Ethical lessons that are relevant today
This week’s Bible reading has many important ethical lessons — We have the classic example of where ESG meets Innovation and employee conditions and what is a fair wage, fair working conditions, and more.
Genesis 30:30
כי מעט אשר־היה לך לפני ויפרץ לרב ויברך יהוה אתך לרגלי ועתה מתי אעשה גם־אנכי לביתי׃
This is a great passage
Basically, through the efforts of Jacob and the blessing of God, Jacob was responsible for building a thriving business enterprise.
You have a classic situation of a business owner vs employees.
How do you share the profits? rewards of the business? Is it just a salary, maybe a bonus? or more?
So, let’s ask some more questions?
Does the owner have an obligation to share the profits?
Is the star employee being taken advantage of?
What are the social terms/aspects of the employee — fair pay, fair hours, fair conditions?
We often feel trapped in our jobs, feel we deserve more, and I dare say we are slaves to our work.
So, what did Jacob do?
He renegotiated his terms to this advantage. He basically proposed a completely new set of terms, even a joint venture.
Genesis 30:31
ויאמר מה אתן־לך ויאמר יעקב לא־תתן־לי מאומה אם־תעשה־לי הדבר הזה אשובה ארעה צאנך אשמר׃
Jacob said — I do not want anything from you but proposed a system of sharing the cattle and flocks.
This is a prime example of what is called “gap selling”. He recognized the needs of Laban and made a pitch that would be beneficial to himself and to the employer/customer/investor.
The story gets more complicated as he used his Innovation and knowhow to gain an unfair advantage and this gave rise to Jacob becoming very wealthy.
This gave rise to jealousy. the sons of Lavan became jealous because they felt that Jacob took was should have theirs.
Genesis 31:1
וישמע את־דברי בני־לבן לאמר לקח יעקב את כל־אשר לאבינו ומאשר לאבינו עשה את כל־הכבד הזה׃
The question that arises — Is it ethical to use Technology or Innovation to create an unfair playing field — Just look at Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. We are so reliant on them, and they almost have a monopoly.
But that is not the issue I want to address — Jacob’s trait is Emet — Truth. If anything, Jacob was challenged by this during his life– first in the Lentil deal with Esau, then with the deceit of the blessings, and now using Innovation to create an unfair advantage in the story highlighted previously.
In a hard-hitting academic paper by Michael Mathew, this is discussed. We like to think of our patriarchs as perfect. But they were humans, with normal desires and trying to make their way in a tough world. Indeed, Jacob was punished with a hard life as he himself admits so maybe we see the concept of reward and punishment from our actions.
http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672016000100015
At this point, I want to share some thoughts from Sammy Rubin. Sammy is a serial good guy. Maybe I should have written serial entrepreneur both in Business and Jewish projects.
He has founded Yulife and has embraced many positive social aspects to the way a business should be structured. Not only Innovation but adopting the principles of ESG which is molded by his and his other founders with Jewish Ethics and Morals.
We live in a tough world. This was true in the days of the Bible and true also today. The challenge for us is to impart a more caring society and moral structure.
Sammy wrote a very interesting blog that touches the nerve cord of the Jacob vs Laban — Employee vs Employer relationship.
Let’s try to learn a few more things here. Yulife is seeking to set a new standard of doing business and treating their employees better. Emphasis on better, and not only fairly. https://yulife.com
I want to highlight that Yulife is an inspirational example of a Company looking to emphasize the “S” in ESG. Just look at this.
A little about me and ESG — Environment, Social and Governance
I am very passionate about this discussion about Environmental and Social Impact. These two go together. We — Man, have exploited both the Environment in pursuit of profit and lifestyle. We have also exploited people and countries. It is time for a rethink.
I encourage you to learn more about ESG, why this is such a big thing, and why this is the biggest global trend in the global business world today. This is being led by Investors, Banks, Stock Exchanges, and you and me. This will filter down to every single business. Companies that do not embrace ESG face existential risks and lose out on opportunities for growth and funding.
I am actively learning, sharing ideas, and setting up initiatives embracing ESG. You are welcome to scroll on my blogs on Times of Israel, Medium https://innovation-esg.medium.com/ or my website www.persofi.com where you find my presentation to the University of Jerusalem Business School titled where ESG meets Innovation.
If you want to learn more about ESG, and want a clear strategy and real implementation of how to transition to your company, or receive a copy of my ESG White Paper / ESG Took kit / ESG for dummies / ESG — Where to start?– please be in contact with me at: jeffrey@persofi.com