Economics has become a narrow field completely out of touch with reality, says Noreena Hertz, a Cambridge University economist. She argues that it needs to reconnect with reality and has developed a paradigm for capitalism that draws on a range of disciplines as diverse as anthropology, physics, and neurology. But Hertz might consider an additional…

Economics has become a narrow field completely out of touch with reality, says Noreena Hertz, a Cambridge University economist. She argues that it needs to reconnect with reality and has developed a paradigm for capitalism that draws on a range of disciplines as diverse as anthropology, physics, and neurology. But Hertz might consider an additional…

In 1983, General Motors tried to reinvent the car business. In the late 1980s Alan Webber and Bill Taylor tried to reinvent the Harvard Business Review. In both cases, a culture asphyxiated innovation. In GM’s case, many lost their work. This is a stone cold reality that faith communities must face as many try to…

“The whole of nature is a conjugation of the verb to eat.” The Anglican priest and poet William Ralph Inge got it right. Conjugate means “joined together, especially in pairs.” Eating was once paired with another action. Together, these two symbolize the deepest reality of the universe. That’s worth considering, since reality is driving young…

In 1887, Chicago sent their waste westward. For years, the city dumped its refuse into the Chicago River, which ran east, soiling Lake Michigan beaches. Engineers “solved” the problem by reversing the river, sending the sewage to St. Louis. Irresponsible engineers are the product of an irresponsible educational culture. It also explains economists’ “solutions” to…

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was showing his age recently when—referring to Twitter—he described it as “twiddle-dee, twiddle-dum.” He might not have been that far off. All communication is by its very nature an interruption of attention. Paying attention is critical to perceiving reality. Have we entered an age of too many interruptions, making…

“Tell me what thou eatest, and I will tell thee what thou art.” Let’s hope Jean Authelme Brillatt-Savarin wasn’t right. In the 1980s, Americans collectively gained more than a billion pounds. In the 1990s, that figure doubled. It’s still rising. Obesity is a contributing factor to our health care crisis. To conquer it will “require…

Peter Drucker says the two diagnostic questions every organization must answer are “What business are we in?” and “How’s business?” What business are you in? What is your organization’s ultimate purpose? Your answer will suggest whether your company takes its “moral DNA” seriously or treats it as absurd—as a wink and a nod.

Most Americans are enjoying Labor Day because they don’t have to go to work. This is not the vision of shalom. Work was not supposed to be toil. Loving our neighbors means making a better world where they flourish as human beings. It means making culture. Culture is shaped by institutions large and small, center…

Believers are called to love their neighbors. Shalom is how faith communities love their neighbors. Shalom is the result of culture-shaping institutions taking the Bible’s definition of reality seriously and acting on it. Shalom says our faith flourishes to the degree that the institutions in the wider world flourish. This is radical, which means “from…