Be the Good

Week 12 

3/16/21

This week’s theme is "Becoming a Change Maker." The study from this week is bringing home the importance of choosing a career where you can make a difference in the world. It is necessary to investigate the mission of each of our steeping stones. The mission of the company/job is just as if not more valuable than the position we accept.

Elder Holland in this October 2014 conference address, “Are We Not All Beggars?”, stated “Down through history, poverty has been one of humankind’s greatest and most widespread challenges. Its obvious toll is usually physical, but the spiritual and emotional damage it can bring may be even more debilitating. In any case, the great Redeemer has issued no more persistent call than for us to join Him in lifting this burden from the people.” In one of the videos watched this week, it was stated that Isaiah 58 and Malachi 3 tell us how to relieve this poverty. Specifically quoting Malachi 3:10 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

Elder Holland also gives us ways to help. He says, “For one thing, we can, as King Benjamin taught, cease withholding our means because we see the poor as having brought their misery upon themselves… In addition to taking merciful action in their behalf, we should also pray for those in need… Amulek says, “After [you] have [prayed], if [you] turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if [you] have [it], to those who stand in need—I say unto you, … your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and [you] are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.”¹⁵ What a stunning reminder that rich or poor, we are to “do what we can” when others are in need.”

Are our entrepreneurial goals chasing money or creating something that may relieve even a little bit of suffering in the world? Are we staying honest and virtuous on our quest to become?

In the Harvard Business Review, “What’s a Business For?”, by Charles Handy, he says, talking about capitalism, “Conceal truth or erode trust, and the game becomes so unreliable that no one will want to play.” He then goes on to explain how the market would crash and we would be left to rely on others for our wealth. We know the importance of self-reliance if we want to stay out of poverty and be able to help others. Handy goes on to say “The purpose of a business…is not to make a profit, full stop. It is to make a profit so that the business can do something more or better. That “something” becomes the real justification for the business.” Throughout the article Handy paints of picture of Americans distrust of its corporate leaders, he gives a few examples of ways to change this. Here are two I agree with. First, “If companies decide to reward their key people with a share of the profits instead, then those members will be even more likely to take a keen interest in the truth of the [reported] numbers.” If the members of a company feel like they have an actual stake in said company not only will they be interested in knowing the correct numbers of the company, but they will also be more motivated to be innovative. Second, “Business needs to take the lead in areas such as environmental and social sustainability instead of forever letting itself be pushed onto the defensive.” It goes back to what Guy Kawasaki said about trusting first to then earn trust. If, as a business, you trust that taking care of the environment and people as a whole, even if they aren’t and may never be your customers, you are more likely to earn the trust of all.