but
past examples of frontier markets like Singapore showed
what is possible to achieve in 40 years, so let’s keep at it. ◆
My experiences working within emerging market
countries that were frontier markets only a few decades
ago have amplified my personal enthusiasm for MEDA’s
mission to develop sustainable business solutions to poverty in frontier markets.
A year ago, my wife Jewel and I joined a MEDA trip
to Egypt. By way of comparison, it’s clear that Egypt as
a country is missing some of the development strategies Singapore put in place years ago. The people we
met in Egypt, though, have a strong propensity for free
enterprise and entrepreneurship, even in unlikely circumstances.
We met a seven-year-old entrepreneur while wanderDonovan Nickel, a retired divisional vice-president for Hewlett-Packard,
ing through the Aswan town market one night. He was
lives in Windsor, Colo. His article is based on comments to MEDA’s Unleashing Entrepreneurship convention in Calgary in November.
amazing. He had a very confident and friendly approach.
He had his sales pitch
down cold. He had an
answer for every question. And after about 15
minutes of work, he closed
the sale — we squandered
a couple of dollars for a
handful of bookmarks.
That young man has potential!
On the outskirts of
Cairo is Manshiyat naser
(Garbage City) — the
place where 5,000 tons of
trash is brought each day.
Some 60,000 people live
there and go through all
the trash by hand, sorting,
recycling, reusing. It was
impressive to see impoverished but creative entreFrontier market: A client of MEDA’s Egypt project works on a computer in a family company.
Carl Hiebert photo
better future
19
15
The Marketplace March April 2011
Women’s empowerment
Revolution in Pakistan’s
embroidery belt
M
eher Afroze Baloch used to be “a simple
housewife” who had a knack for embroidery. Her designs were outdated and not
up to market standards, but adequate for
household use. Then she came upon a MEDA project in
Pakistan and a whole new world opened up.
The three-year $1.2 million project is helping birth
a small economic revolution in a corner of South Asia’s
“embroidery belt” in mountainous northern Balochistan,
one of the most remote and impoverished areas of Pakistan.
Due to local cultural norms, women are sequestered
and isolated, so engaging them in any enterprise is difficult. “Women’s economic empowerment in Balochistan
is an enormous task that requires a concerted and deliberate effort,” says Helen Loftin, MEDA’s director of women’s
economic development. Challenges include deeply‑rooted
cultural norms against women’s inclusion in any activity
outside the home, as well as the overall insecurity of the
region.
But working through its partners, WESS (Water, Environment and Sanitation Society) and ECI (Empowerment
through Creative Integration), MEDA is helping 5,000
women embellishers to share vital market knowledge
and business skills, and connect with viable markets. In
turn, the women are earning more income and economic
power that will help them assume a more active role in
Pakistan’s embroidery belt
Any happy occasion in Pakistan, along with food,
music and fun, also calls for a special dress, and more
often than not, women turn to hand‑embellished fabric. The quality can vary, with the price ranging from
very expensive to reasonable. Embellishments are applied on varied and special motifs and designs, some
of which date back to the Mughal era (1526‑1857)
and beyond.
Take, for instance, the timeless paisley and
geometrical designs very conspicuous in Islamic art
and popularly used in the phulkari (flower patterns)
embroidery. The materials used include cotton and
silk threads, glass mirror pieces, beads, shells, buttons
and designed metal pieces.
Geography and culture exercise a significant
influence on the type of embroidery and color used.
This is especially true of the “embroidery belt” which
stretches from the North-West Frontier Province
(NWFP) to the Thar desert and across Gujrat
to Rajasthan in India. This particular area in
the subcontinent boasts the largest variety of
embellishment styles and the people are highly
skilled in their craft.
South Asia has long been famous for its
beautifully embellished cloth, with the exquisite work often produced by women as they
find time around household chores. Girls learn
this skill from their mothers or other women of
their family and prepare embroidery pieces for
their dowry. In rural areas it is common to use
embroidered textiles to beautify living spaces.
Very fine embroideries are handed down from
generation to generation and are framed and
kept protected in urban homes as well.
— Linda Whitmore
Participants examine the handiwork of women embellishers from northern Balochistan.
The Marketplace March April 2011
16
20
household and community decision-making — no minor
feat in a tribal and deeply patriarchal society.
Meher’s story is typical. As part of a slightly more
mobile class of women, she became a sales agent for the
project and gained exposure to markets in Karachi, Lahore
and Islamabad. “I had the opportunity to see new designs
and products as well as receive training in color combination as well as product diversification,” she says. She feels
that the quality of her work has substantially improved
after her exposure to different areas of the country. “Now,
I’m a more confident person and can deal directly with
the market. I can work
better with local women
“Just inviting a embellishers and guide them
in their product design and
woman to the
quality with respect to market demands.”
Meher and other pardais to speak
ticipants had a chance to
at an event like network and tell their stories
recently at a two‑day conference and exhibition that
this shows how attracted 292 participants
and 22 exhibitors — from
much progress women embellishers and
female sales agents to input
has been made
suppliers, wholesalers, retailers
in Balochistan.”
and supporting
organizations.
Shakila, a fabric
embellisher, has
been doing
Meher
Shakila
Rozina
embroidery for 10 years. In
three months with the project, she has had multiple opportunities for training. “The
most attractive feature of the
project is that I can work out
of my house and still earn
a stable income,” she says.
“A project like this is very
beneficial for women like me
who were unable to go to the
market, so couldn’t sell our
products at market‑based,
competitive prices.” In addition to better embroidery
skills, the project has given
her better business sense and
enterprise skills, Shakila says.
Rozina, a teacher and
sales agent from Zhob, says,
“As we all know, in Balochistan it is very difficult for a
girl to come out of her home
to earn an income. I was one
of the few women from Zhob
who has saved 100,000 Pakistan rupees (about $1,200)
and set up a vocational training center. We manufacture
a range of products, and
recently received an order
from Karachi!”
The exhibition vividly
illustrated the value chain
for embellished fabrics by
displaying under one roof the
various businesses, activities
and relationships involved in
creating a final product or
service. It also promoted interaction between the various
participant groups.
“Just inviting a woman to the dais to speak at an
event like this shows how much progress has been made
in Balochistan,” says Dr. Fauzia Nazir Marri, a representative of the government of Pakistan.
Adds Syed Abid Rizvi, chair of WESS, “In its own way,
the organization is giving birth to a revolution.”
The project, sponsored by FAO Pakistan (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) with support
from USAID, has attracted 2,617 women embellishers and
183 female sales agents in its first year.
— Linda Whitmore
Balochistan — remote and illiterate
• Pakistan’s largest province — but mountainous and
remote, with very low population density
• High rates of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and
infant and maternal mortality
• Literacy rates lowest in the country — 18% among
men; 7% among women
17
21
The Marketplace March April 2011
Reviews
An antidote to soul-sapping toxins
Taking Your Soul to Work:
Overcoming the Nine Deadly Sins of the Workplace. By
R. Paul Stevens & Alvin Ung
(Eerdmans, 2010, 200 pp. $14
U.S.)
“The workplace is a major arena for the battle of our souls,”
say Paul Stevens and Alvin Ung
in this latest entry in a growing
body of faith/work resources.
The good news is that, well,
there is Good News: work can
be a source of spiritual growth
and draw you closer to God.
Stevens has written a number of excellent books on faith
and the workplace, among
them The Other Six Days and
Doing God’s Business. (He has
also spoken and led workshops
at MEDA conventions.) In his
long career as a professor he
helped put Regent College
(Vancouver) on the map as a
leader in marketplace theology. Here he teams up with a
much younger man still in the
throes of the Monday-Friday
work life. Alvin Ung works
with Khazanah Nasional, the
national investment agency of
Malaysia.
Together, in conversational
fashion, they mine the wisdom
of the Bible and their own rich
experiences in global business
to redefine the workplace as a
venue for spiritual growth.
The book is divided into
three sections. First they select
nine “deadly sins” of the
workplace, the kinds of “soulsapping” toxins most workers
face. These are the traditional
seven deadly sins (pride, greed,
lust, gluttony, anger, sloth and
envy) with two more added
— restlessness and boredom.
These sins “can easily entangle
us as we work,” the authors
say.
Section two explores nine
life-giving resources that function as antidotes, followed by
The Marketplace March April 2011
a “rethinking” process that
can turn conventional ideas
on their head.
Take sloth, for example,
which is not merely laziness
but can also be manifest in
pathological busyness. “Lazy
people aren’t the only ones
who are slothful,” the authors
claim. “Extremely busy people
can also be slothful.”
But what are they busy at?
People who are morally and
spiritually lazy may seem busy
but lack big-picture focus, thus
they “whittle away at lesser
problems while refusing to
attend to the most important
work at hand.” They may even
have workaholic tendencies.
Workaholism has its own set
of spiritual dangers since “it
causes people’s brains to shut
down, they have no energy
to think about anything other
than work — not about relationships, marriage, children,
health, parents, church,
relationship with God, and
especially matters of eternal
consequence. They are waiting
for life to get less busy; then
they’ll put things right.”
The key lies in seeing God’s
action in the world. “We are
hewing at the roots of sloth
when we resolve to be faithful
to both great and small tasks,”
say Stevens and Ung. Sloth can
be overcome with a sabbath
consciousness that is more
than mere cessation from work
but a rhythm that perceives
“God’s big view of the meaning of our lives.”
By the authors’ template,
this “big picture” includes an
important role for peace (“having a passion for completeness
and harmony, no matter what
the situation”), which they
cast as an antidote to boredom
(“having insufficient passion or
interest to give yourself heartily
to work and life”). As they
note, the modern corporate
a third section that illustrates
nine positive outcomes of integrating spirituality and work.
One might fear that a
book on deadly sins would be
judgmental. It’s not. This is not
a pair of high priests wagging
their fingers at sinners. What
they do is lay out a map showing some of the mine fields
in the workplace, examining them from a number of
angles, and showing how they
can not only be dismantled but
even provide paths to growth.
“I’ve learned that
the workplace is
a playground for
learning to love God
and to love people”
The sins of which they
speak lurk in unsuspecting
places, then grow and “produce offspring.”
Greed — “probably the
most common workplace sin”
— can range from the innocuous to the insidious. “Much
of unrecognized greed stems
from noble intentions to build
a safe and secure financial
base for loved ones. Even poor
people are not exempt from
greed.” Pervasive as it is, greed
can be sent running by, for
example, regarding shopping
as a spiritual discipline, by
resisting the wiles of advertising and by cultivating a spirit
of generosity, Stevens and Ung
suggest.
Lust? It’s not a surprising
consequence in a job setting
where talented, like-minded
people “perform at the top of
their game,” all of which contributes to “a subtle yet real
eroticism in the workplace.”
Envy? “It is a magnet for
other vices. It compounds the
effects of other deadly sins.”
With each “sin” the authors guide readers through
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workplace, with its cutthroat
competition and economic
uncertainties, hardly seems
like “a sanctuary of peace.”
Acknowledging a Christian
tendency to simply be nice and
avoid conflict, they declare that
“insidious patterns of denial,
passive-aggressive indirectness,
and unspoken resentments”
have their own toxicity. Peace
does not remove us from those
tensions, but plunges us into
the center of them, as long
as we don’t try to arrive at it
“by forcing conformity, ignoring tension, or papering over
disagreements.”
Confronting workplace sins
and responding with the fruits
of the spirit ultimately leads to
a recognition that God is in the
center of all things — even the
workplace — and makes true
balance possible.
“I’ve learned that the workplace is a playground for learning to love God and to love
people,” says Alvin Ung in one
of the numerous dialogues in
the book. “Wouldn’t it make a
huge difference in my workplace if I made it my goal to
find creative ways to love and
bless my coworkers, bosses,
and staff on a daily basis?”
Pastors might want to
shield their parishioners from
this book — and then use it as
grist for a sermon series.
— Wally Kroeker
Men of God first, chocolatiers second
Chocolate Wars: The 150year Rivalry Between the
World’s Greatest Chocolate
Makers. By Deborah Cadbury
(Douglas & McIntyre, 2010,
347 pp. $29.95 U.S.)
Often referred to as the “food
of the gods,” cocoa has
delighted palates for centuries.
Less well known is the religious heritage of some historic
chocolatiers. In this book, a
descendant of the Cadbury
family tells the story of the
British chocolate dynasties,
following their Quaker roots to
the eventual recent takeover of
Cadbury by Kraft Foods.
“The story of Cadbury, in
a way, is the story of a different kind of capitalism,” says
Deborah Cadbury, a prolific
author and British documentary producer. It is not only
the story of her own ancestors
but also the story of others
who helped bring chocolate to
life — the Rowntree and Fry
dynasties of England as well
as European powerhouses like
Lindt and Nestle.
Cocoa, of course, did not
begin with these families; its
use goes back to the Aztecs.
But the diligent work of the
British chocolatiers catapulted
cocoa beyond a mere beverage
into the solid form consumed
so widely today.
Mennonites will easily
grasp the distinctives (and the
social ostracism) of the Quaker
spiritual outlook that characterized the rise of the chocolate industry. The England of
the 1800s was not especially
friendly to the Quakers, Cadbury tells us. Professionally
they were outsiders, barred
from the universities of the day
(Cambridge and Oxford) and
from professions like law. As a
result, many of them turned to
business.
Did they ever. It was Quakers
empires, men like Joseph
Rowntree and George Cadbury
were writing “groundbreaking
papers on poverty, publishing
authoritative studies of the
Bible, and campaigning against
a multitude of heartrending human rights abuses in a
world that seems straight out
of Dickens.... As Quakers they
shared a vision of social justice
and reform: a new world in
which the poor and needy
would be lifted from the ‘ruin
of deprivation’.”
The development and
improvement of cocoa as a
beverage was seen as a social
breakthrough. It was a drink
everyone could afford, and it
provided a nutritious alternative to alcohol.
Joseph Rowntree, whose
company produced the first
solid chocolate bar, undertook
exhaustive studies of poverty in
England, uncovering the complex connections of pauperism,
illiteracy, crime and education.
Socially, the Cadbury brothers were pioneers. They hired a
staff doctor, eventually adding
four nurses and a dentist who
offered healthcare services
at no charge. They gave out
free vitamin supplements,
organized fitness training for
employees, and established a
convalescent home for those
who fell ill. They were the first
to offer pensions. They set up
playgrounds for children, determined that “no child would
be brought up where a rose
would not grow.”
The Cadbury reforms
“helped forge a framework
for modern social welfare,”
Cadbury writes.
All of this emanated from
their religious faith. “George
Cadbury’s religious convictions shaped his world,” says
Deborah Cadbury. “It unified
every aspect of his life and
gave purpose and energy to
who revolutionized industry by
first smelting high-grade iron
using coke rather than charcoal. A Quaker established the
first passenger train; another
invented a new stream of fine
China which Josiah Wedgwood
would perfect. The founder of
Barclays bank was a Quaker.
They also put their own
indelible stamp on the way
business was conducted.
“The Quaker traders stood
apart,” Cadbury writes. “Customers learned to rely on typical Quaker attributes: skilled
bookkeeping, integrity, and
honesty served up by sober
Bible-reading men in plain dark
clothes.”
Beyond that, they had an
unusual social and religious
vision. “As early as 1738,
Quakers had a set of specific guidelines for business,
For George Cadbury,
the factory was not
just a business: “It
was a world in miniature. It was a way
to improve society.”
which endeavored to apply
the teachings of Christ to the
workplace,” Cadbury writes.
For people like George and
Richard Cadbury, business was
not an end in itself; it was a
means to an end, and that end
was deeply spiritual.
“For the Quaker capitalists
of the nineteenth century, the
idea that wealth creation was
for personal gain only would
have been offensive,” says
Cadbury. “Wealth creation was
for the benefit of the workers, the local community, and
society at large, as well as the
entrepreneurs themselves.”
As they were building their
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his philanthropy.” For him, the
factory was not just a business:
“It was a world in miniature. It
was a way to improve society.”
He believed, simply, that “If everyone followed the teaching
of Christ, people and nations
could live in peace together.”
The British chocolate makers
saw themselves as men of God
first, chocolatiers second.
They would inspire an
American who rose from his
Mennonite roots to carve
out his own dynasty. He
was Milton Hershey, “who
took philanthropy to a new
all-American scale with the
creation of the utopian town
of Hershey.”
During the First World War
the Cadbury family suffered
hostility for their pacifism,
and were subjected to intense
scrutiny and inspection of
company records.
Their social vision persisted
to the current century, according to Cadbury. In the waning days of its existence as a
family company, before being
taken over by Kraft Foods, the
company established a “Purple
Goes Green” commitment to
reduce absolute carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2020.
It has sought to ensure ethical
sourcing of cocoa (from Ghana,
not Ivory Coast which has been
accused of cocoa harvest abuses) and provide help to farmers.
In 2009 Cadbury launched its
leading brand, Dairy Milk, as
Fairtrade-certified.
A company official declared: “We were trying to
make George Cadbury’s
nineteenth-century Quaker
principle that ‘Doing good is
good for business’ relevant to
the twenty-first century. We
sought to do this by creating a
sustainable supply of highquality cocoa while creating a
sustainable life for cocoa farmers.” — WK
The Marketplace March April 2011
Soundbites
We’re part of the plan
The kingdom of God is about
going out into the fields and
doing the work of making the
world the way it should be, the
way God would have things....
When we see suffering and
injustice, it certainly affects us.
We may be sad and outraged,
but we are not complacent or
depressed. We have a plan,
and we are part of the plan.
The good news that Christians
preach is not only that God
is going to bring about the
world as it should be but also
that we are part of that effort.
Christians fully believe that we
are part of the solution, even
as we confess that we are also
part of the problem. — Gregory F. Augustine Pierce in A
New Way of Seeing
Managing the church
The mission of nonprofits (including churches) is to change
lives. The function of management is to make the church
more churchlike, not to make
the church more businesslike.
An organization begins to die
the day it begins to be run for
to the social good achieved
through collective endeavor.
— Barclays chair Marcus Agius
and 16 other bankers in a letter to Financial Times, quoted
in Initiatives
the benefit of the insiders and
not for the benefit of the outsiders. — Management guru
Peter Drucker
Best of times
Fun@work
It may not feel like it in the
West, but this is, in many
ways, the best of times. Hundreds of millions are climbing
out of poverty. The internet
gives ordinary people access
to information that even the
most privileged scholar could
not have dreamed of a few
years ago. Medical advances are conquering diseases
and extending lifespans. For
most of human history, only a
privileged few have reasonably
been able to hope that the
future would be better than
the present. Today the masses
everywhere can. That is surely
reason to be optimistic. — The
Economist
ple who work for me to do the
same. If you want to succeed,
you cannot relax.... I never
take vacations because I can’t
handle the time away from my
work. I recently read that these
days, a high percentage of the
people who do take vacations
tend to check e-mail and voice
mail and call in to the office
when they leave. Those are the
people I want working for me.
— Donald Trump, real estate
and TV celebrity
One of the advantages of fun
in the workplace is that it’s
hard to have fun by yourself,
you need other people to
have the best fun. Fun, then,
promotes teamwork and
cooperation. Fun is an attitude
of playfulness that promotes
experimentation and enhances
creativity. It creates a sense of
vitality and relieves pressures.
Fun helps to maintain flexibility
in a changing environment.
— Workplace fun expert Mel
Silberman
Trump this
There are few things I hate
more than laziness. I work very,
very hard and I expect the peo-
What’s in a name
Bank on this
It is the responsibility of the
leaders of financial institutions — not their regulators,
shareholders or other stakeholders — to create, oversee
and imbue their organizations
with an enlightened culture
based on professionalism and
integrity. Through work we
all seek to realize ourselves as
people, provide for our dependants and make a contribution
The Marketplace March April 2011
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20
Historically there was a sense
that work was God-given and
that our identity was tied to
it appropriately. Hence in the
old world people’s names were
tied to their work skill — Miller, Baker, Carpenter, Hufnagle
(horseshoer), Kowolski (blacksmith). — Pete Hammond
Frantic sloth
Slothful people may be very
busy people. They are people
who ... fly on automatic pilot.
Like somebody with a bad
head cold, they have mostly
lost their sense of taste and
smell. They know something’s
wrong with them, but not
wrong enough to do anything
about it. — Frederick Buechner
Office tai chi
The first sign
of restless-
ness at work occurs when we
carry out our tasks half-heartedly — though we might be
present in body, we are absent
in spirit. Gradually we begin to
abdicate our responsibilities,
justifying this by saying they
are really other people’s work.
We learn the art of office tai
chi, using our
hands and
feet to ward
off assignments
headed our way
and diverting
work to other
people’s desks.
Perversely, even
as we become
lackadaisical
workers, we fantasize about how
we could be doing great things
for God in some
faraway place,
like helping missionaries haul
medical supplies
into the hilly regions of Sulawesi
for suffering
villagers. — R.
Paul Stevens and
Alvin Ung in Taking Your Soul to
Work
Gandhi’s test
Whenever you are in doubt,
apply the following test: Recall
the face of the poorest and
weakest person you may have
seen and ask yourself if the
step you contemplate is going
to be of any use to them. —
Mahatma Gandhi
Letters
History alive
We’re not alone
Enjoyed your piece on “Why I started my own business,” by Jean
Kilheffer Hess (Nov/Dec 2010 issue). I was amused by her conversation that no one had ever heard of the oral history services
she provided. We have more than 500 members, most of whom
said the same thing, before they discovered the Association
of Personal Historians. We’re a new profession, made possible
by digital technologies that make customized publishing and
multimedia productions affordable to small businesses. People
who want to do what Jean Hess is doing join the Association of
Personal Historians to learn from each other about the best ways
to create personal histories and to start and grow businesses that
feed their souls.
Thank you and Ms. Hess for helping to spread the word about
the movement to record, document, and share lives for coming generations. — Nancy Heifferon, San Jose, Calif., marketing
director, Association of Personal Historians
A thank-you again for producing The Marketplace. It’s one
journal I read pretty thoroughly. I found interesting your claim to
near exclusivity to the acronym MEDA (January/February issue). I
checked the name on www.acronymfinder.com and found quite
a few more. See below.
• Mission Economic Development Association (San Francisco)
• Maintenance Error Decision Aid (Boeing)
• Massachusetts Eating Disorder Association, Inc.
• Molecular Electronics Design Automation
• MicroEnterprise Development Association
• Metro Economic Development Alliance (Jackson, Miss.)
• Mobile Environmental Data Acquisition
— Ray Martin, Executive Director, Christian Connections for International Health, McLean, Virginia
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The Marketplace March April 2011
News
Solar Joe and the soccer star:
a MEDA match made in Cuba
Readers with long memories
may recall MEDA’s solar oven
project in Cuba in the mid1990s. At that time, Canadian
environmental entrepreneur
Joe Froese (sometimes known
as “Solar Joe”) devised lowcost solar ovens made from
recycled printing press plates.
Under MEDA’s sponsorship
he moved to Cuba to build
and test-market the ovens to
be used in homes as well as
in medical clinics and daycare
centers. Part of the reason for
the initiative was that Cuba no
longer received cheap oil from
the recently-collapsed Soviet
Union and many Cubans had
taken to using unsafe fuels.
A total of 218 domestic
solar ovens and 49 institutional
ovens were produced during
the two-year project, providing
Cubans with a clean source
of heat for cooking and other
applications such as sterilizing
medical instruments. In the
meantime, Froese married a
Cuban woman, Esperanza,
who then accompanied him
back to Manitoba and started
her own travel business.
Fast-forward to the present: The couple now has two
children, one of them 14-yearold Kianz, an emerging soccer
phenomenon whose potential
is sadly under-utilized in Canada’s fledgling soccer culture.
To help the lad develop his
prowess, the Froese family recently migrated back to Cuba,
where soccer reigns. The move
paid off, as Kianz made it onto
the Under-17 Cuban National
Team and recently played
in the FIFA U-17 World Cup
qualifying matches in Jamaica.
Froese’s story caught the
attention of Lesley Hughes, a
veteran Winnipeg journalist.
Together they are writing a
book — titled Marrying Cuba
The Marketplace March April 2011
— which is expected to be
published soon. Froese says the
book’s Foreword will be written
by his former boss, Ron Braun,
who was MEDA’s executive
vice-president at the time.
The book is described as
follows: “Marrying Cuba is ...
an intimate look into a forbidden world — Fidel Castro’s
Cuba as it slouches toward
its end. Author Joe Froese is
a Canadian businessman and
entrepreneur who married into
a Cuban family and discovered
that, for better or for worse,
he had married the country, its
history and its future. Here he
shares his struggles to understand ‘Cubanismo’ ... everything Cuban ... life, love, birth,
death, money, the ever‑present
state, and the Cuban love‑hate
relationship with the Maximum
Leader. We go with him into
the hospital, the classroom,
the bank, the graveyard. As in
any marriage, we see joy, affirmation, confusion, disappoint-
ment and heartache. Most of
all, we share Joe’s discovery
that human beings can never
escape the changes we make
for love. Marrying Cuba will
leave readers deeply interested in the changed Cuba to
come...and better prepared to
understand her.”
We’ll keep you posted
on the book’s progress, and
the unfolding story of the
unplanned impact of an early
MEDA venture. ◆
Canadian Mennonite University
launches new degree in business
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), Winnipeg, will
offer a new business degree
this fall — Bachelor of Business
Administration Co‑op (BBA
Co‑op).
The four‑year BBA features
a co‑op component option,
which will involve six terms of
work placement in addition to
eight academic terms. Students will be able to complete
the degree, including the work
terms, in five years.
Gordon Matties, dean of
humanities and sciences, says
the new program aims to
not only equip students for
workplace performance but
also provide opportunities to
“reflect constructively and critically in the process of shaping
worldview and character.”
Students will grapple with
tough ethical decisions common in the marketplace and
explore justice considerations
as they engage the world.
“These commitments
are relatively unique to the
program,” says Craig Martin,
assistant professor of business
and organizational administration. “We will be going
beyond traditional courses
Kianz Froese, 14, sports
his Cuban National Team
jacket, which his proud
father describes as “a real
trophy. You can’t buy one,
you earn it.” Former Cuban
president Fidel Castro wore
an identical jacket when he
appeared on public television a few years to dispel
rumors that he had died.
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in business ethics and legal
regulation.”
Martin, who will head the
program, adds that the BBA
Co-op will offer a stronger
work experience component
than other business programs
in the province. “What is
unique is the amount of co‑op
experience students will get,”
he says.
Besides more experiential
learning, students will have
more opportunity to gain work
experience and earn money to
pay for their education, says
Matties.
The seeds of the BBA
Co-op program go back to
before the founding of CMU
in 2000, says Matties. “CMU
supporters in the business
community have been encouraging us for years to move in
this direction.”
CMU offers undergraduate degrees in the arts and
sciences, business, communications and media, peace
and conflict resolution studies,
music, music therapy, theology,
and church ministries, as well
as graduate degrees in theological studies and Christian
ministry. ◆
Board member fills
new MEDA position
Sid Burkey, a current member
of MEDA’s board of directors,
has been selected to fill a new
staff position as Chief MEDA
Engagement Officer (CMEO).
The new position was
created following a major
organizational review that
recommended combining
several departments under one
umbrella. Burkey will provide leadership and strategic
direction for MEDA’s resource
development, marketing,
association engagement and
MEDA Europe
teams.
Burkey is a
long‑time supporter of MEDA
and has served
on the MEDA
board since
2005 where
he is currently
on both the
nominating
committee and
MEDA executive committee.
He is also a
member of the
Sarona Asset
Management
board and the
Sarona Frontier
Markets Fund
board.
He has
founded,
co‑owned and
led three businesses. He was
founder, president and chair
of Danbred North America, an
international genetics company, until its sale in 2004. He is
currently part‑owner and president of Burkey Farms, Inc., a
family-owned diversified agri-
Sid Burkey
Marketing to Baby Boomers:
nuances for the later innings
Baby Boomers (born between
1946 and 1964) have prompted new marketing tactics that
camouflage the nature of
“aging” products designed for
them.
Marketers have caught on
that Baby Boomers don’t like
to admit they are older, but
still want goods and services
that will help them navigate
the later innings of life. The
new strategy includes flattery,
euphemism and maybe even a
little deception.
Baby Boomers, who begin
to turn 65 this year and
reportedly account for half of
consumer spending in North
America, don’t want to be
reminded that they are getting
older. That’s why subtlety is
a premium skill among those
who flog everything from
bathroom hardware to adult
diapers.
Companies are “overhauling product lines, changing
their marketing and redesigning store layouts,” according
to the Wall Street Journal.
Among the tactics: larger
typefaces in marketing materials; lower shelves and better
lighting in stores; carpet on
aisles to reduce slippage. Packages are changing for better
grip: indented sides on canisters, more grooves on lids and
handles on paper coffee cups.
Language is being adjusted. A bathroom grab bar?
How about a “Belay” shower
handrail, suggesting the
vigor of rock-climbing. Medical
alert systems? “Companion
services.”
The biggest revolution,
however, may be the marketing of incontinence diapers,
whose market is expected to
rise 20 percent with the Baby
Boomer bulge. The actors
in commercials are getting
younger, and the product
itself will be available in trendy
prints and packaged to look
like regular underwear in the
shopping cart.
“Past generations were
more accepting that they had
a condition, and this was the
product that they have to
wear,” says the brand director
of a leading adult diaper firm.
“The boomers don’t have that
attitude. They demand and
expect more.” ◆
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27
business, and was engaged as
part‑owner and vice‑president
of Digitec, Inc., a full spectrum
design and manufacturing
business that provides wireless
and web‑based monitoring
and controlling technologies,
until its sale in 2010.
“We are delighted that Sid
is joining our executive leadership team,” says MEDA president Allan Sauder. “Sid brings
a wealth of business and
leadership experience, a significant depth of understanding
of MEDA and our constituency
and a demonstrated heart for
our work.”
Burkey is based in Dorchester, Nebraska, and will fill this
role on a half-time basis until
the end of June 2013. ◆
The Marketplace March April 2011
Another business solution to poverty
Selling apples in Central Asia, watercolor by Ray Dirks
The Marketplace March April 2011
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