Could love have averted financial meltdown?
Chris Lowney believes if we think deeply and come to grips with who we are, we might avert or mitigate another market meltdown like the one that ripped through Wall Street in 2008.
But there are caveats. Lowney proffers the notion that had business leaders undertaken St. Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises—a month-long series of meditations, prayers, considerations and contemplative practices—we might have been spared the financial catastrophe that unwound so many banks.
Professionals on Wall Street could have made better choices, he told guests at Concordia’s second Loyola Public Lecture Series in the Atrium of the Communications and Journalism Building on October 20.
Had their decisions showed love for colleagues, and with “a sense of purpose greater than themselves,” fewer people would have been in harm’s way. He calls it “having the courage to do what is needed.”
“Those same dynamics help parents, university professors, students and nurses to do their jobs better, too,” Lowney said.
Author of two books on heroism, Lowney has a unique background that allows him to ponder these matters. He spent seven years as a Jesuit seminarian before making the unlikely leap to investment banking, holding senior positions in Tokyo, New York City and London for J.P. Morgan before leaving the company in 2001.
By many accounts, the former investment banker is successful. But financial success, Lowney qualifies, needn’t grow out of heartless competition with a keen eye on margins. Rather, it emerges from self-analysis. Jesuits are taught to examine themselves regularly. Along with giving gratitude to God, they also look at what they do well, what they do poorly and how they can improve. It helps them see what might be holding them back, what habits or beliefs are getting in the way.
Lowney said he believes this is vital to what business people must do but often can't. He links this notion to what happened in 2008 to two of America's premier banks and their venerable leaders. John Thain, former CEO of Merrill Lynch, sold his company to Bank of America, while Dick Fuld at Lehman Brothers watched his company go into bankruptcy protection.
“When we make a major decision, the first thing we need to do is set ourselves free,” Lowney explained. “Otherwise our ego gets in the way of making good choices.” He said the practice of asking daily, “What are the three most important or value-added things I need to do?” is not only an act of courage and good leadership but a way to weed out inefficiency and “breed a habit of reflection” akin to the Jesuit maxim of “men and women for others.” In other words, we consider what is in all of our best interests.
This is not a new idea. The way in which Jesuits develop their priests is loosely based on four broad concepts—self-awareness, ingenuity, love and heroism—laid down almost 500 years ago by St. Ignatius of Loyola. Yet there is nothing intrinsically or monopolistically Jesuit or Catholic or Christian about them, Lowney said. “They all have human appeal.”
Which is why, he added, we are all natural leaders. “If life thrusts a crisis upon on us, it’s an opportunity to be courageous. It means having the ability to fail and get up and keep going.”
Related links:
• Loyola Public Lecture Series
• Concordia Alumni Relations
• Chris Lowney