The Value of Business:
Father Oliver Williams
By: Sarah Flores
“What is the purpose of business?” Father Oliver Williams
asks a crowd full of students and faculty from the Peace and Justice Institute
at Valencia College. “If you ask a lawyer what the purpose of business is they
will say to seek justice, if you ask a doctor they will say to heal people, if
you ask a professor they will say to educate young minds and hearts; but what
is the real purpose of doing business?”
Father Oliver Williams has led a multifaceted life: a former
Naval Officer, a Catholic Priest, a business ethics professor at Notre Dame,
and a director of the United Nations Global Compact Foundation are just a few
of his larger accomplishments. He has taught for 20 years in Cape Town, South
Africa, in that time having personally worked with Nelson Mandela, as well as
teaching in South Korea. His purpose? To teach business leaders, new and
established, how to create sustainable business practices on a local and global
level.
Father
Williams says, “The real purpose of business is to create sustainable values
for all stakeholders in a company”. He recounted a story of his initial meeting
with the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz. When Howard Schultz started his company
he wanted to provide healthcare to all of his employees, but his stakeholders
didn’t like the idea. His argument was that his employees were very important
stakeholders just as his suppliers that picked the very coffee beans that consumers
have enjoyed so frequently were very important stakeholders. He gave them all a
living wages and taught farmers how to get more yield from their crops.
Father Williams says “Companies have to take
responsibility for sustainability all over the world because most Governments
cannot, where there is power there is also responsibility”.
“People are poor not
because they don’t have money but because they don’t have management skills”,
Father Williams explained. He described how it is the larger corporation’s duty
and responsibility to provide sustainable practices to consumers and to society
as a whole.
He
tells another story about Coca-Cola Co. and how they created sustainability.
The head of Coca-Cola in Africa used big, commercial trucks to deliver to the
rural villages, and they decided that they would not only be delivering their
product but they would also take medics and medicine with them on their routes.
“The CEO explained, if people are sick they don’t buy coke,” the Father said
with a smile. Father Williams carried this notion of sustainability with him when
he was appointed a charter member of the three-person board of directors of the
United Nations Global Compact, back in 2006.
“I
wrote a letter to the U.N. telling them that I thought what they were doing
{with the Global Compact} was a great idea and that I wanted to help, I was
very surprised when they wrote back asking me to join them and recruit big
companies to help the initiative”, Father Williams stated. The U.N. Global Compact created 10 principles
relating to human rights, labor rights, corporate corruption and concern for
the environment, with the notion that companies would subscribe to the
principles, make clear statements of support, and submit an annual report
showing these practices as an example for other companies to imitate.
“Do
people trust business today? The answer is not much”, says Father Williams. According
to multiple reports shown by Father Williams, consumers that live in wealthy,
developed countries want companies to do more in society. “The purpose of
business is to create value, part of that involves money but it also involves
many other things”, he states. “We trust a company when we think the company
isn’t just concerned about themselves but about our stake as well”.
When
asked about the future and what we can say and teach to the future generations
about business ethics Father Williams replied, “In my own teaching I make a
distinction between a job, a vocation, and a career. You have a job to make
money, a career gives you internal satisfaction, and a vocation is being a part
of something, knowing you are a part of making a difference”.
When
asked “If the purpose of business is not just to make money then why is there such
a debate over minimum wage and taxes?” Father Oliver Williams replied, “We have
a lot of power as consumers and we need to use it to make a change. The largest
shareholders in our society are pension funds and educational endowments, I
think we need to push for shareholders to change their habits, to spend more
investing in sustainable business practices and less in some of these CEO’s
larger salaries”.
According
to a report published by Father Oliver Williams “A Global Compact for
Sustainable Development at the United Nations”, the Pope’s visit this past
September accompanied by his speech pushing for peace in a troubled world, was
important for the United Nations. The 193 Member States of the United Nations
adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which targets to help the poor and
aspires to develop a world without poverty, harmful inequality, and injustice.
Father
Williams states one of his favorite sayings, “We can’t do everything, but we
can do something”.
