Michael Chabon is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author of numerous bestselling books, and Chairman of the Board of the MacDowell Colony. He, his wife (novelist Ayelet Waldman), and their children live in Berkeley, California.

Book review by Donovan Richards

Escaping to the Mountainside

“After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.”  (John 6:1-3 ESV)

While I don’t intend to draw any universal theological conclusions from these verses, I find Jesus’ insistence on maintaining space and solitude in the midst of a busy schedule of teaching and healing to be fascinating. Here, God Incarnate reveals his human side and the importance of recharging his batteries. Jesus chooses at this time to avoid the crowds—the very people to whom he has devoted his mission. At what point do we, as leaders, need to follow Jesus’ lead and step back from our important duties?

Telegraph Avenue, the latest release from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon, thematically cuts to the heart of this question.

A Small Business Owner Drowning in the Complexity of Life

Set in Oakland, Telegraph Avenue is a heartfelt story surrounding the life of Archy Stallings, a small business owner and expecting father.

Archy’s business, a small record store called Brokeland Records that he founded in partnership with his best friend Nat Jaffe, is failing. People aren’t buying music anymore—let alone vinyl, the store’s specialty. To make matters worse, a music mega-store is slated to open a couple of blocks away, a development certain to remove what little hope Archy has left for business success.

Aside from his dwindling business prospects, Archy’s home life fares no better. He is woefully underprepared for the conclusion of his wife’s pregnancy; he carries zero patience for his incorrigible, formerly-famous movie star father; he has no strategy for the 14 year-old son of a former girlfriend who has arrived at his doorstep.

Archy’s life is complicated. It seems as if his futile attempts to balance his home and professional life leave everyone worse off.

When Life Requires Recalibration

The more I read about Chabon’s complicated protagonist, the more Jesus’ temporary escape into the mountains came to mind. Archy needs time to recharge, to make things right with his family, and to prepare for the new life he and his wife will bring into the world. But his dream to lead a profitable small business gets in the way.

As leaders, we need the wisdom and humility to recognize when it’s time to step aside and rejuvenate. Our life’s work must not be allowed to ruin either our own life or the lives of those around us.

Personally, I recall the time I needed to step down from leading worship. While the circumstances around this decision were painful, it allowed me to recalibrate my vocation and it helped me grow in my faith and my relationship with my wife.

Michael Chabon’s protagonist in Telegraph Avenue raises deep questions about what we value and how we can balance complicated lives. When the pressure mounts at work and at home, let's not forget to unplug once in a while. In doing so, we may come to understand the importance of stepping down from our position to recalibrate and help others. Or, we might find added strength to return to our work with the vigor and balance it requires.

How to tell when it is time to step down:

Are you facing diminishing returns? No matter the hours you devote to the cause, your organization seems to sputter.

Are you in a morally questionable situation? Staying put in your position pressures you to compromise your ethics.

Are you physically unable to perform your tasks to your highest potential? No matter the passion you have for your work, burnout is real. Whether it’s the rhythm of the Sabbath or a long-term sabbatical, don’t forget to charge your batteries.

This review appeared in Fieldnotes Magazine, a publication of the Max De Pree Center for Leadership, on December 12, 2012.

Donovan Richards earned an M.A. in Business and Applied Theology from SPU and works as a consulting analyst for See Seven. You can read more reviews on Donovan's blog.

The nature of decision making in work systems has likely influenced the way we understand and/or utilize big data. In the past, citizens would present requests for services or favors directly to a sovereign, who would grant or deny the petitions. As bureaucracies and communication channels developed, the distance grew between those making the decisions and those affected by them; it became easier for rulers to lose sight of the impact of their decisions. We can imagine that it might be easier to order the back-breaking labor required to build a monument (like a pyramid) when thinking of an abstract “workforce” instead of the faces of individual people. Detachment from the source of data poses similar risks for today’s business leaders, and presents questions about whether or not they are making ethical decisions.

Nonfiction narrative offers one way to personalize big data. By telling a story based on big data, one can re-humanize the people behind the data. For example, imagine a retail vice president reporting on sales across all of its outlets. By personalizing data in the context of narrative, the VP can paint a clearer picture of the customers’ needs and how the company might better serve this vital stakeholder community. However, before one creates a data-driven account, it is imperative to ask a few questions: what is the goal for creating this narrative? Will it be transmitted through advertising, a grassroots movement, social media, etc.? What impact will the nonfiction narrative have on its audience? What is the purpose of transforming the data into a storyline—for the betterment of others or to manipulate the consumer?

If we look to the Christian faith for guidance, we might acknowledge that God is the epitome of big data. God is omniscient and omnipresent, and can make grand proclamations about why, when, and how we live. Instead of dealing with humanity in the abstract, however, God persistently chooses to work through individuals, often men and women who are “average” in many respects. God called a shepherd to lead his people, a refugee girl to save his people from the Persians, and none of Jesus’ disciples were on anyone’s Who’s Who list. So what’s the lesson in all this? God sees the grand view, but engages us one-on-one. Data-driven narrative can honor the same commitments.

Big data offers us an opportunity to understand our world on a macro-level, but if we want to foster change, we have to connect with individuals on a micro-level. Translating numbers into a story that informs and influences, while respecting the people behind the data, can bring about the desired impact in an honorable way.

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Kristen Voetmann earned her M.S. at Azusa Pacific University and currently works in the Office of Student Programs at Seattle Pacific University.  Her participation in SPU’s Industrial and Organizational Psychology course, Hacking the World of Work, has spurred her growing interest in organizational development (and the role of ethical decision making).

Michael Stelzner is CEO and founder of Social Media Examiner, an influential business blog boasting a monthly readership of over 450,000 people. He earned a master’s degree in communications from San Diego State University. In addition to Launch, Stelzner has authored Writing White Papers, a best seller. He lives in Southern California with his wife and daughters.

Book review by Donovan Richards

The Emerging Might of Social Media

Not yet a decade old, social media has transformed the way we live. From the way we interact with our friends and family to the way information is disseminated, social media now operates integrally in our lives.

For businesses, social media creates both unique problems and unique opportunities. Previously a business could rely on dissatisfied customers sharing their vitriol with only a handful of others; social media has greatly expanded the platform for customers to proliferate discontent. Similarly, the free-flowing nature of information on social networks provides opportunities for businesses to create viral campaigns, a promotion more influential and lasting than classical marketing techniques.

With Launch, Michael Stelzner outlines a compelling case for social media content to replace classical marketing messaging.

Great Content Fuels Business in the Internet Age

Stelzner believes social media to be the fuel by which a business launches itself into the stratosphere. With a straightforward metaphor illustrating a rocket ship, Stelzner sketches the ways in which a business can leverage great content. In simple terms, Stelzner introduces the core principle upon which the entire book stands:

“The elevation principle is the process of meeting the core desires of prospects and customers by helping them solve their basic problems at no cost” (7).

For a business seeking to utilize social media, content is king. To gain traction, followers, and eventually customers, businesses must freely share valuable information.

In consideration of the target market, companies must provide valuable and applicable content to its potential customer base. For example, if you own a juice shop, consider blogging about the health benefits of juices. Similarly, if you run a photography business, video blogs detailing the process of photo shoots could provide valuable insights into the photography world.

Social Media as Service

No matter the market, the elevation principle seeks to reorient marketing principles toward the notion of service. While classic marketing schemes view potential customers as fish in need of stentorian bait stimuli, Stelzner suggests a different strategy. By freely providing valuable content, a business positions itself as an expert in the field; blogging and tweeting foster relationships with a potential customer base. By freely giving, devoid of apparent marketing messaging, the customer becomes willing to learn more about the company.

How Does "Free" Work in a Competitive Environment?

Many, however, might question the strategy of giving away valuable content for free. If a business bestows its valuable trade secrets, how can it make money in a competitive environment?

Stelzner suggests, “If your marketing strategy centers on helping people with their smaller problems, many will seek your help to solve their bigger issues.” (7-8) Much like the principle in which a freely-given gift offers the recipient a chance to return the favor, free and valuable content inspires an audience and causes them to consider the business for deeper needs.

Beware of the Simple Fix

With inspiring examples of businesses successfully implementing these principles, Stelzner writes in a motivating manner.

But I urge caution. Business is never as simple as a singular motivational statement. While I agree wholeheartedly on the principle of service, I do not assume that adhering to this principle consistently results in a successful business. Ultimately, Launch tells Stelzner’s story and how following his principles brought him massive success. Perhaps Launch functions as a blueprint worth following; of course most readers will recognize that similar success does not necessarily follow.

In a plugged-in world, businesses must master social media. With loads of free and valuable content just a click away, a business must offer value through blogs and social media in order to serve its customers. Stelzner’s elevation principle provides the foundation of service upon which a business may soar through the heavens. Will it always work? That has yet to be seen. Nevertheless, anyone interested in integrating social media into a business needs to read Launch.

Verdict

4.5 out of 5

Do you use social media in your business? Why or why not? Do you find social media to be a valuable tool? Does it scare you to give away valuable content for free? Share your thoughts below.

Donovan Richards earned an M.A. in Business and Applied Theology from SPU and works as a consulting analyst for See Seven. You can read more reviews on Donovan's blog.

Patricia Werhane is the widely-published chair of Business Ethics at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. Werhane and co-authors Kelley and Hartman are colleagues at the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics at DePaul University. Dennis Moberg chairs business ethics at Santa Clara University.

Book review by Bruce Baker

A New Parable for Prosperity

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll feed himself for a lifetime. So goes the old parable, but this book brings us into the globalized market economy of the 21st century with a new parable for prosperity — create a profitable business venture by “maximizing the yield of the fish pond and the distribution of the fish by truly forging partnerships with the poor,” and you will reduce, and perhaps even eradicate, poverty forever (p. 17).

The central thesis of this book is that social enterprises of various kinds offer a winning strategy in the effort to break down the social structures and conceptual frameworks that trap billions of people in the cycle of poverty. Through profitable partnerships, businesses, and NGOs, governments and coalitions of the poor “can alleviate poverty by seizing market opportunities” (p. 125).

Poverty relief has always been a pillar of the “social gospel,” yet this book barely mentions the biblical mandates, aside from a solitary reference in passing to Luke 12:48 (p. 39). Rather than support their case with theological insights, these four professors of business ethics rely completely upon secular constructs of moral philosophy to bring academic credibility to their thesis.

While their approach has integrity, it ignores the deeper spiritual significance of the evangelical truth which seems ready to burst forth from these stories of personal and societal transformation. Given their ties to the Catholic universities of DePaul and Santa Clara, I suspect the authors would not disapprove of this faith-based interpretation of their work.

Changing Narratives

This is a well-written treatise on the social responsibility of business. The authors succeed in their aim to debunk the false old “caricature of greedy cigar-smoking robber barons helping meek, barefooted beggars” (p. 124). Of course this is an easy target. Perhaps there was a time when that idealized image of businesspeople made sense, but no more. Gone are the days when Milton Friedman’s litany — “the social responsibility of business is to make money” — held sway as a self-evident truth. We now live in a new “complex reality” which demands us to “change our shared narratives about for-profit ventures and… recalibrate our mindsets regarding how poverty issues are most effectively addressed” (p. 17).

This “changing of narratives” and “recalibration of mindsets” has been Professor Werhane’s main message for more than two decades. She has parlayed the idea of “moral imagination” into a fruitful stream of business ethics publications. The basic idea is that we need to be open to new ideas, concepts, and mental maps in order to find innovative solutions to moral dilemmas.

In the case of poverty, this means needing to let go of old notions like the “separation thesis” (p. 62) which views business profits and social issues as entirely independent pursuits. That falsehood has created the mistaken impression that charity is the only viable approach to fight poverty. Similarly, we must abandon the outmoded idea that those at the BoP (bottom of the pyramid) are capable only of receiving hand-outs, and see them instead as truly industrious and motivated workers, consumers, and providers for their families.

Worm’s Eye View

One of the best features of the book is its ample use of personal, “worm’s-eye view” (p. 51) stories to elicit compassion and bring to life a new narrative of abundant hope in profitable partnerships that can alleviate poverty. Each chapter begins with a personal account of a true story which brings the book’s thesis to life.

Additionally, many fresh case studies are used to illustrate the business principles, such as Ciudad Saludable, a thriving enterprise founded by micro-entrepreneurs who figured out how to rid the filthy streets of poor barrios in Lima, Peru of garbage while producing organic fertilizer, creating jobs, and simultaneously earning a profit (pp. 97–98).

These stories are so ripe with the fruit of redemption that several of them might well serve as sermon illustrations. Notwithstanding the generally secular approach of this book, Christian faith comes out through direct quotes of people whose lives are being transformed.

There is Strive Masiyawa, for example, the founder of a telecommunications company in Zimbabwe who defied corrupt principalities and took a stand on his religious convictions: “I’m a born-again Christian, and that was a decision I took… [E]very day I must persuade myself that I am practicing my conviction” (p. 94). Masiyawa’s testimony gives voice to the evangelical promise of hope that underlies the power of transformation seen in these stories of successful social ventures.

Corporate Moral Responsibility

One of the most useful insights is that the notion of CSR (corporate social responsibility) is in need of reform if its initiatives are to result in truly effective and sustainable efforts to eradicate poverty. Unless a poverty-fighting project emerge[s] from “the corporation’s raison d’être, it can neither maximize its effectiveness nor be said to be morally good” (p. 69).

Businesses come into existence and succeed by virtue of bringing particular gifts of talent and skill to bear on meeting specific needs of specific customers. To neglect or underutilize these gifts, even for the sake of some ostensibly “good” act of philanthropy, would be to miss one’s true identity and fail to live into one’s calling with complete integrity. The authors therefore advocate new terminology — corporate moral responsibility (CMR) — to emphasize the link between a business’s strategy and moral duty, and thereby to avoid the mental trap of the “separation thesis” (pp. 70–73).

While the central thesis of the book is ably argued and well-supported through practical examples, its ethical reasoning and methodology come off sounding a bit simplistic at times. For example, there is the prescriptive advice to be imaginative and make decisions by “second-guessing possible outcomes” (p. 126). This habit of basing decisions upon the anticipated consequences of “positive and negative effects” (p. 126) runs throughout the book, and reveals a distinctly utilitarian approach to ethics.

Those are minor shortcomings, however, in this timely and readable book. It will serve well as an academic text, with a detailed 17-page bibliography, useful index and numerous practical examples. The new parable of abundant hope in social enterprise is well-told, and deserves a wide reading.

Dr. Bruce Baker is an assistant professor of business ethics in the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University.

All economic theories are built on presumptions about human nature. What happens when our understanding of human nature goes digital?  What happens to our ideas about the integrity of economic behavior when human nature becomes reinterpreted through the lens of the new digital society?

Biology, ethics and economics are converging at this intersection and are pointing toward a new digitized version of human behavior and ethics. Our ability to analyze biological data, to unravel the genome and study the brain through chemistry and physics poses the possibility of digitizing the famous thesis that human behavior can be interpreted in terms of an idealized Homo Economicus, or “Economic Man.”

Economic Man/Human[1]  is the big idea that enabled economics to branch out from philosophy and claim to be a scientific academic discipline in its own right. This transformation in economics emerged during the 19th century, spurred by John Stuart Mills’ efforts to formulate political and economic policy by analyzing the human “as a being who desires to possess wealth and who is capable of judging the comparative efficacy of means for obtaining that end.”[2]

The classical idea of Homo Economicus has generated much practical work in economics. It has also been pronounced dead, or at least endangered, countless times over the past 200 years. It is of course an oversimplification, and that’s generally the nub of the problem with economics. People are too complicated to be reduced down to mathematical descriptions of some idealized utility functions. Peter Drucker wrote The End of Economic Man in 1939, for one example.  Not even John Stuart Mill, who is generally credited with moving economics in this direction, believed in Homo Economicus as a valid description of human nature. He knew it to be an abstraction that failed to capture the passionate side of human motives.[3]

Genetics, brain science and the analytics of “big data” are reformulating our understanding of human behavior however, and this suggests that we may expect the theory of Homo Economicus to be reinvigorated and have a long life.

Economists have gotten a lot of mileage out of theories based in the human capacity to make rational choices based on quantifiable utility functions. If only there were a way to quantify the irrational aspects of human behavior also, then there would seem to be no limit to frontiers open to economic analysis.

This is precisely the direction being proposed by new research such as that of John Coates, who writes in his new book of advances in neuroscience and physiology which explain what happens in the body and brain when people make irrational choices in stressful situations. Coates is a former derivatives trader from Deutsche Bank who now does research into the neuroscience of decision-making in financial markets.[4]  He comes to the conclusion that “irrational exuberance” of the sort that destabilizes financial markets can be probed and understood through better physiology and brain science. These new scientific capabilities point the way forward for theoretical applications of Homo Economicus.

The new and improved version of Homo Economicus will offer to analyze both the rational choices and the irrational reactions of consumers and market makers in terms amenable to data analysis. Consumers are already being treated as digital abstractions by marketing techniques such as Net Promoter Scores, in which their market value to a vendor or advertiser receives a numerical ranking based on their influence through digital social media. When these data are combined with digital formulations of human behavior based on analysis of biological reactions to any number of circumstantial stimuli, the capacity of the digital version of Homo Economicus would seem to be unlimited.

As always, these new technologies will bring with them a blessing and a curse. The blessing is obvious: enhanced abilities to build efficiency into markets and wisdom into regulatory policies. The curse will lie in the potential to subjugate human relationships to digital analysis in the marketplace. Every facial expression and vocal tick will be analyzed by the advertiser, and every human reaction will become open to more sophisticated forms of manipulation based in predictive theories.

As always, the challenge of using these new technologies and theories will be to recognize them as tools, but never as definitions of human nature. Human integrity resides ultimately in the imago Dei, in relationship with the Triune God. While physiology and neuroscience have a lot to teach us about how our bodies react to the stress of ethical dilemmas and financial choices, these sciences do not define what it means to be human. Only God can do that.

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[1] Homo Economicus is better translated as “Economic Human,” as Joseph Persky notes as he elaborates on the origins of this idea. Persky documents academic usage of the Latin phrase Homo Economicus from at least as early as 1906.   Persky, J. (1995). The Ethology of Homo Economicus. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9(2), 221-231.

[2] Mill, J. S. (1836). On the Definition of Political Economy; and on the Method of Investigation Proper to It. London and Westminster Review, October 1836. Cf., Persky (1995: 223).

[3] Mill, J. S. (1836). Cf., Persky (1995: 223). Tomas Sedlacek explains this historical transformation in economics with great insight into the dismal consequences of attempting to separate economics from an ethical understanding of humankind. Sedlacek, T., & Havel, V. (2011). Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA.

[4] Coates, J. (2012). The hour between dog and wolf: Risk-taking, gut feelings and the biology of boom and bust. New York: Penguin Press.

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Dr. Bruce Baker is Asst. Professor of Business Ethics at Seattle Pacific University. His previous work includes founding and leading high-tech companies, and serving as a general manager at Microsoft. For further information you may contact Dr. Baker at bakerb@spu.edu.

What does it take to get a new company off the ground? Or to bring a new product to market? We all know that new business development requires a certain kind of “right stuff”—an entrepreneurial spirit, if you will—a kind of energy and enthusiasm which aims to do something new and different because it’s worth doing. It takes a certain kind of character and spiritual energy to push past all the obstacles that stand in the way. There seems indeed to be some kind of “right stuff” which is just as important in launching a business as it is in launching a space capsule.

Strength of human spirit is required in such endeavors. In business, we may refer to this strength as “spiritual capital,” an ingredient just as crucial to success as financial capital. We find spiritual capital in people who seem to have the right stuff when it comes to entrepreneurism. This spiritual capital seems to be like art—we know it when we see it, but we have a hard time defining it. But what if we could get better at recognizing it, understanding it, cultivating it and rewarding it? What a benefit that would be for building high-performance businesses with integrity and the “right stuff”! That’s exactly what I hope to help do with my current research project. I’m researching companies where spiritual capital is on display: identifying it, interviewing the entrepreneurs who have it, and analyzing the organizations where it thrives. I can think of nothing more thrilling in my business career than to have been a part of entrepreneurial start-ups in several different places. One of those places (which has become famous for its own special mystique) is Silicon Valley, and that's where my research into this topic will begin.*

California’s Silicon Valley symbolizes the entrepreneurial spirit which has made American business the world’s pace-setter for inventiveness and technological advancements. The success of start-up companies in Silicon Valley can be traced back to the early days of “Bill & Dave’s” garage in Palo Alto, where in 1938 they developed the audio oscillator which launched the company that still bears their names—Hewlett Packard.  The prolific productivity of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who have followed in their footsteps during the past 70 years has become legendary, and has led to the creation a venture capital industry which leads the world in wealth-creation through entrepreneurial start-ups.

The culture of these entrepreneurial companies deserves to be studied for the sake of the witness it can bring to a theological understanding of human inventiveness and industriousness. How do entrepreneurial companies recognize, enhance and harness the creative talents of the human spirit? What can we learn from their experience about the concept of spiritual capital? To what extent do these companies formulate and communicate an ethos that recognizes and builds upon the source of human dignity found in the imago Dei? These are some of the questions I’ll be pursuing.

In academic terms, the hypothesis to be tested is that there are models of transformational leadership at work here which point to a transcendent concept of human nature. This understanding of human nature transcends other concepts, such as homo economicus, an idea popularized in 20th-century economics based on the idea that human nature can be reduced to utilitarian, conscious decisions to maximize happiness. The flaw in that idea of human nature is that the quintessential humanness of human kind cannot be reduced to economics functions; but rather it has to be understood in a larger context of spirituality expressed in and through relationships with one another and with God.

This research project therefore aims to discover how the goals, aspirations, leadership styles and corporate cultures represented by Silicon Valley companies bear witness to a bigger notion of human nature—that is, to a theological understanding of human nature. By studying the entrepreneurial ethos of representative companies, our hope is to learn practical lessons which managers and entrepreneurs can use to build up and deploy spiritual capital for the sake of their employees, customers and the greater community.

If this sounds interesting, I would love to hear from you. Here’s how you can help: send me an email. Share your ideas with me regarding what “spiritual capital” means to you. Share stories with me, and give me examples of people and companies you know. Perhaps you would even be willing to take part in a personal interview on the topic. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks! And thanks for your support of the Center for Integrity in Business. They occupy a unique and much-needed niche by providing thought leadership in some of the most crucial aspects of business.

* By the way, Seattle is right there on a par with Silicon Valley these days, but I’m going to start my research with the Silicon Valley, which is where a critical mass of the start-up culture seems to have first arisen.
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Dr. Bruce Baker is Asst. Professor of Business Ethics at Seattle Pacific University. His previous work includes founding and leading high-tech companies, and serving as a general manager at Microsoft. The CIB is pleased to sponsor his current research project: Silicon Valley and the Human Spirit: an inquiry into the entrepreneurial ethos of California’s Silicon Valley with lessons for the development of spiritual capital. For further information you may contact Dr. Baker at bakerb@spu.edu.

Widely known as the Father of Liberalism, John Locke’s work in epistemology and political philosophy has influenced countless nations. Born in 1632 in England, Locke attended Westminster School in London earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree. Having fled to the Netherlands to escape suspicion of an assassination plot, Locke began publishing his writing upon his return to England. With his writing gaining widespread influence, Locke died in 1704. He never married nor fathered children.

C.B. Macpherson was born in Toronto, Canada in 1911. From 1935 until his death in 1987, he taught primarily at the University of Toronto on political economy and political science. The author of numerous books, Macpherson received the Benjamin E. Lippincott Award of the American Political Science Association in 1979.

Book review by Donovan Richards

“Mine!”

It begins early with a child yelling, “Mine!” We have all heard him/her bursting into tears and the quick crawl/run/waddle to a parent claiming the injustice of lost property. From an early age, we feel the seemingly self-evident truth of private property. We were given an object; we collected items; we connected those items in ways that made a new and much better object.

In business, this principle transforms into the rubric behind which we operate. Our work gives precedence for ownership. We develop goods and services and by ownership we are capable of buying and selling.

In John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, the author presents a theological case for the principle of property and the need for government authority to maintain property rights. Despite the density of the prose, the short length and topics offer a valuable read for business practitioners.

The Premise of Property

Any discussion regarding John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government must center on property. A highly influential writer on political philosophy, Locke’s tome details the ways in which a society organizes and manages itself. But before one can state maxims regarding political government, one must discuss the reasons for organizing societal connections. For Locke, this reason begins with private property.

Locke’s justification for private property begins with the assumption that God the Creator fashioned a world for humanity to subdue and manage. Locke writes,

“God, who hath given the world to men in common, hath also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life, and convenience. The earth, and all that is therein, is given to men for the support and comfort of their being” (18).

The earth, then, exists in a supporting role to humankind; it carries no first order intrinsic value. Instead, it functions instrumentally for the good of humanity.

From this position, Locke believes that private property arises from mixing personal labor with land from the God-given commons of the earth. Locke argues,

“Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state nature hath placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other men: for this labour being the unquestionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough, and as good, left in common for others” (19).

Thus, while God provides commons for the good of all humanity, the ability for any human to conduct work allows him or her to transfer land held in common into private property.

To illustrate, under Locke’s philosophy of property, I cannot travel to a pristine wilderness and, upon discovering it, proclaim the land my property. Instead, I must cultivate this discovered land. By building on it and utilizing its soil for food, I then possess the right to proclaim the land my private property.

In short then, Locke suggests that God, who created humanity through labor, considers humans God’s property. God provides the earth as a common for which humans can use their God-given gifts of manual labor to cultivate and transfer the earth into private hands.

Governance

The need for political government arises from this principle of private property. When a society expands beyond the simplicity of cultivating open commons into private property, the need to protect and govern property becomes an important issue. Locke reasons,

“Political power is that power, which every man having in the state of nature, has given up into the hands of the society, and therein to the governors, whom the society hath set over itself, with this express or tacit trust, that it shall be employed for their good, and the preservation of their property” (89).

Even though the Second Treatise of Government explores many specific matters in the execution of governmental affairs in a united society, the core principles behind these discussions surround Locke’s theological notion of property and the need for governing those God-given rights.

Locke: An American Ideal

Interestingly, I find that Locke’s arguments sound natural as if they are ingrained in the psyche of American society and capitalism as a whole. John Dunn, in an essay titled “Measuring Locke’s Shadow” confirms this idea when he writes,

“Locke is still intractably America’s philosopher, and still very much America’s philosopher for what still seems ever more peremptorily America’s globe. He is the sign on the banner of America’s imperious external reach, her cultural, imaginative, ideological, economic, and even political Griff nach der Weltmacht [bid for world power].”

Put differently, Locke’s ideas on property and the need for government to authorize and protect it are the modus operandi for American business and politics.

Property as Dominance

In fact, Locke’s ideas seem to be the foundation for the domination of nature for which society now encounters drastic repercussions. In other words, to align theologically with Locke’s views on property, one must translate “dominion” in Genesis 1:28 as “domination.” What else could private property mean other than the absolute control of a specific portion of God’s creation?

By assuming “domination” of God’s creation in Genesis 1:28, I find tension in Locke’s arguments. Given Locke’s premises, God owns humanity because God created us through work. Under the same assumption, God possesses all of creation. Therefore, humans cannot possess an absolute right over a portion of creation because they were not the first to labor on it.

It then follows that the God-given commons for which humans carry the right to fill and subdue is not a space which humans carry the right to section off into private property, but an area owned by God given to humans in common to share and steward for the good of the whole.

Locke centers his political philosophy on a theological case for private property. By mixing labor with the God-given commons, private property arises. As an extension, political governance exists to protect that property. Nevertheless, the notion that God created and thus possesses the created world forces us to consider the earth in stewardship instead of domination. Even though we feel the pull of private property from an early age, our connection to an item through work does not require it to become our private possession.

With dense philosophical writing, Locke’s Second Treatise of Government is a difficult but rewarding read. Despite my reservations regarding Locke’s premises, this book is a must read for anyone interested in the foundations behind the modern conception of business. Locke’s writing is the bedrock of American politics and the principle of property holds sway over much of our popular thought. Our labor is valuable. Likewise, the way we create carries the capacity to help others through stewardship. A product of God’s labor, humans too possess the capability to work and mold resources into goods and services that promote human flourishing. The government, too, possesses the ability to direct a society where property functions for the good of everyone. If you are in business, you need to read this book.

Donovan Richards earned an M.A. in Business and Applied Theology from SPU and works as a consulting analyst for See Seven. You can read more reviews on Donovan's blog.

Starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, and Vincent Cassel

Film review by Donovan Richards

Keep (Over) Working

We all find times when the pressures of success feel like a tightening vice in our stomach. The desire for excellence is motivating, consuming, and at times, it physically alters our lives in mostly deleterious ways.

Black Swan director, Darren Aronofsky, interprets these notions on the big screen. Similar to previous psychological thrillers directed by Aronofsky, such as Pi and Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan dives into the dark outcomes of overwork, including stress, paranoia, and, schizophrenia.

Just Dance?

The film follows a brittle and timid ballerina named Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman). The beginning of a new ballet season provides artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) with reason to insert fresh blood in the role of prima ballerina for Swan Lake.

Obsessed with dance and influenced by an over-controlling mother, Nina is primed for obtaining the headlining position. The lead role in Swan Lake necessitates a performer capable of elegantly dancing the part of the white swan and sensually dancing the part of the black swan. In Nina’s case, her precise moves and shy demeanor represent the white swan well. Yet her timidity poorly translates to dancing the part of the black swan.

Furthermore, a new dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis) perfectly assumes the dark and sensual character of the black swan. This competition for the prima ballerina role forces Nina to channel a dark and wild character contrary to her personality as she tries to perfect her skills; a character that threatens to consume her. As the movie unfolds, Nina Sayers spirals into darker corners of her psyche believing that everyone is her enemy scheming to ruin her.

Masterful Form

Black Swan is brilliantly written, acted, and directed. While slightly and, more than likely, intentionally annoying, the timidity of Natalie Portman’s character is believable and renders the psychological aspects of the movie a reality. The film pushed me to the edge of my seat through impressive visuals, intense dialogue, and suspenseful scenes.

Impressively, Aronofsky craftily weaves humor into the story allowing the viewer to never fully be consumed in the darker themes of the narrative. These brief moments of levity supply the viewer with a counterbalance to some grisly images and suspenseful scenes almost fitting for horror genres.

Work to Live or Live to Work?

Through vividly surreal scenes, we watch as Nina transforms under stress and overwork. On one hand, her quest for perfection in her trade produces a better ballerina. Yet on the other hand, her obsessive plying of her trade unfolds unintended consequences. Black Swan ultimately teaches us that intense focus on work deteriorates the life around us and in us.

When we bring work home and make ourselves “on-call” at all hours of the day, our body cannot shut down and rest. Such continued stressful practices result in physical, emotional, and spiritual harm. We all need to manage our work/life balance for the sake of ourselves, our family, our friends, and our co-workers. The film, however, carries these themes a step further. Stress can literally destroy a life. Is a job worth perfection if it diminishes your personhood and that of those who love you?

Not Happily Ever After

Black Swan is not a happily-ever-after story; it depicts the broken qualities of humanity and portrays emotions reserved for the deepest depths of the soul. As Christians, we know that God always offers hope in every scenario. Although Black Swan most vividly highlights the impact of the fall, we know that God will ultimately redeem us from the consequences of stress and our destructive impulses for perfection this side of the New Creation.

Nevertheless, be forewarned that Aronofsky’s film does not tell a story in the redemptive mold. With excellent acting and direction, however, Black Swan deserves every ounce of critical acclaim it is receiving. I wholeheartedly recommend this movie.

Donovan Richards earned an M.A. in Business and Applied Theology from SPU and works as a consulting analyst for See Seven. You can read more reviews on Donovan's blog.

Before committing to professional vocational ministry, Shane Hipps held a position with Porsche Cars North America working on communications strategy. After a stint in the corporate world, he received a master of divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. Hipps pastored Trinity Mennonite Church in Phoenix, Arizona, before he became teaching pastor of Mars Hill Grand Rapids in 2010.

Book review by Donovan Richards

Little Dots Comprise the Image

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines a pixel as any of the small discrete elements that together constitute an image. The pixel is a building block, a portion of the larger whole. Without pixels, no image exists.

Similarly, people are the building blocks of culture and society as a whole. If the entire population of one country moves to another continent, no culture remains. In Flickering Pixels, Shane Hipps attempts to break down technology in order to analyze its building blocks and its effects on society.

With his prior career in advertising providing a unique perspective on the relationship between media and culture, Hipps writes Flickering Pixels in a skeptical voice. The basic thesis found in these chapters is a request to pause, take a step back, and evaluate the way media and technology influence our culture and more specifically our faith.

Technology's Relationship With Culture

Although not evident in everyday life, technology continually reshapes culture. The Greatest Generation remembers life before and after the television set; Baby Boomers consider life before landing on the moon different from life after the moon landing; Generation X defines itself in relation to the computer, and the Millennial Generation identifies life in pre- and post-iPhone terms.

Looking back at how society functioned decades earlier provides evidence for changes in culture, but we do not often consider how technology has altered culture over the years. For example, text messaging enabled people to send quick and efficient messages to each other. This technology, however, included some unintended consequences: the rise of text messaging prompted the rise of chat speak (e.g., Lol, wut, 2kewl4u, rotfl).

Technology's Relationship With Faith

Just as technology creates inadvertent outcomes for culture as a whole, Hipps narrows the focus to effects of technology on the Christian faith. Referencing the influence of the printing press on the Reformation, the author contends that technology has been shaping Christian tradition for millennia.

More specifically, when the printing press provided Bibles in the vernacular of the common people, the way culture viewed Scripture fundamentally changed. Whereas stained-glass windows were previously the medium of choice when depicting gospel messages to the masses, the printing press created access to the logically linear arguments of Paul. Exchanging icons for a text, those Protestants participating in the Reformation paved the way for a Christianity defined by logic and reason.

As Hipps contends, since the presentation of the gospel through technological means carries residual effects, it is important to evaluate its impact. Should churches simulcast sermons on video screens? On the one hand, simulcasting offers the benefits of increasing the number of people capable of hearing the message. On the other hand, presenting a sermon on video creates a pressure to place unwanted preference on the appearance of the pastor and his or her surroundings.

To What Extent Should We Accept Technology in Our Faith?

Even though I find value in stepping back and continually evaluating the effects of technology on my faith, I am afraid that Flickering Pixels reads as a warning against the uses of technology in the church — as if a wrong technological step in the modern church leads to heresy.

When Hipps references his previous career in marketing, he seems to be ashamed of his actions. His starting position is that his work of marketing luxury automobiles was morally wrong. In my opinion, the author seems to associate the use of technology to promote Christianity in the same skeptical light.

As a pixel is the building block for an image, perhaps technology is a building block for successfully sharing the Christian faith. Although we should avoid uncritically accepting technology in our faith and cultures, it is important that we avoid the overreaction of skeptically dismissing technology.

Despite Hipps' cynicism of technology, Flickering Pixels is a short, quick, and thought-provoking book worth reading.

Donovan Richards earned an M.A. in Business and Applied Theology from SPU and works as a consulting analyst for See Seven. You can read more reviews on Donovan's blog.

“Imagine a world without free knowledge…” begins Wikipedia’s protest page, “Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet” [BBC News, NY Times, Jan. 19, 2012]. This must be some powerful bad medicine, if it threatens to kill the patient. At least, that seems to be the position taken by Wikipedia’s publicists.

Whether or not these pieces of legislation have been well-crafted is certainly open to debate. I’m not concerned here with the legalities, but rather with the moral stance of the corporate protesters. The invective being thrown at these bills calls into question the integrity of the internet companies’ response. What moral weight do their tweets and texts bear? Consider the source: these proclamations and accusations are voiced by the companies who make their living by building and driving traffic in cyberspace.

The protesters are careful, of course, to avoid any appearance that they are in favor of piracy. They don’t question the motivations or intentions of the legislation aimed at reining in the pirates out there far from our shores (China, Russia and the Middle East are frequently listed as pirate-friendly safe harbors).

Rather than offer constructive suggestions however for how to combat piracy, the corporate protests seemed designed to upset and rally people to the cry that this legislation may be bad for business. For their business, that is. Let’s be clear about that, because it was designed specifically to protect the business of other companies who produce the valuable content being peddled in cyberspace.  One protester in San Francisco, representing an online travel company, put it plainly, “this legislation is bad, it would directly impact our company.” [NY Times, Jan. 19, 2012]

It’s the self-serving tone of such protests that raises the question of integrity. There is precious little moral content in the argument that what’s bad for my business is bad, regardless of how it affects others.

Of course the protesters do not mean to suggest that their moral footing is grounded in self-interest; rather, they imply that their moral authority stems from their concern for freedom as a general principle, as well as concern for the individual information consumers in particular. Of course, this argument is also suspect because their altruism seems to flow from concern for their own customers—the consumers of information services.

These moral arguments are weak. In the first instance, the argument for freedom could just as well be claimed by their opponents who argue for the freedom to earn a living and not to have their products stolen by pirates. Freedom of information is not an issue being questioned by the legislation; piracy is. In the second instance, concern for their own customers once again begs the question of whether the protests are self-serving.

A sincere moral argument rooted in altruism would take a different course. It would demonstrate motive and desire to help solve the piracy problem. It would demonstrate resolve and commitment on the part of the Board of Directors and management to help address a problem that is significantly undermining other significant businesses in our economy.

To protect one’s self-interest with defensive arguments lacks integrity to any source of morality higher than hunger or survival. True integrity recognizes a higher calling, namely, to act out of sincere concern for others’ welfare. That is why biblical notions of morality, based in kenotic self-emptying of self-importance, are just as critical to corporate moral authority as they are to personal integrity.

Perhaps the protesters had valid reason to question the structure of these bills. In that case they might have addressed those issues head-on in a manner which carried much greater moral strength. They might have shown integrity by demonstrating their sincere concern to solve the problem. They might have offered ways to strengthen their current anti-piracy policies. And yes, because “business is business”, this would most likely cost them something in the short run. But in the long run they would have demonstrated a concern for our entire economic system and not just for their own slice of it. They would also be living into the higher calling of integrity which flows from an understanding of the biblical call to be witnesses to a greater reality than pecuniary self-interest.

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Bruce Baker is an Assistant Professor of Business Ethics at Seattle Pacific University.