This is your place to publicly comment on the topics and issues addressed in Speaking of Faith programs. React in a personal way, and put into words what the programs mean to you.

How do you implement ethical principles in your daily business practices?
Share Your Reflection

Applying Guptara's Principles (September 9, 2004)
Applying Professor Guptara's talk to some of the things I am working on, world view analysis of communities, I see the god of business (and survival) at village level (and perhaps even in the urban areas) is usually one of "utilitarianity." Utilitarianity seems largely unaffected by the professed faith of the community! This is an area that I am going to continue to reflect on!

Ravi Jayakaran
Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Listens via Web)

Great Program (September 9, 2004)
I appreciated your talk with Mr. Guptara, an outstanding program. What an urbane voice, his ideas expressed clearly, elegantly. Gratified to hear of Transparency International and wish them well.

Frank Luke
Honolulu, HI (KIPO, 89.3 FM)

Personal View and Challenge (September 5, 2004)
I am an older woman and to my own thinking very interested in ethical issues. Hearing Prabhu Guptara about business and ethics was new and very thought-provoking. I plan to share this information with a philosophy study group and a senior group which I attend. I would like to see how individuals of these groups feel they can contribute to the society or world we live in. Thank you for bringing this excellent program.

Saroj Kapur
East Lansing, MI (WUOM, 90.7 FM)

Ethics and Religion (September 12, 2004)
One of the best programs I've ever heard on the subject of personal ethics. The pity is the manner ito which we enter personal contracts of all kinds. The process of assessing value has long ago been centered on the trusting nature of our GODS to protect us from ourselves. We forget the true nature of negotiation is selfish on both sides, and therefore, outcomes depend upon how we see our gain.

When we insert our religion into the mix, without agreement of the other, we cannot help being dissatisfied. There is only a truly free lunch when "all" the values are on the table, and the table is set in reach of all those sitting. To pray for success is not the same as when we prey for the same.

Owen Schmidt
North Mankato, MN (KNGA, 91.5 FM)

Giving It a Shot (September 8, 2004)
Thank you so much for Prabhu Guptara's' talk about ethics in business! That's the biggest reason I've distrusted business and have avoided running one or even getting involved in management. I am one of the multitude of under-employed people who's being forced to create her own business/consultancy as a way to make a living. Admittedly I prefer academics to business, i.e. the "gown" over the "town" way of life, but this appears to be something I can truly contribute to the world. I've seen very few people who've inspired me about running a business/practice.

Your speaker gave me hope that if I keep my Buddhist vows and dedication to service before me, that I can create a healing practice/business and not sell out to the god money like so many I have known. It may even make creating my own "business" palatable. He inspired me to orient my future Reiki practice toward ecological work and work with animals.

Annora McDougall
Marietta, GA (WABE, 90.1 FM)

Business and Religion (September 5, 2004)
It is very difficult to listen to a Swiss banker talk about ethics, morality, greed, and the problems caused by Enron, WorldCom, etc. and how the global world of business is ruminating about United States business practices. The Swiss bankers have not been models to follow. Their practices of handling funds for the Nazis, current dictators, and organized crime figures is not something to emulate. In fact the banking industry, in general, has followed a policy of secrecy so that drug dealers and others of that ilk can deposit money safely in Switzerland and some of the islands without fear of being turned in to the police.

It would be really interesting to hear Mr. Guptara's views on the banking industry in Switzerland and Europe, especially those banks who, in centuries past, would lend money to royalty and businesses by using intermediary money lenders so that they could collect higher interest rates than the church and the law would allow. To say nothing about how banks have not been particularly understanding when people needed extra time to pay off loans or ruthlessly foreclosing if a payment was overdue.

Jeremy Lfsey
Wyndmoor, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

The Value of Law in Business (September 5, 2004)
Your program on "The Gods of Business" was phenomenal. As a third year law student who aspires to be a trial attorney, I am constantly thinking of American business practices with respect to injured citizens. In this coming election, trial attorneys are being lambasted for causing "harm" to businesses, especially the insurance industry, when the statistics show nothing of the sort. The civil justice system works as a regulatory agency on behalf of the poor through the contingent fee system.

However, decades of a public campaign funded by businesses has "informed" the American public of how trial attorneys are "hurting" business. Mr. Guptara's comments about the responsibilities of businesses to human beings were right on point. I feel that my work as a future trial attorney is as David, a missionary in the civil justice system for those who have been harmed by Goliath.

Thank you for your program and for this OUTSTANDING episode. It gives me FAITH for the work that we all do to hold those who have the power and the wealth to be accountable to those who have not.

Michelle Marshall
Minneapolis, MN (KNOW, 91.1 FM)

Generosity in the Community (September 11, 2004)
This program was very provocative. I find that much of the Old Testament teaching on care for the poor that is emphasized in the book of Proverbs was left out of the discussion. We in the conservative Judeo-Christian community ignore the social concern that is stressed in the scriptures that we claim to believe in. The greed that is in the corporate world in the form of stock options isdespicablee. We end up reaping what we sow.

There is great benefit in being generous. Despite the greed that controls much of corporate America, there is a generous spirit in the much maligned Christian community—Catholic Relier, Mennonite Central Committee, and Samaritan's Purse to name a few. I found "The Gods of Business" one of the best of the programs. I listen to you at 7:00 am on WHYY. It supplements my Sunday School lesson.

Willard Stull
Philadelphia, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Asking the Right Questions (September 5, 2004)
This was a very enlightening show. The clarity and eloquence with which Guptara explained his views were the best business advice I have every received. It is a practical matter to understand business ethics. Although I am not a Soros or a Buffett, I do make a good living by investing. One of the first things I try to evaluate is the character of the management. Is the CEO overpaid? Who are the directors? What about pending litigation? How does management regard the environment? How are the other "stakeholders" treated? Are ethics discussed on the company website? Such an evaluation has served me very well.

Management's ethics are important because they let me know how I can expect to be treated as a stockholder. In general, my experience had been the more ethical the management, the more prosperous the company.

Myron Bell
Highland, MI (WUOM, 90.7 FM)

Gratitude for New Information (September 5, 2004)
The discussion about business ethics raised issues I had not considered, and the guest provided very useful information that provided a factual basis for things I only understood intuitively. The discussion will be useful in my work in health policy in less developed countries. I'm grateful for Speaking of Faith and the wonderful discussions Krista has with her guests.

Rose McCullough
Washington DC (WETA, 90.9 FM)

Massive Generalizations/Massive Conceits (September 10, 2004)
I am fascinated that we can become transfixed by assertions that are massive generalizations and accept them uncritically as accurate depictions of reality. This show and others permit explanations of reality that I find incredible. It is as if we are all one thing or another linked by a coherent and understood causality. Folks, things are not so simple and only forms of faith make them so.

Jim Morrison
Duluth, MN (WSCN, 100.5 FM)

Ethics in Business (September 5, 2004)
When you make money in business, the amount of profit is directly proportional to lack of ethics, what we call exploitation. Belief systems, respect for others, and sense of belonging or connectedness to others drive the ethics in business and other areas of life, and has no relation to religion. Unfortunately, religion sometimes sanctioned exploitation. Nowadays, religion itself is a business with poor ethics and criminal overtones. Lack of ethics and professionalism breeds lack of trust, which, in turn, leads to exploitation of each other. Ethics should start at home, school, and [in the] neighborhood. Prabhu Guptara is right in saying that each individual can make a difference in promoting ethics and trust in business, and I might add in all walks of life.

Subbarao Bollepalli
Farmington, CT (WNPR, 90.5 FM)

Business Ethics (September 5, 2004)
I am listening to this program as I type, and I wonder why this subject has not received more air time on NPR. When I think of CEO salaries and benefits that have been recently announced, and I see the images of starving people, the conditions in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, it makes me very angry.

If there was as much money to be made piping water to Africa as there is in piping oil and natural gas to the First World nations, entrepreneurs would be falling over themselves to get this done. Thank you for your program. It gives me a new perspective as I go to church.

Enid Morrison
Indianapolis, IN (WFYI, 90.1 FM)

Pools of Trust Across the Country (September 5, 2004)
I enjoy your programs, but "The Gods of Business" made me sit up and take notice. It was really great. I had not really considered how much I do trust and how surprised I am when people are untrustworthy. I was born in a small town and many of the people who were born there are still living there. I live in a county where many of the people are natives and again many of those living here never left. You can trust the locals — mostly. There are pools of trust all over the country. I never made the connection before between geographic stability and ethics/morality. I look forward to your reading list for this show. I don't know how to get trust back into business. The whole concept is chilling.

Phoebe Cassidy
Media, PA (WETA, 90.9 FM)

Business Ethics (September 5, 2004)
I am certainly in favor of teaching children both from the aspect of religious ethics in Sunday schools as well as teaching secular ethics in public schools. However, personal ethics cannot substitute for ethical behavior by businesses.

I believe, like Legal Ethics, Business Ethics is an oxymoron, and probably even more justifiably so. The most fundamental function of any business is to make a profit. Unless it is has a monopoly it must compete with other businesses. Any restrictions a business places on itself make it less able to compete effectively. Therefore, no business manager can both do his/her job of maximizing profits while also imposing ethical limitations of actions on the business.

It is the fuzzy thinking that engendered the U.N.'s ten principles of business that contributed to fiascos such as Enron. The U.S. government's recent relaxation of laws regulating business behavior, in the guise of giving them more freedom of action while depending on their ethics, was the other major contributor to these problems.

We like to think that the heads of companies would impose their ethics on the rest of the company, and that is exactly what happens. At each rung of the ladder the most successful employees are the ones who are promoted. Unfortunately, the ones who are most successful are the ones who do not limit their choices to the ethical ones.

This means that as employees move up in the management structure, the more ethical ones are left behind. By the time they get to the top only the ones with essentially no ethical prohibitions are left. Can we expect them to run the companies ethically?

I believe a far more practical approach is to work within the profit motive. Write laws that impose fines far larger than the probable rewards from an unethical action. The fines should be levied against both the company and the personnel who instigated the action. The reasoning for the far larger fines is that some infractions won't be caught. The management has to recognize that they cannot play the probability game. One possibility is to calculate the entire profit gained by each of the participants and fine each of them double the amount.

The obvious problem with this proposed solution is that the corporate world has tremendous influence on our legislators. As such, they are not about to allow any limitations that would restrict their profitability, especially since, in a global market, they are competing against companies in other countries which do not impose the same laws.

The United Nations should be working toward having countries legislate rather than coming up with high sounding, but totally irrational ethical admonitions.

Jerry Parker
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (KPCC, 89.3 FM)

The Role of Greed in Society (September 5, 2004)
As usual Krista's interview was thoughtful and perceptive, and her speaker, Prabhu Guptara, was extremely interesting and knowledgeable. His wise words about the current moral and ethical climate and dilemmas within the business community, especially in the world of international business, were wonderful to hear. In fact I confess I was truly relieved to hear that someone of his stature and position actually thought seriously about such things!

I was particularly interested in his observations about how other countries and cultures are following our "lead" in becoming increasingly individualistic, generally at the expense of the strength and influence of community. It led me to thinking about the powerful role of greed in our current environment, both in business and in the culture as a whole, and how greed seems to be such a potent craving, so difficult to constrain or harness constructively without the support of strong community connections. Unfortunately I missed the beginning of the program and thus may have missed some discussion of this question. But if I didn't, I wonder what thoughts you have about it.

Catherine Mitchell
Philadelphia, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

The Ethics of Education and Business (September 6, 2004)
I am currently a doctorate student at GMU, and I am writing a research paper on ethics in education and business. I found the Speaking of Faith presentation by Prabhu Guptara to be incredibly insightful, especially his theory that the United States is the leader in establishing business ethics. I would like to hear more about his thoughts on education and how they relate to ethics, i.e., can ethics be taught in schools to create a higher ethical standard in business. Thank you for starting this program. It is filling a void of discussion and reflection in our society.

Stephanie Vaughan
Winchester, VA (WETA, 90.9 FM)

Transparency International (September 6, 2004)
I am a sometime listener to Speaking of Faith, but when I have listened I have invariably found it interesting, positive and constructive, not only personally but also in providing understanding and hope in an often cynical and corrupt world. Your recent program on Transparency International was particularly interesting. It is almost breathtaking, in an age of massive business scandals, to hear news of world class people and businesses attempting to build a new international ethical system based upon trust and integrity. How refreshing. Let's hear more!

Jack Coleman
Philadelphia, PA (WHYY, 91.0 FM)

Business Ethics (September 8, 2004)
I only caught the last few minutes of today's program with the individual speaking from Zurich. He was on the button but not anywhere near forceful enough. Also, he thinks the companies actually pay attention to the ethics codes the presidents sign but then, by example, lead the underlings to do the exact opposite.

All that's changed since Enron is the crooks have been caught. As a chemical engineer, I've seen rotten business ethics really multiply since Ronnie Reagan usurped the White House. My answer: I quit working on April Fools Day, 2000. I'm only an engineer, not a philosopher, but I've been concerned on the total lack of ethics in our society (beyond just business) for years. From my observation, churches are not the solution and in fact are much of the problem!

Ronaldh Horn
West Bend, WI (WUWM, 89.7 FM)