Rev Dr Kenneth Barnes is Dean of the Marketplace Institute at Ridley Melbourne, a tutor in theology at Oxford University, and a visiting fellow of the Oxford Centre for Culture and Christianity.

This is an excerpt from a lecture he gave earlier this year, as part of the Marketplace Institute, on “Virtuous Business Cultures”. In the lecture up until now, Dr Barnes has discussed the problem of the Global Financial Crisis, the moral failure of the Lehman Brothers bank that was at the centre of the crisis, and what light the virtues described by Aquinas—prudence, justice, courage, temperance—shine upon these failures.

In the last part of the lecture, Dr Barnes critiques post-modern capitalism that is “devoid of a moral compass”, and in this excerpt, speaks about how we might come to a business culture driven by virtue, rather than greed.

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Capitalism requires a “moral compass” and while this paper has presented a Christian perspective, those of other faiths (or no faith) should not fear its premise. In the West, Christianity has been the guardian of the aforementioned cardinal virtues, but their universality is unquestionable. While it may be the duty of Christians to seek the redemption of capitalism, it is not a parochial activity. It is an inclusive mission whose participants are simply those who reject the widely-held narrative of naked self-interest and who seek instead an economic system that rewards the individual while first and foremost, seeking the “common good”.

This leads us to the final and perhaps the most important question of all: how are people of goodwill to go about influencing capitalism in this way?

There are varying opinions on this matter. Some people believe the answer lies in governmental regulation; and we certainly need strict regulations in place to guard against the dangers of fraud and recklessness. Others believe the answer rests with ethical decision-making on the part of senior executives.

I believe the only way society can overcome the corrosive effects of post-modern capitalism, is to establish and nurture virtuous business cultures.

For the purposes of this paper, let us assume that there are three rudimentary “building blocks” to any culture. They are: common values, common language and a shared history. Based on that definition of “culture” let us consider how we might go about establishing and nurturing virtuous business cultures.

Virtues as Values

Companies often talk about their “corporate values”, however those values are usually associated with their “mission statements”, properly identifying them as “teleological” (i.e. necessary for the company to succeed). They usually include such things as leadership, diversity, passion and commitment to quality.

While these are all admirable qualities they could just as easily be applied to malevolent organisations as benevolent ones. Values, it seems to me, must be rooted in something more imperative than mere traits or attributes; they must be grounded in objects of belief and conviction. When Thomas Jefferson famously penned the words of America’s Declaration of Independence he began with a statement of faith: “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” (a statement of faith if ever there was one), followed by a litany of values: “that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. These are values that have intrinsic worth beyond any sense of utility; they are something people can believe in and aspire to, not because they are generally appealing, but because they resonate with our deepest desires as human beings.

What better set of core beliefs could a company have than Aquinas’ cardinal virtues? They too, resonate with our deepest desires as human beings as well as our sensus divinitatis and the imago dei. The corporate values of every company could theoretically be the same, namely: prudence, justice, courage and temperance. If they were, one suspects that corporate cultures would be dramatically different from what they are today.

Virtues: Talking the Talk

Every company has a common language, a vocabulary of its own. Sometimes it’s full of acronyms that are only known to “insiders”; other times its full of “business-speak” and other popular catch phrases. More often than not however, it has a language that reflects the company’s values.

Corporate language exists in two distinct yet related forms. The first is the company’s “lingua franca” or local vernacular. It has no specific origin and constantly evolves over time, but it is greatly influenced by the second form of corporate language: corporate messaging. It is through corporate messaging, both internally and externally that businesses reveal what is truly important to them. Their brands, tag-lines, rally-cries, mottos, slogans, message boards, newsletters, websites, tweets, etc., all say something about what a company values.

For example, IBM’s motto is simply: “think”, reflecting the company’s understanding of a computer as an extension of one’s mind. Apple’s motto however is “think different”, perhaps representing Steve Jobs’ commitment to differentiate Apple from IBM and more importantly his purported belief that a computer could be an extension of one’s “self”.

Wal-Mart on the other hand has a very simple and straightforward motto of: “save money, live better” which is very similar to that of Tesco supermarket’s motto of: “every little helps”, both conveying the fact that they are price-driven retailers who will (presumably) improve the lot of their customers by saving them money.

In these and countless other examples, the language employed by a company not only reveals the company’s values, it shapes the company’s values. The language reinforces attitudes and informs behavior. Therefore, a company that wishes to be virtuous would need to adopt a vocabulary and create messaging that both celebrates and encourages virtue.

Imagine a company whose motto is: “seek the common good” or “always do the right thing” or “be courageous” or “resist greed”? Google’s motto of “don’t be evil” is a step in the right direction, but I suspect we can do better.

With all the good intentions in the world however and with a vocabulary of virtue on the lips of every employee, a business cannot be said to be virtuous, until it acts in a virtuous manner, both internally and externally, both visibly and invisibly.

Boards need to make decisions that reflect more than just the interests of shareholders. They need to consider the bigger picture and the wider community of stakeholders. While there are limits to such practices as “triple bottom line” accounting, there is no limit to virtuous behavior. Just as companies expect their employees to obey the law, there is nothing stopping them from insisting that employees consider the ethical consequences of every policy they adopt and decision they make.

Companies can instill in their employees a belief that what is “good for all” is also “good for them” instead of the reverse. They can also seek to “do the right thing” and be “fair” (as well as honest) in everything they do. They needn’t accept the “I win, you lose” mentality that permeates so much of our economic intercourse, when “win/win” scenarios are nearly always available. Businesses can also act with courage in the face of adversity and take the tough decisions necessary for the long-term benefit of a company and its stakeholders. Contrary to popular belief, they can also make healthy profits and produce solid returns for their shareholders without succumbing to greed and avarice.

Make no mistake about it, establishing and nurturing virtuous business cultures will be a difficult task indeed and will take a generation at least to accomplish. However, there are signs that people are ready for this endeavour. The Global Financial Crisis has caused even the most ardent supporters of capitalism to stop and ask hard questions about how we create wealth; the relationship between wealth and money; wealth distribution; fair trade; debt; usury; corporate social responsibility; executive compensation; shareholder rights; globalisation; tax avoidance; corporate governance and a host of similarly related issues.

The purpose of this paper however is to reinforce one central theme and that is society’s need for a single, over-arching ethic of virtue to undergird, guide, inform and even inspire our economic activity. Without it we are doomed to suffer the unrelenting effects of post-modern capitalism. With it, we have the possibility of redeeming capitalism for the glory of God and for the benefit of humankind as well.

Rev Dr Kenneth Barnes is Dean of the Marketplace Institute at Ridley, a tutor in theology at Oxford University, and a visiting fellow of the Oxford Centre for Culture and Christianity. To read the full lecture or watch it on Vimeo, go here.