Ralph Blundell offered a compelling keynote taking us through the actual application of ebbf's core values and the questions that this raises in our every day workplace decisions You can view his keynote in this Facebook Live streaming video: https://www.facebook.com/ebbf.mindfulpeople.meaningfulwork/videos/10155080450636801/

1. how can ethical business build the future
transitioning towards the spiritual enterprise?
Keynotes
October 12th – 15th 2017 , Bucharest
KEYNOTE
Spiritual roots in organizations: consequences and questions
Ralph Blundell
ethical business building the future #ebbfspirit@

2. ebbf’s Baha’i inspired
values
Spiritual roots
consequences and questions

3. Why Now?

4. Why Now?
• Our leaders are confused

5. Why Now?
• Our leaders are confused
• We are in crisis - at a crossroads

6. Why Now?
• Our leaders are confused
• We are in crisis - at a crossroads
• Multi-level disintegration

7. Why Now?
• Our leaders are confused
• We are in crisis - at a crossroads
• Multi-level disintegration
• Doing nothing is not being neutral

8. Why Now?
• Our leaders are confused
• We are in crisis - at a crossroads
• Multi-level disintegration
• Doing nothing is not being neutral
• We are being called on to act

9. Why Now?
• Our leaders are confused
• We are in crisis - at a crossroads
• Multi-level disintegration
• Doing nothing is not being neutral
• We are being called on to act
• Divinely inspired

10. ebbf’s Baha’i inspired
values
a reminder

11. ebbf values

12. ebbf values

13. ebbf values

14. ebbf values

15. ebbf values

16. ebbf values

17. ebbf values

18. ebbf values

19. Service
The highest station is
service to all humanity
and to the common
good, a principle that
applies equally to the
individual, to
government and to
private enterprise.
Service is principles
put into action.

20. Service
The highest station is
service to all humanity
and to the common
good, a principle that
applies equally to the
individual, to
government and to
private enterprise.
Service is principles
put into action.
Man’s merit lieth in service
and virtue and not in the
pageantry of wealth and
riches.
Bahá’u’lláh
LAWḤ-I-HIKMAT (Tablet of
Wisdom)

21. Service
The highest station is
service to all humanity
and to the common
good, a principle that
applies equally to the
individual, to
government and to
private enterprise.
Service is principles
put into action.
The high destiny of the
individual is to serve rather
than to rule.
Albert Einstein

22. Service
The highest station is
service to all humanity
and to the common
good, a principle that
applies equally to the
individual, to
government and to
private enterprise.
Service is principles
put into action.
The words, the deeds, the
attitudes, the lack of
prejudice, the nobility of
character, the high sense of
service to others—in a word,
those qualities and actions
which distinguish a Bahá’í
must unfailingly characterize
their inner life and outer
behavior, and their
interactions with friend or foe.
UHJ, 8th May 1985

23. Service
The highest station is
service to all humanity
and to the common
good, a principle that
applies equally to the
individual, to
government and to
private enterprise.
Service is principles
put into action.
And yet in Business
Service is often defined as
behaviours
We pay for more/less service
Service is a state of HEART

24. Service
The highest station is
service to all humanity
and to the common
good, a principle that
applies equally to the
individual, to
government and to
private enterprise.
Service is principles
put into action.
And yet in Business
Service is often defined as
behaviours
We pay for more/less service
Service is a state of HEART

25. Service
The highest station is
service to all humanity
and to the common
good, a principle that
applies equally to the
individual, to
government and to
private enterprise.
Service is principles
put into action.
Question
How can we touch the
hearts of others and
release their loving
capacity to serve?

26. Sustainability
It is our obligation to present
and future generations to
use the planet’s resources in
ways that ensure
sustainability and equity into
the distant future.
Sustainable environmental
management is a
fundamental responsibility
for our spiritual well-being
as well as our physical
survival.

27. Sustainability
It is our obligation to present
and future generations to
use the planet’s resources in
ways that ensure
sustainability and equity into
the distant future.
Sustainable environmental
management is a
fundamental responsibility
for our spiritual well-being
as well as our physical
survival.
Some day the earth will
weep, she will beg for her
life, she will cry with tears of
blood. You will make a
choice, if you will help her
or let her die, and when she
dies, you too will die.
John Hollow Horn

28. Sustainability
It is our obligation to present
and future generations to
use the planet’s resources in
ways that ensure
sustainability and equity into
the distant future.
Sustainable environmental
management is a
fundamental responsibility
for our spiritual well-being
as well as our physical
survival.
It is indeed a good and
praiseworthy thing to
progress materially, but in
so doing, let us not neglect
the more important spiritual
progress, and close our
eyes to the Divine light
shining in our midst.
Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks

29. Sustainability
It is our obligation to present
and future generations to
use the planet’s resources in
ways that ensure
sustainability and equity into
the distant future.
Sustainable environmental
management is a
fundamental responsibility
for our spiritual well-being
as well as our physical
survival.
There is no justification for
continuing to perpetuate
structures, rules, and systems
that manifestly fail to serve the
interests of all peoples. The
teachings of the Faith leave no
room for doubt: there is an
inherent moral dimension to
the generation, distribution,
and utilization of wealth and
resources.
UHJ 1st March 2017

30. Sustainability
It is our obligation to present
and future generations to
use the planet’s resources in
ways that ensure
sustainability and equity into
the distant future.
Sustainable environmental
management is a
fundamental responsibility
for our spiritual well-being
as well as our physical
survival.

31. Sustainability
It is our obligation to present
and future generations to
use the planet’s resources in
ways that ensure
sustainability and equity into
the distant future.
Sustainable environmental
management is a
fundamental responsibility
for our spiritual well-being
as well as our physical
survival.
Question
How can business move
beyond sustainability to
regeneration?

32. Moderation
Moderation should
be exercised in all
things, as excess is
always damaging.
For everything there
is an optimal size or
rate, including for
material civilization
and the economy.

33. Moderation
Moderation should
be exercised in all
things, as excess is
always damaging.
For everything there
is an optimal size or
rate, including for
material civilization
and the economy.
Overstep not the bounds of
moderation, and deal justly with
them that serve thee. Bestow
upon them according to their
needs, and not to the extent that
will enable them to lay up riches
for themselves, to deck their
persons, to embellish their
homes, to acquire the things that
are of no benefit unto them, and
to be numbered with the
extravagant.
Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings

34. Moderation
Moderation should
be exercised in all
things, as excess is
always damaging.
For everything there
is an optimal size or
rate, including for
material civilization
and the economy.
“It is incumbent upon them who
are in authority to exercise
moderation in all things.
Whatsoever passeth beyond the
limits of moderation will cease to
exert a beneficial influence.”
Bahá’u’lláh, Lawḥ-i-Maqṣúd
(Tablet of Maqṣúd)

35. Moderation
Moderation should
be exercised in all
things, as excess is
always damaging.
For everything there
is an optimal size or
rate, including for
material civilization
and the economy.

36. Moderation
Moderation should
be exercised in all
things, as excess is
always damaging.
For everything there
is an optimal size or
rate, including for
material civilization
and the economy.
Yet in our businesses we
often:
Revere growth
Market dominance
Reward aggressive
behaviour
and
can appear reticent in
challenging this

37. Moderation
Moderation should
be exercised in all
things, as excess is
always damaging.
For everything there
is an optimal size or
rate, including for
material civilization
and the economy.
Yet in our businesses we
often:
Revere growth
Market dominance
Reward aggressive
behaviour
and
can appear reticent in
challenging this

38. Moderation
Moderation should
be exercised in all
things, as excess is
always damaging.
For everything there
is an optimal size or
rate, including for
material civilization
and the economy.
Question
How can I balance
moderation with a fierce
spirit?

39. Human Nobility
Humanity has a higher
purpose than just material
satisfaction. The human being
has physical, intellectual and
spiritual realities, with human
experience essentially spiritual
in nature. We can direct our
energies to lower things like
ego, greed, apathy and
violence, or rise to develop the
limitless potentialities latent in
human consciousness.

40. Human Nobility
Humanity has a higher
purpose than just material
satisfaction. The human being
has physical, intellectual and
spiritual realities, with human
experience essentially spiritual
in nature. We can direct our
energies to lower things like
ego, greed, apathy and
violence, or rise to develop the
limitless potentialities latent in
human consciousness.
All men have been
created to carry forward
an ever-advancing
civilization.
Baha’u’llah, Gleanings

41. Human Nobility
Humanity has a higher
purpose than just material
satisfaction. The human being
has physical, intellectual and
spiritual realities, with human
experience essentially spiritual
in nature. We can direct our
energies to lower things like
ego, greed, apathy and
violence, or rise to develop the
limitless potentialities latent in
human consciousness.
When actions are habitually
and conscientiously adjusted
to noble standards, with no
thought of the words that
might herald them, then
nobility becomes the accent of
life. At such a degree of
evolution one scarcely needs
try any longer to be good — all
acts become the distinctive
expression of nobility.
Abdu’l-Baha

42. Human Nobility
Humanity has a higher
purpose than just material
satisfaction. The human being
has physical, intellectual and
spiritual realities, with human
experience essentially spiritual
in nature. We can direct our
energies to lower things like
ego, greed, apathy and
violence, or rise to develop the
limitless potentialities latent in
human consciousness.
A foundational concept to
explore in this context is the
spiritual reality of man. In the
Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, the
nobility inherent to every
human being is unequivocally
asserted; it is a fundamental
tenet of Bahá’í belief, upon
which hope for the future of
humankind is built.
UHJ, March 2017

43. Human Nobility
Humanity has a higher
purpose than just material
satisfaction. The human being
has physical, intellectual and
spiritual realities, with human
experience essentially spiritual
in nature. We can direct our
energies to lower things like
ego, greed, apathy and
violence, or rise to develop the
limitless potentialities latent in
human consciousness.
Our innate nobility is
undermined not by
external forces, but
by our exercise
of free will, our volition
and our choices

44. Human Nobility
Humanity has a higher
purpose than just material
satisfaction. The human being
has physical, intellectual and
spiritual realities, with human
experience essentially spiritual
in nature. We can direct our
energies to lower things like
ego, greed, apathy and
violence, or rise to develop the
limitless potentialities latent in
human consciousness.
Question
How can business
guide our choices and
encourage our
nobility?

45. Unity
In a globalized world that is
physically united and
economically
interdependent, the central
challenge is to achieve a
similar unity in the human
family, while respecting its
diversity. Accepting the
oneness of humankind is
essential at all levels of
human organization from the
workplace to the planet.

46. Unity
In a globalized world that is
physically united and
economically
interdependent, the central
challenge is to achieve a
similar unity in the human
family, while respecting its
diversity. Accepting the
oneness of humankind is
essential at all levels of
human organization from the
workplace to the planet.
Every heart should radiate
unity, so that the Light of
the one Divine Source of all
may shine forth bright and
luminous. We must not
consider the separate
waves alone, but the entire
sea. We should rise from
the individual to the whole.
– Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks,
p. 84.

47. Unity
In a globalized world that is
physically united and
economically
interdependent, the central
challenge is to achieve a
similar unity in the human
family, while respecting its
diversity. Accepting the
oneness of humankind is
essential at all levels of
human organization from the
workplace to the planet.
Naught but the celestial
potency of the Word of
God, which ruleth and
transcendeth the realities of
all things, is capable of
harmonizing the divergent
thoughts, sentiments, ideas
and convictions of the
children of men.
Abdu’l-Baha

48. Unity
In a globalized world that is
physically united and
economically
interdependent, the central
challenge is to achieve a
similar unity in the human
family, while respecting its
diversity. Accepting the
oneness of humankind is
essential at all levels of
human organization from the
workplace to the planet.
“A new commandment I
give to you, that you love
one another: just as I have
loved you, you also are to
love one another. By this all
people will know that you
are my disciples, if you
have love for one another”
(John 13:34–35).

49. Unity
In a globalized world that is
physically united and
economically
interdependent, the central
challenge is to achieve a
similar unity in the human
family, while respecting its
diversity. Accepting the
oneness of humankind is
essential at all levels of
human organization from the
workplace to the planet.
Competition and Markets
Deliberate division £€$
Regulation
Corruption
Whistleblowing
Call for Transparency
Visible governance

50. Unity
In a globalized world that is
physically united and
economically
interdependent, the central
challenge is to achieve a
similar unity in the human
family, while respecting its
diversity. Accepting the
oneness of humankind is
essential at all levels of
human organization from the
workplace to the planet.
TRUST

51. Unity
In a globalized world that is
physically united and
economically
interdependent, the central
challenge is to achieve a
similar unity in the human
family, while respecting its
diversity. Accepting the
oneness of humankind is
essential at all levels of
human organization from the
workplace to the planet.
Question
What can I do in my work
to create a climate of
trust?

52. Gender Equality
To achieve the full
potential of the
human race, both
women and men
must advance
equally and develop
their complementary
capacities in
partnership.

53. Gender Equality
To achieve the full
potential of the
human race, both
women and men
must advance
equally and develop
their complementary
capacities in
partnership.
…until woman and man
recognize and realize
equality, social and political
progress here or anywhere
will not be possible. Until
these two members are
equal in strength, the
oneness of humanity
cannot be established, and
the happiness and felicity of
mankind will not be a
reality. Abdu’l-Baha

54. Gender Equality
To achieve the full
potential of the
human race, both
women and men
must advance
equally and develop
their complementary
capacities in
partnership.
…as long as complete
equality does not exist
between male and female,
the world of humanity will
not make extraordinary
progress.
Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the
West

55. Gender Equality
To achieve the full
potential of the
human race, both
women and men
must advance
equally and develop
their complementary
capacities in
partnership.
2 in 3 sexually harassed
Silicon valley “scandals”
Mighty girl + State Street
A third of14 yr old girls feel
coerced into sex
Pay gaps persist
Women only train carriages

56. Gender Equality
To achieve the full
potential of the
human race, both
women and men
must advance
equally and develop
their complementary
capacities in
partnership.
Question
How can men challenge
each other and support
women so we can
change?

57. Justice
Justice is required for
the unity of humanity,
and the ruling principle
of successful social
organization. Justice
and equity find
applications throughout
the economy, the
workplace and the
enterprise.

58. Justice
Justice is required for
the unity of humanity,
and the ruling principle
of successful social
organization. Justice
and equity find
applications throughout
the economy, the
workplace and the
enterprise.
Justice is the one power that
can translate the dawning
consciousness of humanity’s
oneness into a collective will
through which the necessary
structures of global
community life can be
confidently erected.
Baha’i International
Community, The Prosperity of
Humankind.

59. Justice
The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice;
turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and
neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou
shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes
of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and
not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this
in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice
is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness.
Set it then before thine eyes.
Baha’u’llah, The Hidden Words

60. Justice
Justice is required for
the unity of humanity,
and the ruling principle
of successful social
organization. Justice
and equity find
applications throughout
the economy, the
workplace and the
enterprise.

61. Justice
Justice is required for
the unity of humanity,
and the ruling principle
of successful social
organization. Justice
and equity find
applications throughout
the economy, the
workplace and the
enterprise.
Question
How should I (and my
business) challenge
injustice?

62. Oops new quote
• Every choice a Baha'i makes—as employee or
employer, producer or consumer, borrower or
lender, benefactor or beneficiary—leaves a trace,
and the moral duty to lead a coherent life demands
that one's economic decisions be in accordance
with lofty ideals, that the purity of one's aims be
matched by the purity of one's actions to fulfil those
aims.

63. ebbf values