Michael Smith’s new book, Trust and integrity in the global economy – stories of people making a difference was launched at a Greencoat Forum in the London centre of Initiatives of Change on 15 April, 2008.
The book is a vibrant collection of Smith’s most memorable encounters with people working towards a fairer, more sustainable world from his wide-ranging experience as a freelance journalist. Several of those featured in the book took part in the forum, including a Sri Lankan addressing the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, a Scottish advocate of employee owned companies and a development agriculturalist.
Smith treated a full house to a generous sneak preview, sharing a few of the inspirational stories in the book as well as his own journey in bringing it to fruition. The book firmly establishes itself within the context of the 21st century, confronting the global realities of unchecked environmental degradation, increasing food and fuel shortages, climate change and corruption. Yet it is a refreshing alternative to the apocalyptic picture most often painted when talking about our planet’s future. Rather than focussing on doom and gloom, Smith has brought together 15 overwhelmingly positive stories of individuals that have each decided to change the way they run their companies for the better. Scattered across the globe, each is united by their courage in refusing to abandon their own moral backbone in the pursuit of profit.
For Smith, ‘Trust and integrity are not ends in themselves, but are means to an end, and I believe… that the means can determine the ends in building a fairer, more just world.’ In the 1960s Smith, aged 20, met Rajmohan Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. Rajmohan was appealing for young Europeans to serve in India to help strengthen its independent democracy. Captivated by his vision, Smith flew to India and stayed for three years, working on Rajmohan’s weekly news magazine Himmat and other titles. Smith’s work both in India and as an editor of the Initiatives of Change magazine For A Change back in London has afforded him ample opportunity to meet pioneers who are bringing trust and integrity into the corporate world.
The book certainly doesn’t shy away from the most pressing global concerns: ‘One of the great questions we now face is whether or not growth in wealth can be shared evenly and justly. Can we create a global economy in which everyone benefits? Or will we see a new global class war between the haves and have nots?’ he asked. These are pertinent questions given the current scramble to increase bio-fuel production, regardless of dwindling food supplies, and the ripple effect of the ‘credit crunch’. In both scenarios, it is the poorest that are hardest hit and, for Smith, ‘a fairer access to wealth’ for all is what we need to work towards. While he agrees we each need to change our own consumption habits, buying fair trade products and conserving energy, he also sees a clear and growing role for business: ‘While slavery and the slave trade were the great evils… in the eighteenth century, today the world’s great injustice is the grinding and degrading poverty of nearly a billion people. Business, enterprise and social entrepreneurship have a key role in helping to address these global issues.’ Smith sees business leaders as having two stark choices in how they choose to operate: ‘They can contribute towards the world’s sustainable development… or they can fuel exploitation and greed. I wanted to pose the question: what are their core motivations, beyond the imperatives of the bottom line?’
He told how a team from the University of Zimbabwe at Agri-Biotech Ltd is providing small scale farmers and their families with virus-free sweet potato and cassava cuttings, a staple diet which keeps alive some three million Zimbabweans. And a Jamaican social enterprise, exporting 23 food products, has been built on the close relationship of trust formed between a privileged white landowning family and the local Afro-Caribbean community. For the company’s co-founder, Roddy Edwards, motivation is rooted in a personal desire to be ‘part of a global process where business decisions are conscience-led, not merely profit driven’.
Another story is of the courageous stance against corruption made by the chief executive of the global medical technology company, Transasia Biomedicals, based in India. Suresh Vazirani runs a corruption-free business that is recognized around the world. But getting there hasn’t been an easy ride. He fought corrupt customs officials and battled against corruption at every level in the health sector. Smith’s final chapter teases out the common threads found in all his stories and distills them into ‘Eight steps towards a values-centred leadership’. These make for compelling reading: ‘The people I write about have put moral sentiment into practice. In globalizing and internalizing these values for themselves, they are contributing to a fairer, more just world.’
For Smith, global change starts with changing ourselves. And his hugely motivating book of real-life stories is convincing evidence that he could just be right. The book proved a springboard for debate across a wide range of issues, prompting lively discussions that continued well after the launch had closed. The following day, Smith was interviewed for 10 minutes about his book on Premier Radio, a London-based Christian radio station.
Esme McAvoy
Trust and integrity in the global economy, Caux Books, 124 pages, available from Initiatives of Change, 24 Greencoat Place, London SW1P 1RD, price £5.99 plus postage, and from www.amazon.co.uk
English