Selected Press Releases
UK directors need radical re-think says book backed by Rowan Williams 23 August 2004
Press release 23 August 2004
UK
directors need radical re-think says book backed by Rowan Williams
“Faith in Governance – renewing the role of the director”
UK directors need radical re-think to regain public trust
UK companies and their leaders have lost the trust of the UK public, according to a ground-breaking book written by two of the country’s leading religious and management thinkers and backed by Dr Rowan Williams. the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The only way they will be able to regain that vital trust, argue Michael Fass and Michael Willis, is for board members to have a radical re-think about the way they work.
The findings are set out in the new book Faith in Governance, published this week (see full details and excerpts on www.faithingovernance.com).
They received strong support from Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, who said: “More and more people are lamenting the breakdown of trust in social, commercial and political life.
“Few make some of the obvious connections that should be made with society’s loss of belief in a faithful God and of any sense of being entrusted by God with a calling. The two Michaels make the connections in just the way we need to hear.”
The book’s core findings are backed up by a recent poll by Mori that found that eight people in ten disagree with the statement that: "Directors of large companies can be trusted to tell the truth". In the same survey, nearly two thirds of those in full-time employment, 65 per cent, say they do not believe that "companies can be trusted to honour their pension commitments to employees".
Michael Fass, manager of the Institute of Directors’ director training operation in Scotland, said there were two main reasons why UK businesses were facing such an acute crisis in public confidence.
The first was that the public was generally much better informed about the operations of specific companies. “There has been a general break down in trust in all institutions - the government, the police, the church,” said Mr Fass who is also Scottish Episcopal minister in charge of Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh.
“But businesses have come off particularly badly because of the wealth of information available on their activities through the internet, the media and other sources.”
The second reason was that the public had been disillusioned by a string of embarrassing scandals relating to malpractice and “fat cat” pay.
The break down in trust has serious consequences, they argue in Faith In Governance. General distrust of directors and their activities had led to an worrying increase in regulation, designed to enforce good practice.
“Trust is being replaced by an increasing burden of state regulation,” said Michael Willis, a tutor at the Institute of Directors and a prominent member of the Roman Catholic community in Scotland.
“This frustrates entrepreneurial drive - the life-blood of every business - but also forces directors to spend an excessive amount of their time on ensuring compliance. Corporations should be agents of free enterprise not agents of the state.”
Faith in Governance argues that the solution lies in directors going back to basics and looking at the historical background of their profession.
The book argues that many of today‘s business people have forgotten the centuries-old tradition of the “faithful director“, laid out in the 1844 Companies Act and practiced long before that. The book delves into that history and sets out ways that those lessons can be used in practice today.
In one specific example, it argues for more training aimed at the personal development of directors (the authors‘ research found that only 8% of company directors undertake some form of personal development for their role.)
“Being a good director is about dealing with uncertainty and increasing complexity and requires wisdom, judgement, integrity and the ability to govern,” said Mr Willis. “It is these attitudes, attributes and tools that directors need to sharpen in the crucible of the boardroom.“
More details and excerpts from Faith in Governance are available on the book’s website www.faithingovernance.com. The book is available through Amazon.co.uk; other book dealers and from the authors direct on 0131-524-9890 and is published by the Industrial Christian Fellowship.
For more information, contact 077-74-740423
'Swap shepherds for accountants' says think tank 22 December 2003
"Pray for stockbrokers and accountants," churches urged 26 September 2003
Press release 22 December 2003
'Swap shepherds
for accountants' says think tank
Churches were today urged to make a last-minute adjustment to their nativity
plays by swapping their shepherds for accountants and office. The Industrial
Christian Fellowship (ICF), a historic cross-church think tank, also called on
congregations to consider dressing up the three kings in suits to portray them
as fat cat executives.
The Rev Anthony King, ICF spokesman, said the changes would help remind
people of the true meaning of Christmas and its impact on everyday life.
"Christmas shows that Jesus comes to us where we are living and working. At
the original nativity, he was born in a stable and was visited by shepherds.
"Today, he is more likely to have been born in an office, and to have
been visited by office cleaners and office workers."
The impact of Jesus' birth was often lost behind a Christmas card scene of
shepherds, wise men and donkeys, he added.
The sentimentality masked the real shock-value of Christmas - that Jesus, God's
son, was born in a harsh, everyday setting, surrounded by ordinary people going
about their day's work.
One way to remove the sentimentality was to replace the original players in the
nativity story with their modern day counterparts - shepherds with office
workers and kings with managing directors.
"If you are going to have shepherds," said Mr King, "at least
make them modern day farm workers who have just arrived on their quad-bikes,
dressed in their dirty work clothes."
The ICF is a Christian think tank which works to encourage individuals to deepen
their understanding of God's purpose in the world of work.
Its most famous member to date was The Rev Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, better
known as Woodbine Willie, an Army Chaplain who earned his nickname by handing
out Woodbine cigarettes to soldiers in the trenches of World War 1.
After the war, he dedicated his ministry to the world of work and toured the
country with the ICF, preaching to crowds of thousands in industrial cities from
Birmingham to Glasgow.
Membership is open to any Christian, lay or ordained, who is interested in faith
and work. Anyone who wants to join can download a membership form from the
website www.icf-online.org or contact
Ann Wright, the membership coordinator, at ICF, St Matthew's House, 100 George
Street, Croydon CR0 1PE.
Membership costs £14 per year (£34 to include a subscription to the quarterly
journal Faith in Business) and provides, among other things, a newsletter,
opportunities to participate in ICF programmes and events, an annual lecture and
prayer and worship material.
CONTACT
ICF press office
07929 003809
The Rev Anthony King
01297 552666
Press Release 26 September 2003
"Pray for
stockbrokers and accountants," churches urged
Accountants, stockbrokers and bankers are not getting their fair share of church
prayers according to a new campaign launched by the Industrial Christian
Fellowship (ICF).
The ICF, a historic Christian think tank, today urged congregations to broaden
their Sunday service prayer slots by including prayers for people in the
financial service and manufacturing sectors.
The call came after a report found churches focus almost entirely on the clergy
and the "caring" professions - teachers, nurses, social workers - when
they pray for workers in their intercessions.
ICF Executive member John Raymond, said: "There is a feeling that these
professions are too worldly - almost not good enough - for prayers. There is a
feeling that you can not mix God and Mammon.
"But I think that is exactly the opposite of how Jesus would see it.
"We need an increased awareness and acceptance by clergy and laity that
work is part of God's creation and Christians need to be supported and equipped
to live out their faith in their lives. Once you include accounting or
fund-managing in intercessions, it underlines the fact that these careers are
all part of God's world.
"Also, if people in these jobs do not hear these prayers, how are they
going to make a connection and apply their faith to their work? People can
express their faith at work in a number of ways from the simple way of how they
behave to basing strategic business initiatives on Christian values of truth,
integrity and stewardship."
He cited the growing popularity of Fair Trade coffee and the Jubilee 2000
campaign on Third World debt as examples of faith and finance mixing to good
effect.
The ICF has already prepared a number of work-related prayers, designed for use
across the denominations. It plans to distribute them online, through its
website www.icf-online.org, under the
overall heading: "When did you last prayer for your stockbroker?"
The prayers will be released online in the build up to the ICF's annual meeting
in November.
Next year the ICF will continue its campaign by encouraging congregations to get
back into the habit of celebrating Industrial Sunday - alongside more
traditional events like Harvest Festival.
In the survey of 200 lay people, none felt that the church was adequately
supporting or equipping them to live out their faith in the office or on the
factory floor.
SAMPLE PRAYER
Father God, we ask your blessing on our economic world: Bless those in
governments and banks, especially in poorer countries. Give them an
understanding of economic forces and the mechanics of wealth creation; that they
may produce laws and regulations which give freedom for people to create wealth.
Bless entrepreneurs, those in business, investors and those responsible for
pension funds, that they may play a part, Lord, in creating and using processes
and structures which release and channel people's creativity, in ways which
enhance human dignity, serve the common good and benefit in particular the poor,
vulnerable and marginalized.
To your glory, Lord. Amen
[More will be released through www.icf-online.org
over the next few weeks.]
NOTE TO EDITORS
The ICF was founded in 1877. It is a cross-church Christian think-tank focused
on finding ways to deepen understanding of God's purpose in the world of work.
Membership is open to any Christian, lay or ordained, who is interested in faith
and work.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, agreed to become President of
the Industrial Christian Fellowship earlier this year. Other ICF council members
include: the Rt Hon The Lord Weatherill (Chairman); Frank Field MP; Rt Rev Nick
Baines, Bishop of Croydon; Dr Andrew Bradstock, Secretary to the URC Church and
Society Committee; Canon Geoff Smith, Director of Toc H and Rt Revd Martin
Wharton, Bishop of Newcastle.
The ICF's most famous member to date was Woodbine Willy (The Rev Geoffrey
Studdert Kennedy), an Army Chaplain who earned his nickname by handing out
Woodbine cigarettes to soldiers in the trenches of World War 1.
Anyone who wants to join can download a membership form from the website or
contact Ann Wright, the membership coordinator, at ICF, St Matthew's House, 100
George Street, Croydon CR0 1PE.
CONTACT:
Michael Fass
ICF National Executive Committee Chairman
0131 447 8106 (t)
0131 447 7367 (f)
fass@dial.pipex.com
General enquiries
www.icf-online.org
industrialchristianfellowship@yahoo.co.uk
07929 003809