I just read a piece in today’s Globe and Mail that puts forth the idea that business has an interest in humanitarian leadership. It is co-authored by the head of a company that helps companies profit from being socially responsible, and a professor at a Toronto business school.
They point out that companies generally do not have policies and procedures for responding to humanitarian causes, such as the current refugee crisis. They cite the head of a German company, who was asked about his response to the flood of Syrian refugees, He said his response is to provide jobs. I don’t think that is as callous a response as some might think. After all, that’s what businesses do. And if they are actually thinking about providing jobs as their purpose instead of just making money (nothing wrong with that in itself either), then more power to them.
Still, it seems there are strategies, in direct public good, companies are advised to embark on, with the goal of improving the bottom line. I was pastor of a church that hosted a weekly soup kitchen. Businesses in the town were eager to support this effort, and even more eager to have it widely known they were doing so. It would be easy to be cynical about this, but the reality was that everybody benefited. Besides, for companies or even individuals who are involved in humanitarian efforts, we can hope that something inwardly happens in the outward action. Somewhat in that vein, I think, Paul did not get distressed even over people preaching the Gospel out of “selfish ambition,” since he saw, nevertheless, the Gospel being advanced (Philippians 1:15-18).
In examining our own motives, however, Christians are allowed no such tolerance: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit” (Philippians 2:3). So even if we begin with good works with some ulterior motive (and some us have to begin somewhere!), we can and should look to be transformed within.