The Most Rev Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, delivered an address on Tuesday 18 September at the central London conference that launched the initiative 'A Blueprint for Better Business?'
The Archbishop discussed social purpose vs profit maximisation, human dignity and the common good, the principle of reciprocity and the need for sustainability as well as discussing the contribution of faith and the convergence of corporate purpose and personal values.
He said: 'A conscious effort to consider human dignity, the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, fraternity, reciprocity, and sustainability is a way to make better decisions to build better businesses. These principles reflect the best of what a business can be: showing authentic respect for the whole person in creating a committed workforce, loyal customers and supportive governments; operating freely and responsibly to create new goods and services that society wants; an empathy with communities that identifies new markets and customers; a style of decision making that engages with the workforce to encourage innovation and taking responsibility for keeping the company true to its purpose; the ability to cross borders seamlessly to attract the best talent and grow new markets; building long term relationships that foster loyalty and trust and reduce the costs of customer persuasion and supply chain collaboration; and finally stewardship of resources which reduces the inefficiency and cost of repairing, restoring or paying for resources unnecessarily consumed in the production of goods and services.'
