Stewardship and Covenant in Business

Within the Catholic Church, social teaching emphasizes the priority of labor over capital. What exactly does this mean? Pope John Paul II said: "The needs of the poor take priority over the desires of the rich; the rights of the workers over the maximization of profits; the preservation of the environment over uncontrolled industrial expansion; production to meet social needs over production for military purposes." The economy should serve humanity and not the other way around. From this teaching, we see servant-leadership flourish.

Many organizations, such as Southwest Airlines, UPS, and others have turned the traditional business model on its head and made sure the profits of the company were serving the employees and not the other way around. It is a model that has proven it works; let's hope others can see the light.