Having earned an MBA at a school with a nationally-ranked MBA program, I was interested in the Fortune article, “MBAs Get Schooled in Ethics.” With the problems in big business and Wall Street mounting, many people are looking at the training of individuals responsible, and concluding that their education ill-prepared them for making good, ethical decisions. As if Harvard Business School is somehow at fault for the ethical collapse of so many corporate icons.
Is it the job of a secular university to instill ethics and morality in the hearts of its' students? Can a business-school curriculum accomplish heart transformation? What is at the core of a person’s soul that allows him or her to do the right thing even when it’s unpopular, difficult or goes against self-interest? Let’s be honest, capitalism is founded on every person doing what is in their own self-interest. Although Adam Smith called it “enlightened self-interest,” it’s self-interest none the same.
The truth is that the great cultural divide between a God-centered world view and a man-centered world view is coming home to roost. People with no religious anchor in their life will have a much more difficult time making “enlightened” choices that are in the common good, rather than their own. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” isn’t on too many walls in corporate America.
I would guess most professors would find themselves unprepared to teach a course on ethics, not because they themselves are unethical, but because the very nature of ethics and morality is underpinned by religious beliefs. We do the right thing because we love God, because God tells us to love our neighbor and because we hold ourselves up against a divine measuring stick—the Bible. As western civilization moves farther from Judeo-Christian values, it’s going to struggle more with questions of ethics and morality in everyday life. Wall Street is symptomatic of a much greater problem.
It’s the people of God--the Church-- that should lead the way. We have the Truth that can set people free from the greed and self-interest that so easily controls us. We won’t do it by a corporate takeover, but by capturing one person at a time through the Good News of Jesus Christ. The vision is the same as it was over 2,000 years ago:
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:13-16)
