Magical moments in the search for new paradigms of doing business

Working at the intersection of power and values can create magical moments.  On the night of June  21st,  Intersection’s Power and Values initiative hosted a meeting of its New York Values Roundtable to explore our programming for the coming 2010-2011 program year.

Working in collaboration with representatives from New York Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, Auburn Seminary, and Union Theological Seminary, Intersections is coordinating a roundtable of diverse interests to address the values gap in our financial and business communities. Amid a growing recognition that our financial collapse found its roots in a failure of integrity and accountability of the people at the top, a diverse group of faith, business, government, philanthropic and educational leaders are engaged in dialogue on restoring core values in how we conduct business.

On June 21st we were able to bring to our table a Lenape Indian faith healer, an investment banker who had served in the “C suite” of a Fortune 10 company, a former senior executive of Lehman Brothers, a recently ordained minister from New York Theological and the minister of a church in New York, a senior executive from a real estate management firm who is also an ordained Rabbi as well as an executive coach, and a former Government bank regulator, amongst others.

As each person shared their own spiritual path that brought them together, the atmosphere in the room changed.  It was no longer a meeting room, but a sacred space where deep bonds were being created between and among  the participants. We understood that to do our work we also had to do “our work” and be capable of knowing our colleagues in a meaningful way. No “one minute” management technique here. It takes time to be in respectful dialogue with others who come from radically different traditions and experiences.

From the sublime to the mundane, the group ultimately addressed the tasks at had --- developing models and paradigms of exercising economic power. How to identify the people in the business and finance world who embody the values of humility, compassion, and fairness that makes for a civil society in which every human life is honored and enabled. It is our goal this coming year to expand our own “table” by continuing to add to our diversity and experiences. The dialogue we hope will tear down the silos between the various interests – business, faith, education, government, philanthropy  --  and enable each to learn and change.