Hosted online on 13 September, Leeds Trinity University, one of four Catholic universities in England, brought together students, staff, academics, corporate sector business leaders and advocates for ethical leadership to discuss the values needed for a better global future.
The discourse was rich and varied, ranging from how business can remain competitive without making profits more important than people, and to articulate why values still matter in today’s marketplace.
Jonathan Liu (pictured, second from right), Vice-Principal at London Churchill College, and author and lecturer Paul Palmarozza (pictured, right) highlighted that business can be done credibly while being mindful of respect for diversity, the human person, and dignity. This should also include key principles such as integrity, transparency and respect for cultural competencies needed to engage with a global world of business.
Dr Ann Marie Mealey (pictured, second from left), Director for Catholic Mission at Leeds Trinity University, stressed the need to revise subject benchmarks for business, to drive a deeper engagement for students across all levels of study beyond just acknowledging ethics in business. She said what is needed is a willingness on behalf of each and every person to study and to choose to be a certain kind of person. This will involve the need to develop values and virtues that guide decisions in business life and attest more deeply to the mission and purpose of the Catholic university, which is to promote the ‘authentic good of individuals and of human society as a whole’ (Ex Corde Ecclesiae, 7).
She also showed examples of how High Learning Pay Off Assessments could be designed by lecturers to use in class and enable students to consider real world dilemmas in business they might face in future.
Professor Charles Egbu (pictured, left), Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Trinity University, facilitated a discussion on how we might design and implement an ethical business strategy for Catholic universities today. Dr Neil Hawkes, Global advocate for ethical leadership and founder of the International Values-based Education Trust (IVET Foundation), joined from New Zealand to provide insights on global leadership which he has shared as a delegate at the United Nations. Leeds Trinity’s first Vice-Chancellor, Professor Freda Bridge, also participated in the debate.
The conference was led and organised by Dr Mealey, and supported administratively by the newly appointed Project Officer for the Directorate of Catholic Mission, Ms Sapna Chowdhury.
Dr Mealey said: “We were really delighted about the level of the discussions that were had across a range of subject disciplines, faiths, and perspectives. There was a natural convergence regarding the need for people to freely choose to be a certain kind of person and to develop the virtues needed for a better business future overall.
“We were sad that many of our delegates from the Philippines were unable to join us as they had been hit by a typhoon on the morning of the conference which affected their power supply. But it was a great reminder to us to stand in solidarity with the entire world and find other ways of sharing information, especially to colleagues in our Catholic schools in the global south as we are one human family in search of truth in every age.
“As the Pope reminded everyone during his recent visit to KU Leuven, Catholic universities must not be ‘cathedrals in the desert’ but a critical space that dares to think.”