Choosing a New Way
Mon 13 Apr 2009 • Responses: 1 • by Al Sikes
The President’s perilous moment
Trinity Forum Chairman Al Sikes looks at the challenge of leadership that the President faces given current partisanship.
Guroian and Guptara on Speaking of Faith
Wed 25 Mar 2009 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellows Vigen Guroian and Prabhu Guptara are among the contributors to “Repossessing Virtue,” a series on the economic crisis broadcast by the American Public Media program Speaking of Faith. A one-hour program with their contributions, among others, ran on March 5 and can be found here. Uncut interviews are also available.
Guroian spoke on February 23 on the crisis of imagination that he sees behind the economic issues; you can listen and download here. (The essay he cites, “On the Choice of a Profession” by Robert Louis Stevenson, is available from Google Book Search and the Internet Archive.)
Guptara was interviewed on December 3; you can listen to his interview (with other helpful links) here
Miller interviewed on Corporate Morality
Mon 23 Mar 2009 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellow David Miller was interviewed on March 20 by the PBS show Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. You can watch the segment and read the transcript from this link.
How can we have a culture, a corporate culture that accents character, that accents the common good and not just earnings per share or a penny more per share per quarter? That’s a new culture. Is it possible that companies can make a decent profit—create wealth, create jobs, provide goods and services for society and maybe even be a moral community to develop its people? I think it can, but it will take leadership that’s committed to a new vision.
A useful exercise for leaders
Fri 20 Mar 2009 by Peter Edman
Alan Jacobs calls our attention to the blog of Douglas Bowman, a lead designer at Google who is leaving that company. Bowman explains his rationale for moving on in a provocative post:
Without a person at (or near) the helm who thoroughly understands the principles and elements of Design, a company eventually runs out of reasons for design decisions. With every new design decision, critics cry foul. Without conviction, doubt creeps in. Instincts fail. “Is this the right move?” When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Reduce each decision to a simple logic problem. Remove all subjectivity and just look at the data. Data in your favor? Ok, launch it. Data shows negative effects? Back to the drawing board. And that data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions.
It would be a useful exercise to extend this argument to other fields, notably ethics. Do you find parallel situations in the organizations you lead? How important is it for to leaders to understand the principles by which their organization is run?
Are there situations where you are tempted to rely too much on data—science, polls, market “demands,” what is technically possible—to take the “subjective” factors out of the decision and make sure no one is ultimately responsible for a decision. Is this what causes a “corporate mindset”?
By what standards do you evaluate criticism of yourself or your organization? How do you help other people in your organization understand core principles, whether ethical, operational, or aesthetic?
The Romance of Socialism
Thu 19 Mar 2009 by Micah Mattix
Lessons from Hawthorne’s ‘The Blithedale Romance’
Micah Mattix turns to Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel about a utopian farming experiment in the 1840s for insight into current social challenges.Integrity in Science
Fri 13 Mar 2009 by Cherie Harder
Human experience is larger than science can describe
Trinity Forum President Cherie Harder reflects on ideology and science. Scientific integrity includes a recognition of the limits of an analytical approach to life.
‘I Have Got the Courage’
Fri 13 Mar 2009 • Responses: 1 • by Robert Musil
An excerpt from The Man Without Qualities: Volume 1 (Volume 2 is here), as used in our curriculum When No One Sees.
Trinity Forum President Cherie Harder introduces the excerpt here.
The picture that he had been drawing relieved him, like the successful conclusion of a work of art; it was not he who had brought it forth, but outwardly, linked with a mysteriously successful beginning, word had followed word, while inwardly something dissolved without his becoming conscious of it. By the time he had finished, he realized that Ulrich was the expression of nothing but this dissolved condition that all phenomena are in nowadays. . . .
“A man like that isn’t really human at all!”
Clarisse had finished chewing. “That’s just what he says himself!” she declared.
The Selfish Gene Delusion
Mon 23 Feb 2009 by Nicholas Beale
Science and Religion in a Post-Dawkins Phase
Nicholas Beale, co-author of a new book with John Polkinghorne, looks at the climate for public discussion of science and religion (and how they hope to change it) as Richard Dawkins moves into retirement.
Are Thoughts Material?
Mon 23 Feb 2009 • Responses: 2 • by John Polkinghorne and Nicholas Beale
A selection from Questions of Truth (Westminster John Knox, 2009).
I viewed a recent discussion on the topic of whether our thoughts are material. The Christian holds that the process of thought is material but thought itself is not. Atheists generally hold that all processes and outcomes of thought are solely material. They claim that all neuroscientists would agree. What are the implications for the Christian if our thoughts are wholly material?
Beale: This is a complex topic that we address in some detail in an appendix to the book. Let’s try and give an outline of our position here.
Sunday Mornings
Thu 19 Feb 2009 by Al Sikes
Save your suspension of disbelief for novels and the theater
Trinity Forum Chairman Al Sikes reflects on two forums that are active on Sunday.
