The corporation has emerged in the later decades of the twentieth century as the premier institution for the identification, cultivation, and realization of genius – and for the conversion of that genius into value. Innovation has generated vast new wealth. The availability of information, patient investment capital, and supportive legal and ethical systems provides an atmosphere conducive to creativity. The explosion of new research and new products across virtually the entire spectrum of business life has transformed human conduct and, in most instances, improved the quality of life for all. As always, however, progress has exacted a price. Concomitant with all these improvements in productivity, however, has been the centralization of power. The modern Global Corporation, not unlike Church and state before it, can be a force for weal or woe. The answer to this question lies in the hands of the owners. The failure of members and citizens to force effective reforms from within the Church and state has sharply eroded the significance of those institutions, which might well have perished were it not for reformers. Would the Catholic Church have reclaimed its vitality had there been no Jesuits? Can the investor behave in a more enlightened manner and preserve the vitality of the corporate institution? History yields some answers – in particular, The Parable of the Talents, as told in Matthew 25: 14–46, King James Translation, which begins as follows: “Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I would have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” (“For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. “And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. “After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. “And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, “Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.” His lord said to him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” He also that had received two talents came and said, “Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them”. His Lord said unto him,” Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” Then he which had received the one talent came and said, “Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou has not sown, and gathering where thou has not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou has that is thine”. His lord answered and said unto him, “Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I would have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”) In the year 1611, readers of the English language encountered these words for the first time in their own idiom – during a time the financial world was changing forever, for reasons well explained in this parable. At one level, the meaning of the parable, attributed by the Gospel writer Matthew to Jesus, was time-honored and universal: those who have gifts of any kind should invest them. If they do, those gifts will multiply, and that multiplicity will in turn be rewarded; while an opposite progression into poverty will befall those who do not invest in such an active manner. Monk
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 10:11:59 +0000
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