Management students see faith in business in Chicago
Janel Shoun-Smith |
Principles of Management students learn from successful, and principled, CEOs
What do three respected Christian top executives, “The Bean” and the Cubs all have in common? Chicago. And that’s where 15 students who were enrolled in the honors sections of Principles of Management headed during the fall semester to meet firsthand with three executives known not only for their business prowess, but for their ethical, faith-based approach.
The course was co-taught by Ray Eldridge, dean of the College of Business, and Andy Borchers, chair of the management, entrepreneurship and marketing department in the college.
Recently, undergraduate students of faith have developed a notion that it’s impossible to work as a Christian in today’s business world, Borchers said. The honors management course shows them that this idea is untrue.
“The goal was to show young undergraduates how faith and business can interact. The two concepts don’t have to be against each other. A business man or woman can still be a faithful Christian,” said Borchers.
The three companies that students visited proved that point well. Flavors of North America, or FONA, develops flavors for food and beverage brands across the nation and its founder and CEO, Joseph James Slawek, is not shy about professing his faith, said Jasmin Bridgeforth, a senior international business major who attended the trip.
“FONA’s CEO is not afraid of his faith being evidently seen in his business. FONA holds Bible studies and there are Bible verses on the plant’s campus,” Bridgeforth said. “Joe Slawek loves God and makes sure his business is the best, but does not hide how he got to where he is today.”
Slawek founded FONA in 1987, with a focus on relationship-oriented customer service. In 1999, he was inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in recognition of FONA’s unique corporate culture and its dramatic year-over-year growth of five times the industry standard.
The students also heard from David Ziegler, former chairman of the board of directors for Ace Hardware Corporation, a cooperative founded in 1924 by a small group of Chicago hardware store owners. The cooperative approach, still in use today, allows individual stores to purchase merchandise in bulk to save money, enabling even smaller stores to compete effectively in a market with larger stores.
Patrick Giersch, the third CEO, is the owner of several construction businesses, Borchers said.
“It really put the things we were learning in class into the real world,” Abigail Belote, a junior business management major, said of the trip.
The course was offered for the first time this past fall, and is expected to be repeated this fall, with a trip to Charlotte, North Carolina, Borchers said. “We want to expose bright Lipscomb students who may have a mistaken view of the business world being inconsistent with faith, showing them that a business career is a possibility for a Christian,” he said.
“The honors management course allowed us to reinforce one of our themes in the Honors College: take electives outside of your comfort zone, electives which will broaden your knowledge and skills, electives which will make you more nimble once you leave Lipscomb,” said Honors College Director Paul Prill. “Drs. Borchers and Eldridge created an incredible, non-traditional course that certainly achieved that goal.”
Other class activities included visiting the Civil War battlefield in Franklin, Tennessee, to discuss the leadership strategies and failures of General John Bell Hood in the Battle of Nashville.
The Chicago trip definitely enhanced the required group projects as students had more time to get to know each other, said Bridgeforth.
“I think the smaller size of the class and deeper scope of material was more conducive to learning than a regular class would offer,” Belote said of the honors class. “Instead of only skimming the surface of topics, we could discuss them one-on-one with each other and gain a better perspective of things.”