Business as a Calling: Work and the Examined Life

by Michael Novak

Why do we work so hard at our jobs, day after day? Why is a job well done important to us? We know there is more to a career than money and prestige, but what exactly do we mean by "fulfillment"? These are old but important questions. They belong with some newly discovered Why are people in business more religious than the population as a whole? What do people of business know, and what do they do, that anchors their faith? In this ground-breaking and inspiring book, Michael Novak ties together these crucial questions by explaining the meaning of work as a vocation. Work should be more than just a job -- it should be a calling. This book explains an important part of our lives in a new way, and readers will instantly recognize themselves in its pages. A larger proportion than ever before of the world's Christians, Jews, and other peoples of faith are spending their working lives in business. Business is a profession worthy of a person's highest ideals and aspirations, fraught with moral possibilities both of great good and of great evil. Novak takes on agonizing problems, such as downsizing, the tradeoffs that must sometimes be faced between profits and human rights, and the pitfalls of philanthropy. He also examines the daily questions of how an honest day's work contributes to the good of many people, both close at hand and far away. Our work connects us with one another. It also makes possible the universal advance out of poverty, and it is an essential prerequisite of democracy and the institutions of civil society. This book is a spiritual feast, for everyone who wants to examine how to make a life through making a living.

Genres: Business, Philosophy, Economics, Nonfiction, Religion, Theology, Leadership

246 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 1996

About the author

Michael Novak is an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. He is George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute

Novak served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in 1981 and 1982 and led the U.S. delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1986.

In 1993 Novak was honored with an honorary doctorate degree at Universidad Francisco Marroquín] due to his commitment to the idea of liberty. In 1994 he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.

Reviews

[Frank Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important contribution to the discussion - which is, unfortunately, minuscule today - of why we actually work. Man was made to work. It is our role in life in order to have a life. And how we see our business, our daily work and how we interact with our co-workers is more critical today than ever. Why? Because as we all lament the collapse of society and core moral beliefs, the workplace is where we watch it all play out. Workplaces are increasingly places where we go to aspire and inspire. They are where we pick up a paycheck and try to maneuver around the neurosis of various co-workers who cannot leave their screwed up family lives at home, where management has little or no ability - no, interest - in "leading", inspiring or giving of themselves to their employees.

Novak's book, which was published in 1996, helps frame the issues and offers a thoughtful view of the relationship between economics, business and faith. Although some of the aspects of the book are clearly dated (and the shout-out to Enron crook Ken Lay is a bit of a shocker - but back then, who would have ever suspected) it is a very necessary read for those who wish to seek the truth of why we work and how we should work.

[Emily Bass · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a part of an economics course in my undergrad school. Novak has some very thoughtful and logical insights into business ethics and I appreciated his theological viewpoints. He uses relatable analogies to tie concepts together. Some portions of the book do get long winded. Novak presents thinking processes that aim to break the typical viewpoint of men and women in business. Overall, it's an enjoyable book for what I thought was going to be an uneventful read.

[Hannah K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Great Message Supported by Good Research

I read through this book with my Microeconomics class in University and it gives such a refreshing view of vocational business. By pointing out how business connects people and has the potential to create opportunities and eliminate poverty, Novak shows it is so much more than scandal and manipulation. Using examples like Andrew Carnegie, Kenneth Lay, and David Packard, there is a good balance of the positive and negative effects of Capitalism. Though some sections are unnecessarily long and may be a bit dry in my opinion, Novak presents interesting business and theological insights. Overall, a great book for new generations of business professionals.

[J David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novak spoke at a limited enrollment Advanced Planners Conference I attended, where all the sessions involved the personal relationship between people and money. I read "Business as a Calling" on my flight home. Passages found their way into client communications throughout the remainder of my financial planning career. There is no doubt in my mind that the conference, and Novak's contribution to it, inspired me to blurt out "There is more to money than money" when we were discussing ways to help a client in a staff meeting. That expression became our tagline, which expressed the culture of the firm. Clients and friends often repeated it back to us.

[Brook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard of Novak prior to a recent MBA course assignment, and I'm so glad I did. Very thoughtful insight that dabbles in a bit of everything. From philosophy, history and anthropology to theology, economics, and sociology, I found this to be a transversal read about a subject that requires study through many lenses.

[Francisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Novak clearly explains how being an entrepreneur and businessman can be virtuous and a calling. He also explains how things can go wrong. I appreciate his balanced approach, explaining the interconnection between political systems, economic systems and moral values.

[Nau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Termina siendo un libro sin mucha profundidad que cuenta algunas bondades de los negocios y el capitalismo. Me llevo muy poco del libro.

[Old Man · Rating 5 out of 5]

What are your favorite quotes from the book?
"Business is bar none, the best real hope of the poor. And that is one of the noblest callings inherent in business activities: to raise up the poor."
"Opportunities and jobs are more valuable to them than handouts from a government that treats them like serfs."
"The institution that is capitalism's main contribution to the human race is not individualism; it is the private business corporation, independent of the state."
"In the project of self-government, business is without doubt the single largest institution of civil society. The moral health of society, therefore, depends to a great extent on the moral character of business leaders.''
" It is not wrong to want to be rich. It may be foolish- the rich are not notably happier than the nonrich- but it is not wrong. Getting anything you wish any time you wish is often deadly to happiness- and also to achievement. Most of those in business who become rich try to live as though they were not, at least in two senses: they keep working hard, and they seek out new challenges."
"Executive officers are paid for getting reality right and getting things done."
"The corporation is not a church, not a state, not a welfare agency not a family. A corporation is an economic association with specific and limited responsibilities."
"One reason people like a business calling, then, is the challenges it offers. They like the feeling, toward the end of life, that they were severely tested and accomplished something -
something that they can see, that they know has made a contribution. They know this, because people use what they have provided, sometimes praise it, value it, pay good money for it-and are glad to do so."
"It's important to value the business you're in and to take satisfaction from providing its services or goods to others. At the end of the day you want to respect what you do. In a certain sense,
our work is us. We get into it, and it gets into us."
"Personal achievement-the fulfillment of a personal calling-means more than money
in the measure of a human life."
--There were a lot more but you will have to read the book to find them.

What is a specific real world application that you will be able to make from what you learned in this book?
"To keep our own standards high, we need one another." -"This, no major institution today appears to concern itself with the standing of virtue and character in modern culture. Virtue and character have been orphaned." -"To the principle, "Deeds matter more the words," I would add "Practical results matter more than rhetoric." Applying this ideal to the perception and reality of finance and accounting, it is important to ensure that they align and those who work in these areas hold themselves to a higher standard. It's best when others are there to help hold us to those standards. This is one of the things I like about open book finance is that it allows others to see what is being done and keeps actions in alignment with words. This is one of the strongest controls against fraud and collusion that I have seen in a company.

What is the one thing that you think you will do differently or think differently about since you read the book?
"It is not wrong to want to be rich. It may be foolish- the rich are not notably happier than the nonrich- but it is not wrong. Getting anything you wish any time you wish is often deadly to happiness- and also to achievement. Most of those in business who become rich good argument that it cannot be greed but it is rather the desire to create and watch growth. Thinking about guys like Elon Musk, there is no reason for him to work for greed as he could live the rest of his life on what he had from the sale of his first company. There is something other than more money/greed driving these types of individuals and it is that business is their calling. If I won a $1M, I would
still show up to work because it is what I like and want to do. Before reading this book I had not looked at business it in this light of being a calling, but I believe that business is my calling.

What is one point you disagreed with, or at least questioned, in this book?
I did not really have issue with anything as this book as it aligns fairly well with my moral view of the world.

[Guy Mofley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can you get any deeper in thinking than Michael Novak? He is a master at twisting your brain around new ideas and putting fresh insights into old ones. I was very inspired to re-think my role in business as a calling. Something I have been aware of but not able to reconcile with some of my early views on "calling". Mr. Novak, as usual, did a great job of shaping my thoughts on the issue.

[Don Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are in a "secular" vocation and searching to make sense of your calling that gives it a transcendent meaning, this is the book. I used this book in my college class "Living Issues." So I have read it many times and always find it compelling. It needs more use but probably has less traction because it is a not a Bible-chapter-and-verse kind of book.

[Usman Chohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A manual on Entrepreneurship for the religiously- and spiritually-inspired. As Harvard Business Review (Oct 2013 Issue) has shown, entrepreneurs are more religiously inspired than society as a whole. This book, written in ±1996, raises issues such as micro-financing, corporate social responsibility, and social enterprise well before they entered the common lexicon.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talbot Course: Church and Society

[Jonathan]

None

[Rene Alberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente book, hardly recommended if you are looking for a light