The 2015 Business Faith and the Common Good Symposium featured 9 companies and organizations who are motivated by faith or the common good (or both!) in their business practices.  Our keynote speaker was Ken Goodpaster, who taught for a decade at Notre Dame, a decade at Harvard, and then held an endowed chair in Business Ethics at the University of St. Thomas MN for over 20 years.   Demonstrating his ability as a master teacher, and his wisdom as a scholar in his field his talk was on business as a vocational calling.

 

The goal of the symposium is to bring together the concerns of faith values, business, and the common good, and so to that end we had presentations from 9 companies and organizations.

Lori Hogan and Mark Goetz of Home Instead explained the mission and vision of Home Instead, an in-home care provider with 1,000 franchisees worldwide, from Omaha to Hong Kong.

MAX insurance, a B-Corp from Kansas was represented by Bill Musgrave.  He explained the history of this company which arose from Amish beginnings, and the reasons they decided to be a B-Corp.

     

Thrasher’s tagline is “there’s only one right way” and they have been known for years for their integrity and quality throughout the midwest.  Nick Rohe, VP, spoke on the strong faith culture within the company, and the ways in which that guides decisionmaking and impacts the company culture.

   

Ben Petersen from BENCH had a vision for a community workshop, where he could pursue his own profession as a woodworker and also provide space for other artisans, which resulted in his community workshop called Bench.

  

Firespring, another B-Corp from Lincoln Nebraska was represented by Ben Spence, who told their story, explained their fun-loving community culture, and their pursuit of the common good.  Even their tagline is: “A Force for Good”

 

Jeff Slobotski, who started Silicon Prarie News and the Big Omaha event, talked about doing business in a collaborative way which thinks beyond simply what it in it for me.  His social mindset and entrepreneurial spirit have led him to do many things which have contributed to the good of Omaha, and his Router Ventures is one of his latest projects towards that end.

BE ICARUS is an entrepreneurial venture of Chris Alford and his wife.  A serial entrepreneur and gifted in helping companies market and tell their story, Chris started coffee shops in China years ago, but has now returned to Omaha to create an online marketplace for fair trade goods called Be Icarus.

    

Economy of Communion is an international organization and movement with a North American affiliate group.  With 40+ companies participating in North America, and 800 more worldwide, the EoC members are committed to business which is done more humanely, with a concern for gratuity and reciprocity.  John Gallagher, professor of management and author of Structures of Grace, written from interviews with 12 of the EoC companies, provided an overview of the history and vision of Eoc.

Every presentation was quite good and the students and faculty who attended were stimulated and encouraged to see how that faith and a pursuit of the common good can be a powerful motivation for very successful companies in Omaha and beyond.

Friday was also the job fair in the Heider College of Business, and so 75+ companies were here recruiting students.  As I got into an elevator, one of my students chased me down holding out a business card of one of the employers here that day and said, “hey when I told the guy from this company about the symposium going on he asked me to give you his card in hopes that maybe next year you would invite his company to participate!”  I think I will!  Momentum is building for this symposium, and as word spreads, we hope that more and more people will want to come hear and be inspired by the companies whose practices and thinking are motivated by faith and a pursuit of the common good.