A Series of Questions III

A friend of mine has undertaken writing an article for Food for the Hungry in an effort to mobilize folks in the fight against the affects of AIDS. He asked me to reflect on several questions he posed to me as a catalyst for the article. Here's the result. This is question three of five.


III. I’m a businessman. What’s in it for me? What do I stand to gain by wiping out AIDS in Africa?
I’m sure I could think of a dozen ways that the global economy would be dramatically impacted and accelerated if Africa were to regain health and rise above it’s debt. And I’m sure I could find some way to eloquently display how the results probably will not be evident in this generation, but that getting involved is the best way to ensure the financial stability of the global economy for your great grandchild. But honestly, what I’d like to say to this person… Get over your ******* selfishness.

OK. Perhaps when I calm down i will come back to elaborate on those points...

2 weeks later:

First of all, I believe that business is a God-given blessing and mandate. Many talk of it as a necessary evil or simply as a means to another end. But work/labor was a gift and an integral part of being human from even before the Fall.

Second, it is imperative that any businessman/woman understand that they cannot (indeed should not) enter into philanthropy or striving to affect social change without the willingness and expectation that they themselves and their business will change as a result. As we get involved, we will change. We will become more humane. We will increase our capacity for compassion. We will mature as persons and become more Human. This is a significant return on investment. What other type of investment can yield that kind of quality return?

I could list off a dozen high-profile corporate scandals from just this past year. I believe that in every case at some point in the progression of each crime greed grew to such a degree that it surpassed the individual’s/corporation’s desire for truth/justice/legal action. One piece of each of these ethical failures resulted from a narrow focus on a financial profit bottom line. And whenever our focus on profit becomes too narrow, we will always push the limits of the law.

Partially in response to these scandals but for many other reasons as well, there has been increasing focus on corporate social responsibility. I believe there is significant research if not just popular belief that corporate social responsibility will make a business more profitable in the long term. It is a long-held (quantifiable) fact that values and principles enhance the company. This should be common sense. But for the deviants, I’m sure if you google “corporate social responsibility” or "stakeholder theory" you’ll discover a wealth of literature that could statistically prove a truth that everyone should have hard-wired in them already.

Again, it’s important to stress the long-term effects of this kind of investment. I don’t even want to try to come up with some kind of helping hand model for businesses that will immediately boost their revenues. If there are ways for an American business to affect change in a socially responsible and sustainable way, while at the same time boosting their immediate revenue, (and I’m sure there are several examples) I don’t expect that the return will be sufficiently motivating from a purely economic perspective.

Africa for one has been raped and beaten down for so long it seems like many of its leaders are acting like neglected orphan children who, lacking a mature parental model, act out of their hurts and insecurities, foolishly imitating the actions of it’s colonial rapists and megalomaniacal progeny on national and continental levels. Again, I would site here the very real potential that Africa, without our immediate and generous involvement, will detonate. (Remember the UN warnings of the collapse of social stability and national security? Sited in question 2) HIV/AIDS is the blazing fuse to this bomb. Refusing to involve our businesses amounts to affirming that we would prefer our own children be forced to sort through the debris and aftermath that will certainly been compounded by our failure to act. It's my sense that the sane and mature would choose preemptive immediate involvement over a legacy of devastating apathy.