The last few months we have discussed the economy at length. A reader of this column sent me the book The CEO and the Monk by Robert Catell, Kenny Moore with Glenn Rifkin to have a read, since it puts into practice a lot of what was communicated about the economy and businesses and their responsibility to uphold Christian principles. 

This book describes the partnership of a savvy CEO and a former monk who led their company to the top even while embracing higher business standards.

Through this partnership, the company rose from a small local utility monopoly to one of the United States’ largest and fastest growing energy providers. The key to KeySpan’s leadership was its belief in doing the right thing and embracing the very best that its employees and the communities it served had to offer. Commerce and spirituality intersected.

At this company there was a feeling of family. This company was a good corporate citizen, employees were proud to work for the company and customers loved it. However, in the 1990s the industry started to change with much more competition and an unregulated market. 

As most of us will be aware, when a company faces change employees become anxious and their biases are highlighted. In short, it is usually hard and traumatic for employees. This was the case with this company.

When this company came face to face with these changes, the CEO and the monk both recognised and expected that most employees’ natural response to change would be to experience loss. Fears of job insecurity, profits no longer guaranteed, no more lifetime employment and secure growth prevail.

The CEO however, still asked for the employees continued support. With the monk’s advice he was aware of the fears and they faced head on the employees’ lack of acceptance of change.

When American economic conditions changed and the company had to adapt, the former monk with his Church experience, organised a company funeral presided over by the CEO.

In an elaborate ceremony, the old company was laid to rest and, simultaneously, a new organisation attuned to the new times was brought to life. Here we see the use of creativity to get the point across.  The Church encourages us to be creative in all situations.

The situation was made easier by telling the CEO hard facts, including the negatives as seen by the former monk and perceived by employees. The CEO, however, actually listened. 

To deal with the uneasiness, the CEO actually spoke with employees, advising them of the changes that they had to be prepared for.

He explained it was not a singular event but rather a journey. He however also really listened when opinions were sought.

The CEO became accessible to all. If a worker did a good job, he/she got a call from the CEO. After the initial shock of these tactics, the employees got used to interacting with the CEO and other executives. The organisation became a family.

Employees were encouraged to take initiative. One employee of the busy customer service department felt the need for employees to take a break from the endless ringing of phones. She encouraged the department to create a space for solitude and peace in the workplace.

The department created a quiet room in the middle of the office. They transformed the cold conference room into something of warmth by re-painting and re-doing the lighting. Eventually throughout the company lunch time meditation and stress-reduction programmes were added.  

Even in the face of pressure, the CEO decided to sell a large tract of company land to the city instead of selling it to real estate developers, on the condition that it be maintained as a green area and made accessible to the public.

The result: environmentalists were happy and the long-term corporate image was improved. This was priceless. Additionally, the CEO and the former monk initiated employees in social work, so that the KeySpan customers' territory also became part of the family.

However despite the hope in the company, several knocks were awaiting them as occurs in this era of change in the economic sector. Their company merged with another that had an authoritarian management structure.

After they faced situations that reflected the lack of integrity on the part of corporate colleagues as part of the merger, they forged on.  The team of the CEO and the former monk slowly transformed the incredulous and suspicious employees of the other organisation into committed members of the family.

They called meetings of union and management of both companies to meet to discuss and explore common grounds of interest.  This fostered closer interactions and less anonymity.  Fears still existed and people were leaving the company for fear that the merger was not one of equals

Again creativity was employed. The CEO was asked to listen to persons’ grievances first hand, through an artist called in to do a pictoral depiction of the fears as employees spoke for themselves.

This forced the CEO into more aggressive techniques to build a team. The importance of complaints and dissatisfaction was recognised – it meant people cared.  They were not afraid of facing these. 

Two key conclusions both men came to were:

• A dedicated and loyal workforce performs far better than an angry and disillusioned one
• Creating and sustaining a company is also partly about creating and sustaining a sense of community.

The former Monk sums up of the experience: "The Divine's will is often revealed in the context of community with others, and in using our God-given talents to make the world better. Bosses, co-workers, and the economy will provide us with more than ample opportunities to practice kindness, forgiveness, and a note of hope to a sometimes beleaguered world."

Please read the book. 

Next week we begin Chapter Eight of the Compendium – The Political Community. 

Persons interested in purchasing the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, may contact the Justice Desk, Archbishop’s House at 622-6680.