A Socratic take on the vocation of business?

As Rob pointed out, Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, recently presented a reflection on the "Vocation of the Business Leader", the product of a 2011 seminar at the Pontifical Council on "Caritas in Veritate:  The Logic of Gift an the Meaning of Business", a collaboration of the Council, the University of St. Thomas' John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, and the Ecophilos Foundation.  A number of my colleagues at UST were involved in drafting the document, including Michael Naughton, director of the Ryan Institute, Ken Goodpaster,Endowed Chair in Business Ethics, and Bob Kennedy, Co-Director Emeritus of the Murphy Institute.  The document is a creative step in applying some of the abstract ideas of Caritas in Veritate to the business world.

John Allen's current column describes it as "Catholic social teaching, Socrates-style. The 32-page document is designed as a vade-mecum, or practical handbook, for business leaders trying to integrate their faith with their work."  He points particularly to the appendix:

Perhaps the most striking element of the text, however, comes in its appendix. There one finds a “Discernment Checklist for the Business Leader,” composed of thirty questions which amount to an examination of conscience informed by Catholic social teaching.

Some are fairly broad (yet still packing a punch), such as, “Have I been living a divided life, separating Gospel principles from my work?” and “Am I receiving the sacraments regularly and with attention to how they support and inform my business practices?”

Others are more concrete, and with real bite. For instance:

• Am I creating wealth, or am I engaging in rent-seeking behavior? (That’s jargon for trying to get rich by manipulating the political and economic environment, for example by lobbying for tax breaks, rather than by actually creating something.)
• Is my company making every reasonable effort to take responsibility for unintended consequences [such as] environmental damage or other negative effects on suppliers, local communities and even competitors?
• Do I provide working conditions which allow my employees appropriate autonomy at each level?
• Am I making sure that the company provides safe working conditions, living wages, training, and the opportunity for employees to organize themselves?
• Do I follow the same standard of morality in all geographic locations?
• Am I seeking ways to deliver fair returns to providers of capital, fair wages to employees, fair prices to customers and suppliers, and fair taxes to local communities?
• Does my company honor its fiduciary obligations ... with regular and truthful financial reporting?
• When economic conditions demand layoffs, is my company giving adequate notifications, employee transition assistance, and severance pay?

Interesting exercise!  You can find the document here.