Session 1 — Leadership is a vocation.
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business leaders, not just as guiding principles, but as executable goals. The document, approved by Pope Francis, was coordinated and drafted by business executives throughout the world. The author of this article, Michael Naughton, who coordinated preparation of the Vatican document, is the director of the John A. Ryan Institute of Catholic Social Thought at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Business Leadership is a Vocation The core of the document is the premise that business executives are called not just to do business, but to bring a specific quality of leadership to their work. This is because what businesses do and what business leaders do affects their work communities and the world beyond. Some business writers have described the role of a business leader as a vocation or calling. And the Vatican document states that being a business leader is an authentic human and Christian or religious calling. It is a calling to do more than just adhere to the law. It is a vocation to make “an irreplaceable contribution to the material and even the spiritual well-being of humankind.”1 The usual understanding is business leaders are charged to create wealth and focus on shareholders without an understanding of justice or human dignity. The goals of growing financial security for both a company’s stockholders and the company are not in themselves wrong. Rather, it is how those goals are attained that The Vocation of the Business Leader addresses. Are those leaders in charge of achieving these goals doing so with an awareness of justice, the distribution of wealth, and the dignity of their employees and their customers? It is the understanding and awareness of these principles and how they influence business decisions that The Vocation of the Business Leader addresses.
How to Proceed The Vatican document is organized around the process known as “see, judge, act.” These three steps can be summarized as follows: ♦♦ see the situation, taking time to reflect and understand it from different angles and perspectives;
1 Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Vocation of the Business Leader (Vatican City, 2014), para. 2, pg. 4.