The Manager and the Monk: A Discourse on Prayer, Profit, and Principles

CHAPTER 4

VALUES

With an Introduction by Anselm Grün

When companies have invited me to speak over the past few years, they have increasingly requested the topics “Leadership with Values” or “Values and Managing.” Many businesspeople in positions of responsibility sense that we cannot manage permanently without values. When companies ignore values, they become worthless in the long term, because those who disregard values are treating humankind and themselves with disdain. An atmosphere of despising oneself and others will quickly make a firm worthless. Its capital vanishes. Staff who are treated with disdain and who despise themselves will lose all feeling of solidarity. This situation can cause a company to collapse.

Many firms today try to ...