Best Practices in Implementing Reconciled Faith and Ethics in Business

Transcription

1 Best Practices in Implementing Recnciled Faith and Ethics in Business Is there a situatin yu face where yu are seeking t recncile faith, business, and ethics? This a questin that the attendees at BELIEVES n June 13 th were nce again invited t wrestle with as they had the pprtunity t engage in dialgue with Clarence Smith, Bard Chair fr Havertys, and Andy Mnin, Funder f Cyran Systems, n the tpic f Best Practices in Implementing Recnciled Faith and Ethics in Business. Mnin and Smith, bth CTK parishiners, began the sessin first by telling a bit abut themselves. Mnin shared that he and his wife have fur kids, and prir t getting int business he was a baseball player at Clemsn back in cllege. Mnin began his career in business n the sales side. He likes the ideatin and creatin side f business the mst t slve a pain pint fr thse he r his cmpany is serving, whether currently with Cyran Systems, centered n a vide platfrm t help with leadership cmmunicatin in rganizatins, r any f the previus cmpanies he started and then sld. Smith, wh went t high schl at Marist and then cllege at Vanderbilt, has persnal and family ties t CTK that date back t the Cathedral s rigins his ancestrs helped build CTK mre than 75 years ag. Smith grew up in the Buckhead area as ne f eight kids, and said they all walked t Mass each week. Dad was a disciplinarian, Smith recalled. Every Sunday mrning, we d all line up in the frnt rw at CTK. Once ut f cllege, Smith began his career as a rep man in ne f the businesses that Havertys wned at the time. Since then he has spent his entire career with Havertys, ne f Atlanta s ldest cmpanies, funded by J.J. Haverty in Mr. Rich laned J.J. $600 t start a furniture stre back in 1885 even thugh it created cmpetitin fr him just dwn the street, Smith tld the audience. He believed in finding gd peple and supprting them. Later, Smith said J.J. chse t expand the cmpany by finding the best furniture peratrs in different cities in the Sutheast, buying 51% f them, and then leaving the peratr t run the peratin there with a 49% wnership. Havertys perated like that until ging public n Oct. 8, 1929 (just a few weeks prir t the Stck Market Crash f 1929).

2 Smith said that J.J. als cllected art, a gd prtin f which went t the first cllectin that was used t pen Atlanta s High Museum. Many pieces frm the Haverty cllectin are nw n permanent display in the High. He added, Funds frm the sale f the art went t fund CTK s cnstructin. After sharing a bit abut their persnal stries, the tw leaders then begin t shift the cnversatin t the tpic fr the sessin. When asked What is the framewrk that yu use t think abut ethics, and is that different when asked the same questin abut prfessinal ethics? the tw men prvided sme answers abut the basis fr hw they learned abut ethics. We lived in Charltte when I was grwing up, and I went t St. Gabriel s Cathlic Schl. The sisters at the schl were frm Guam, said Mnin. One f the nuns at the schl was named Sister Mnica, and she was strict. She taught the basics the Glden Rule; dn t lie, cheat r steal; the seven deadly sins; and the like. Smith mentined that as a public cmpany, cmpliance issues are always difficult but the ethics fr Havertys run s deep and g back t Cathlic rts. Mther was the Nrth Star, and if we mved ut f line, dad wuld execute. The men went n t share further thughts abut the different lenses r levels f ethics that exist t assess situatins thrugh: cmpliance, prfessinal cdes f ethics, values, and Gd s standard. I remember when my uncle, Rawsn Haverty, was dying in the hspital, Smith said. When I d g t visit he wuld always ask me hw things were ging in each city but he d always ask abut the manager nt the peratins. He wuld tell me, Clarence, always remember there s mre in the man than there is in the land. He always leaned n the right peple in the right place. Smith added that the very last time he visited with his uncle in the hspital befre he died, his uncle said, Yu ll always have the chance t cut crners, but always play it straight. These were the last wrds his uncle said t Smith befre he died. It was a persnalized message, nt an edict, said Smith. It s what is internal that yu knw. The message has resnated s much that the wrds Play It Straight are n the Havertys Cde f Ethics, t g alng with the cmpany s mtt At the pint f cntact, yu are Havertys. Mnin then stated that when he was leading Vendrmate, he and his team wrked with Cathlic Healthcare West when it was changing its name t Dignity Health. He recalled that the press release annuncing the name change said as we g thrugh change, we ll turn and rely n ur values. As Vendrmate grew, Mnin shared, it was imprtant fr us t find cre belief and values that everyne culd believe in and strive fr.

3 Ultimately Mnin said thse cre values and beliefs were centered n: Attitude ( Have a psitive and inspiratinal attitude. ) Intent ( Have gd intentins fr yurself, and assume that s where thers are starting frm t. ) Effrt ( D yur best, and give a full effrt. ) Perfrmance ( Let perfrmance happen as a result f the values and beliefs being lived ut. ) He added, Our prcesses and practices flwed frm the fur cre values and beliefs. Each f the leaders was then asked if they culd share an anecdte r tw frm their prfessinal experience that best illustrates what they had shared s far abut recnciling faith and ethics in business. Smith went first. In the deep recessin in years past, Havertys survived because the cmpany had cash. Our Bard actually suggested that we stretch ut payments with vendrs because we culd. Hwever, we chse t cntinue t pay in full and n-time as we always had. The result every vendr and supplier wanted t d business with Havertys. Ethics is gd fr yur business, Smith stated summarily. Camille Naughtn, Vice President f Advancement at Crist Rey Atlanta Jesuit High Schl, fllwed up by asking, We hear this frm yu, but hw d yu hire fr that in senir leadership team? Mnin stepped in t respnd initially t the questin. I have a friend in the venture capital space in Califrnia. He has tld me that he can t pick them any better than he culd 30 years ag, but what he s gtten better at is firing them sner and quicker. Smith added, Gd pint and nce yu decide t get rid f them, make it easy fr them t get ut. The tw leaders als acknwledged that as management they have t te the line that they preach. Mnin then gave anther example where ethics and faith were challenged in ne f his prir cmpanies. One time, we had the triple threat situatin arund age, race, and sexual preference cme up with an emplyee a directr wh was hired but within three mnths made it knwn t everyne that he wasn t t be messed with because f the factrs just mentined. In the end, we paid t have him g. Shrtly thereafter, the EEOC lawsuit filing still came, but we were able t defend it because f hw we handled the situatin and it went away. Smith cmplimented Mnin s remarks with his wn by stating, Smetimes yu defend t let the public knw what yu stand fr and let peple knw that certain things dn t get t cme arund here.

4 Smith als spke f anther business scenari related t Havertys where he feels ethics and faith cme int play stckhlder activist situatins. We have ne advantage in that we have tw classes f stck and current management wns 85% f that, s we can fend ff activists frm the public shares, Smith explained. What yu can d in the end thugh is just have a fullypriced stck. He added that Havertys has als paid a dividend since the 1930s. Terri Deuel, an Atlanta-based IT executive, then asked a questin t get the leaders views specifically n where they felt ethics in the tech industry are ging. Everyne shuld be alarmed when the largest tech cmpanies in the wrld are saying Artificial Intelligence (AI) is develping s fast even in their wn cmpanies, said Mnin. Singularity, which is when AI thinks as well as humans, is expected in What year is that? Smith asked. 2045, Mnin respnded. OK, I m OK, Smith then stated, causing everyne t erupt in laughter. Mnin tssed in ne ther thught in respnse t Deuel s questin, mentining that he believes we ll have telepathy in ur lifetime, but that currently there is n legislatin r set f regulatins that can keep up r manage. Anther attendee f the sessin then asked Smith and Mnin hw they make culture cme t life in their rganizatins. Smith said that he thinks culture actually is the answer. We have t take int cnsideratin all stakehlders, he replied. At Havertys, we als plan t be arund s lngevity is a factr. Mnin s views paralleled Smith s. Yu re a steward f the rganizatin fr all stakehlders, he respnded. When we sld Vendrmate, it wasn t just abut a sale price. It was lking thrugh the lenses f all stakehlders and figuring ut what the best match was fr stewarding what had been created, and keeping all that in mind. Mnin als mentined that he always says that he s wrked with a lt f peple at the cmpanies he s started and led, but the peple aren t wrking fr him. Tgether we re stewards f the entity. Befre the sessin wrapped up, Mnin and Smith had the chance t give brief thughts n tw ther questins a best practice each believed had evlved in their business as a result f recnciling faith and ethics prfessinally, and anther cmpany each admired fr hw they recncile faith and ethics in business. Mnin went first. I learned frm a leader in New Mexic many years ag the practice and imprtance f what I ll call first vice f the day frm the leader, Mnin said. We re building that int the Cyran platfrm.

5 T the secnd f the tw questins, Mnin said he admires Atlanta-based, Chick-fil-A because f their cntinued culture exemplifying servant leadership. Smith then said, Training is the key, in respnse t the best practice that s evlved. And fr which cmpany Smith admires fr hw they recncile faith and ethics in business? Hme Dept, he said. They re a hmetwn cmpany, and in my pinin, the best retailer arund. They re prfitable and they take care f the business they have versus ging after ther things.