A Banker and A Priest
July 6, 2009
The Financial Times last weekend published an article by Lionel Barber, the Editor, on a conversation he had during lunch with Stephen Green, the Executive Chairman of HSBC, the world’s largest bank. The title of the article was “God’s Banker.”Mr. Green is indeed a very unusual Chairman. He is also an Anglican priest and the author of two books about ethics and business. His second book, “Good Value: Reflection on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World” was published last week by Penguin. His views on banking and business are unconventional but I believe they are true. He says:
“Shareholder value cannot and should not be elevated to the exclusion of all else. It is by-product of providing goods and services. When the by-product becomes the end, then we distort the whole market. The market is necessary but not sufficient.”
It is encouraging to see that one can be both a businessman and have strong ethical values. He is in a way, part of a long tradition of what has been called Calvinist capitalism. John Calvin, the 16th Century protestant reformer and at one time the ruler of Geneva, (Switzerland) not only promoted activities that were for the common good but also valued hard work considering it a religious obligation as opposed to idleness which was considered a sin. He profoundly influenced the Swiss Banking system. Xavier Comtesse, the director of Switzerland’s leading think tank, Avenir Suisse, says that: “Calvin stood for morality in the granting of credit, but also for protection of the personal sphere.” This is the origin of the Swiss Banking secrecy laws. Calvin, according the Mr. Comtesse, “influenced modern-day thinking on both moral and financial matters.”
The question of course is whether Mr. Green’s values make a difference in the way the Bank operates. HSBC has 9,500 offices in 86 countries. Apparently they do. The Ethisphere Institute ranked HSBC No. 1 in its 2008 World’s Most Ethical Companies. To be considered ethical, companies have to “go above and beyond legal minimums, bring about innovative new ideas to expand the public well-being.” Corp-Ethics, an ethics and governance watchdog says that HSBC is the first bank to commit to carbon neutral as it seeks to reduce its environmental impact.
The question for us, of course is how to we implement our own values in our day-to-day professional (and private) life. It is not an easy process. Sometimes we just don’t know what is the right thing to do. Here are some suggestions.
1. Identify your values that ultimately make you who you are.
2. Recognize the ethical aspects of some of the decisions you are about to make.
3. Seek counsel from a trusted and impartial source.
4. Listen to your conscience defined by H.L Mencken as “that little voice inside you that says “someone is watching.”
Even if that someone is you!
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