Renegotiating 'value': Bonus vs Pro Bono

'Bonus vs Pro Bono' is the second in our series of Renegotiating 'value' seminars and seeks to explore the value of inspirational leadership in business. The seminar will be held in the St Martin's Hall at St Martin-in-the-Fields (Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 4JJ) tomorrow (Thursday 4th November) between 4.00 and 6.30pm.

Here are brief biographies of our seminar speakers, Peter Hyson (Change Perspectives Ltd) and Baroness Uddin:

• In the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a confused Alice seeks directions from the Cheshire Cat. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," says the Cat. "I don't much care where - " Alice replies. "Then it doesn't much matter which way you go," retorts the Cat. "-- so long as I get somewhere," Alice adds as an explanation. "Oh, you're sure to do that," says the Cat, "if only you walk long enough." In one sense, that might summarise Peter Hyson's  life and career to date! For much of it, he’s not necessarily been totally clear where he’s been heading. He’s not one of those people who while they were still in short trousers fixed on a goal in life and single-mindedly pursued it until it was grasped and held aloft in a triumphant fist! The middle distance has often only emerged slowly out of the very definite mists of time. More specifically, that’s manifested itself in his work as a professional swimming coach, a senior teacher, a Church of England vicar, in working with the most senior leaders in leadership development and managing change and, more recently in writing novels and scripts and in TV production.  A Handbook for Coaching with Meaning and Spirituality is currently with Routledge. And throughout all those areas, people have been grappling with the question that so perplexed Alice: the area of spirituality, quest for meaning and the drawing to something or someone outside of and greater than ourselves.
• Baroness Uddin was the first Muslim woman in the House of Lords. Born in Bangladesh and brought up in England, she is an advociate of social reforms and equal rights. A formidable champion for women, Lady Uddin was invited to the House of Lords in 1998 for her contribution to the advancement of women's and disability rights. She began her professional and political career in the 1970's, in the East End of London, developing a number of leading edge and well-regarded services and organisations. Many of these have since come to be accepted as benchmarks for sustainable development and community engagement. Baroness Uddin has served on the Government's Select Committee on European Affairs and has chaired several Government task forces, under the auspices of the Prime Minister's office, the Home Office and the FCO. She also chaired the Government's Taskforce on Ethnic Minority Women Councillors.

Bruce Irvine, who was to have been an additional speaker, is now unable to attend. The seminar costs £5.00 (pay on the door) and we look forward to seeing you there tomorrow. Renegotiating ‘value’ is a seminar series organised by Faiths in London’s Economy (FiLE) in association with: Ethos HumanCapital; Faith Regen Foundation; The Grubb Institute; Mission in London’s Economy; the SmithMartin Partnership; St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation & Peace.

'Profit vs Prophet' - Abigail Morris

A Jewish man was praying for a lottery win when he heard God say to him, "Can you meet me halfway and buy a lottery ticket."

Our topic tonight is about the business of well being and wealth. Research demonstrates that wealth does not make us happy. 58% of people in the relatively affluent UK define themselves as being happy compared to 86% in the relative poverty of the African continent. The UK has a mental health crisis with £6bn lost on stress in the workplace and mental health issues cause more deaths than cancer. 1 in 10 children have a mental health problem.

It seems that having less than a certain sum of money (in the UK, this amount seems to be around £20,000 per annum) tends to make people miserable but that earning above that level makes no difference to people's reported levels of well being. Interestingly, the poverty of others makes us unhappy. The spirit level of inequality affects you even if you are at the top.

Well being is, of course, hard to measure. Ed Diener studied the well being of nuns from their entry into the convent as novices and then throughout their lives. He found that attitudes made a significant difference to length of life, with those having a positive attitude living up to 15 years longer than those who did not. Our sense of well being ad our attitude to life seems to affect our health and longevity.

Martin Seligman, who studies postive psychology, suggests that we can shift towards improving our sense of well being; that there are practical steps we can take to do so. Based on such scientific evidence, the new economics foundation has created a set of five simple actions which can improve well-being in everyday life.

These have clear corrollaries to teaching within Judaism: Give (Tzedakah) - being a volunteer and giving to charity has consistently been shown to be hugely beneficial, both mentally and physically (peer to peer support has been noted as the biggest help to cancer suffers with the implication that giving gives you more); Connect (Kehilah) - people cope better if they are part of community networks and possess strong relationships with friends and family; Be Active (P’ilot v’kasher) - exercise is not just about physical health but mental wellbeing as well, while kosher practices are about an awareness that our bodies are changed by eating animals; Keep Learning (Torah) - learning new skills stimulates the mind and can have long term benefits in reducing your chances of developing dementia or alzheimers; and Take Notice (Tefilah) - reflecting on your surroundings and your feelings can help you to appreciate what matters to you most (something towards which Shabbat or Sabbath assists), while prayer can bring an awareness of daily miracles. Maimonides argues that bodily health and well being are both part of the path to God.

To these, and based again on the work of Martin Seligman, ResponseAbility add Gratitude (Berachot) as studies have shown that if people take time at the end of every day to reflect on things that have gone well there is a marked increase in well-being. Seligman suggests each day writing down three things for which you are grateful while Rabbi Meir urged an obligation to recite 100 blessings daily.

None of these steps towards well being are about making money. The scriptures say, "Choose life, that you should live." The Jewish toast is 'L’Chaim: To Life.'

Alternative speaker

One of our speakers, Jay Lakhani, is recovering from recent surgery and is unable to join us while he is recuperating. We are grateful that, at short notice, Harmander Singh has agreed to join us as replacement for Jay.

Harmander Singh, who is a trustee/director of the National Faith Based Regeneration Network UK and a member of the Faith Community's Chaplaincy Trust at Feltham Young Offenders Institute - set up to rehabilitate offenders into to the community through their faith. Harmander is also the Sikh representative on the BBC Standing Conference on Religion and Belief and a regular guest speaker on National Radio networks on a range of cultural and current affair subjects such as immigration, security, customs and practices, with occasional contributions to the 'Cordoba Trust' publications on faith related issues. He recently worked with the London Civic Forum (LCF) faith development steering group which aims to connect faith communities with civic governance players. He became a Justice of Peace at Redbridge Magistrate's Court in 1993 and is currently the second longest serving Asian but longest serving Sikh magistrate on the Bench. In 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University of East London for outstanding achievements in community development. He was also Sikh coordinator of the Communities and Local Government (CLG) funded Cohesive Communities project, where he was responsible for exploring reasons and seeking solutions to tensions between Muslim and Sikh communities in the UK.

Profit vs Prophet: making money or making a difference?

Profit vs Prophet: making money & making a difference, are they opposed?, which is the first seminar in the Renegotiating 'value' series, includes a group of speakers able to provide a varied and stimulating set of responses to the above question:
  
Jay Lakhani is a Hindu Educationalist promoting Hindu education in schools, colleges and universities in the UK. He runs the Vivekananda Centre London and is Education Director of the Hindu Council UK. He is also trained scientist (theoretical physics) and believes science and religion meet at the level of the infinitely small. He believes that the Hindu idea of spiritual humanism manages to reconcile differences between religious and secular world-views and argues that religious pluralism offers the best prescription for making religions once again the cohesive force in our society.

Abigail Morris is Director of ResponseAbility, a new cross communal organisation which provides a contemporary Jewish commentary on cutting edge issues. ResponseAbility, which is in its first year, is seeking to bridging the two worlds of the Jewish and the secular, speaking to both and enabling the two worlds to meet and speak to each other. Prior to her current role, Abigail was artistic director at the Soho Theatre where she was the moving force behind the move in 2000 from the Cockpit Theatre into the former synagogue which is now its home. 

Mannie Sher works as an organisation development and change consultant in health and social care, industry, the financial sector, public protection agencies, faith organisations, the arts, charities, voluntary organisations and professional associations. He concentrates on redefining organisational aims, introducing new operational strategies, addressing staff morale, fostering inter-dependent systems of work and understanding the role of technology. His consultancy projects undertaken through the Tavistock Institute include conducting a major 2-year Transformational Programme of a foreign national bank penetrating banking systems throughout the country to improve cross-business collaboration capability; increase market share and share value (up 40% in 9 months).

You can register for this seminar, which is taking place on Thursday 7th October, 4.00pm - 6.30pm, at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation & Peace, online at http://stethelburgas.org/civicrm/event/info?id=216&reset=1 or by phoning 020 7496 1610. It is also possible to register on the door or the day but advance registration will help in our planning.