Editorial: Higher Calling

Will stewardship to your company bring better returns?

By Mary Boltz Chapman, Editor-in-Chief -- Chain Leader, 1/1/2006

You hear the word “stewardship,” and you think of church, saving the planet or at least some form of corporate philanthropy. Webster’s defines a steward as “a person morally responsible for the careful use of money, time, talents or other resources, especially with respect to the principles or needs of a community or group.” Heavy stuff.

Jason Jennings, author of Less Is More and the keynote speaker at Chain Leader LIVE in Dallas in November, said, “Great companies are headed by leaders who see themselves at stewards.”

A Service Industry
“Stewardship is about service over self-interest,” Jennings said, defining the term from a business leader’s point of view. “It’s about abandoning power and dominion over others. It’s working to preserve natural and human resources. It’s authentic, it’s nurturing, it’s mentoring, and it’s selflessness.”

Jennings went on to detail ways that the companies in his latest book, Think Big Act Small, do that. The book examines nine companies with sales and profit growth of 10 percent or better for at least 10 years.

Inside these companies, he said, knowledge is not hoarded or used as currency; all information is available to everyone. The top executives are accessible; in fact, all had their home telephone numbers listed in the phone book. They have avoided superficial distinctions like designer suits to better relate to their co-workers. Jennings said none of the CEOs in the companies he examined wore a tie.

The leaders have a work ethic, spending half their time doing grunt work in the kitchen, on the line or in the field. They stand for something and have a set of values—and employees see them walking the talk. They prioritize and actively participate in coaching and mentoring.

Importantly, the leaders Jennings interviewed feel called to serve, as in: “This company has provided me with great opportunities. I’m obligated to make sure everybody else here gets the same opportunities.”

Responsible Parties
Jennings feels there’s more to running a company than making the big bucks. “We have celebrated as leadership that which is essentially greed,” he said. “Do you want your kids to grow up like Dennis Kozlowski? Bernie Ebbers?”

Many see their jobs as earning money for investors. It’s why they were hired. There’s a whole school of thought that says companies have no responsibility other than that, and this soft stuff just gets in the way of growing the bottom line. We’re a capitalist society, darn it, and proud of it.

There is evidence that companies with a higher purpose have not only a better reputation but more loyal workers and customers. Like the nine companies Jennings wrote about. And some of the top MBA programs are incorporating stewardship and philanthropy: At Stanford University, grad-school students discuss sustainability and poverty in their marketing and management courses as well as the corporate-governance class. Students entering Boston College’s MBA program are required to do a 20-hour community-service project.

But do we as businesspeople need to live up to some higher calling, act like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning? I don’t think so. We can start by focusing on the needs of the people who work for us; make their lives a little better. Then move to the communities in which we operate. Maybe that’s a higher calling after all.