Comments

Awesome - thank you.

Posted by Trevor at April 19, 2006 9:11 AM

Great photos, Tom. Thank you. It is quite easy to lose sight of Easter´s original religious sense in western world, though it is possible to re-gain it. I have read the Bible in these days and feel really comforted.

Posted by Felix Gerena at April 19, 2006 12:14 PM

You know, I've been reading the Bible again recently and I always come to the same conclusion when I think about it in context of today's management world: why is the Christian Church not used more often as an example of management/organisational practice/behaviour?

The history of the CC over 2000 years has to have just about every business dilemma/success/strategy thought out by management consultants and strategists and is a shining example of how to take something small onto a truly global platform. Imagine it: a business, which no matter what scandals/mistakes, you could get your customers to buy into, day-after-day, participate in as much as 'employees' do pretty much, fund your expansion and create great word of mouth. I don't mean this disrespectively to the faith of Christians as there is certainly a deeply sacred/personal element to the practice of faith - I am a faithful (though not as participative as I'd like to be admittedly) Christian, after all. I just mean that an organisation that could even at a small level translate some of the following of the Church into its own ethos would be phenomenal by any means. The Church, above all, is proof I think that institutional growth has no upper limits ...

Thanks for the photos: again, they illustrate the above point.

Posted by Daniel M. Harrison at April 19, 2006 1:38 PM

Daniel, what Christianity brought to the Roman Empire of its age was the universality of love, a concept undeveloped by the previous civilizations, greeks and romans in particular.

Posted by Felix Gerena at April 19, 2006 4:18 PM

An excellent book explaining the expansion of Christianity is "The Rise of Christianity" by sociologist Rodney Stark (Harper-Collins). In summary, "Altruism + Women + 3.4% per year"

Posted by Mike L at April 19, 2006 5:12 PM

WOW! Gr8 pics!

Posted by K.Sriram at April 20, 2006 12:46 AM

I've no problems with using "Christian" ideas to improve management - I've always been upfront about my willingness to steal a good idea from anywhere! But how do you think the non-Christian world would feel if business was portrayed as expressly Christian? I feel uncomfortable with the idea as an atheist; how would a Muslim feel - especially a Muslim working for a US-based multi-national? How would a US worker for Toyota feel if his company was run by expressly Shinto philosphies?

And is the concept of love a uniquely Christian thing? What would, say, the Bhuddists think of this?

We're on dangerous ground here...

Posted by Mark J Foscoe at April 20, 2006 4:54 AM

Daniel – your comments are very profound. I agree with you. I am a proud Christian.

When I listen to the many gifted Christian speakers delivering sermons I hear many messages that could and should be applied to business and management.

Although I am sure many people will disagree with me let’s just remember:

Approximately 44 million Bibles are sold every year and that there is an average of 6.8 Bibles in every American household. 1,250,000 Bibles are sold in the UK each year and if cumulative sales of the Bible were frankly reflected in bestsellers lists, it would be a rare week when anything else would achieve a look in. (Nicky Gumbel - “Questions of Life”)

Personally I pick up loads of tips for my business behaviour through listening to good sermons and in recent weeks here are just a few I have picked up and I am now using regularly in my management, leadership and business talks. These all have an origin in the Bible and I suggest all these can be applied to any business setting.

• Focus on people not programmes
• Re-address your assumptions
• Refuse to let your past define your future
• Wealthy people who have not learned the art of ‘radical giving’ find their money a burden
• The church needs the poor more than the poor need the church
• Where we give our hearts go

Posted by Trevor at April 20, 2006 4:57 AM

The photos are great. No Flickr album?

Daniel: Funny coincidence. I'm reading a book which uses a part of the Christian Church, the Jesuits, as an example of that management/organisational practice/behaviour you mentioned. It's called "Heroic Lidership. Best Practices From a 450-year-old Company that Changed the World". Highly recommended.

Posted by Francisco Fernández at April 20, 2006 8:35 AM

Excellent points as always Mark and I would not want to be misunderstood. I would not suggest ‘expressly Christian’ views should drive business. Just like everything else in life one must make individual choices. We are all given that choice.

My personal choice would be to see Christian beliefs underpinning business but I would never require or expect others to agree with my views. Your point about other faiths is of course equally valid and it is for those faiths to promote the argument. By the way, I cannot really see why we are on ‘dangerous ground.’

Posted by Trevor at April 20, 2006 10:14 AM

"We are all given that choice" though Trevor is unfortunate in most Islamic countries where Islam IS the law and only faith allowed - seems so perverse but true.

Posted by Sean at April 20, 2006 12:26 PM

"how... feel if his company was run by expressly Shinto philosphies?" - I (a Christian) worked in Tokyo for a Japanese Corporation. There were Corporate Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies etc. - but they left me to my religion and I left them to theirs. They seemed to believe in respect, honesty and diligence - that was fine with me!

Posted by Mike L at April 21, 2006 10:35 PM

Your post reminds me of my first visit to Rome and the Vatican; a trip followed by a quick stop in Paris.

The contrast could not have been more profoundly striking, as Rome points to God--and man's role as caretaker/steward of creation...whereas Paris seemed at every turn to secularize the status of man and place human intelligence above all.

The divergent points of view were apparent to all in our group

Posted by Steve Dragoo at April 22, 2006 10:42 AM

I agree, the CC is extraordinary for being the oldest organization in the world. It's had a leader since the time of Peter (although at certain points there were two popes). I wrote something about this a few years ago at http://www.eire.com/2004/12/20/worlds-most-enduring-organizations/

Posted by Antoin O Lachtnain at April 23, 2006 7:33 AM

I wrote something about this about two years ago - http://www.eire.com/2004/12/20/worlds-most-enduring-organizations/

The Catholic church is an extraordinary organization. It is interesting to try to understand the organization's relationship with wealth and money. It is criticized a lot for it, but it does appear that the organization's attitude to wealth has had a lot to do with keeping it alive.

Posted by Antoin O Lachtnain at April 23, 2006 7:35 AM