March April 2017
Where Christian faith gets down to business
Passing the baton:
A new editor comes on board Prospects bloom in Jordan Valley Growing up in the shadow of MEDA ‘Calbeano’ Miller: poverty warrior 1
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Roadside stand
Changing faces at MEDA MEDA’s new Chief Strategic Engagement Officer (CSEO) is Michael White, a veteran executive of both the non-profit and private sectors. Most recently he worked with World Vision as director of strategic initiatives where he led a reorganization project to align marketing with strategy. Previous roles with the organization included executive director of development and director of private and corporate development, responsible for major donor funding. Earlier, White worked for many years in sales and high tech with Lucent Technologies Canada. White expressed appreciation for MEDA’s Mennonite constituency and values, having attended an Anabaptist congregation for more than five years and visiting numerous international development projects in Asia, Africa and Latin America. His educational background in-
New MEDA executive Michael White
cludes a graduate theological degree from Tyndale Seminary, an MBA from Schulich School of Business and an engineering degree from the University of Waterloo. “My passion is to contribute to bring an end to extreme poverty and I’m really impressed with the business solutions approach that MEDA Cover collage by Ray Dirks, with inset photo by Steve Sugrim.
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takes,” White says. He began his work with MEDA in April, replacing former CSEO Dave Warren. Another change: Bob Kroeker, senior development officer in MEDA’s Winnipeg office, will retire June 30. He came to MEDA in 1993 as the organization’s first “area representative” to augment member recruitment and support and to promote MEDA’s mission of workBob Kroeker place discipleship and global economic development. He came from the managerial ranks of Great-West Life Assurance Company, where he was first an auditor and then manager of individual data processing, overseeing a staff of 35. At MEDA he expanded the network of support to a new generation of donors and led tours to projects around the world. With his retirement, and that of colleague Wally Kroeker (see page 6), MEDA will close its Winnipeg office. Imagine the ideal CEO candidate — probably an outgoing extrovert with an elite MBA who has never made a mistake. Turns out most successful CEOs don’t fit that profile, according to a 10-year study of thousands of C-suite executives. More than half of the CEOs who investors and directors thought performed well were actually introverts, “not the usual gregarious CEO known for glad-handing customers,” writes Jena McGregor in The Washington Post. Moreover, only a small minority (seven percent) of the best-performing CEOs had
Ivy League degrees, despite conventional wisdom to the contrary. A third misconception the study found was that impeccable track records weren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Most successful CEOs had a major boo-boo lurking in their closet, such as overpaying for an acquisition or making a wrong hire. On the plus side, four success indicators the study identified were: being able to reach out to stakeholders; be highly adaptable to change; be reliable and predictable; and make fast decisions with conviction, even if they aren’t always perfect. Stress in the workplace costs the U.S. economy up to $500 billion a year, say researchers in the Harvard Business Review. Health care costs at such firms can be 50 percent greater, as 60 to 80 percent of workplace accidents and 80 percent of doctor visits can be attributed to stress. Altogether, 550 million workdays are lost annually due to job-related pressure. Workplace stress is also blamed for an increase of almost 50 percent in voluntary turnover as employees resign or look for different work. The cost of recruiting, training, lowered productivity and lost expertise can equal one fifth of an employee’s salary. Nice gig. One of the globe’s leading development finance organizations has posted a recruitment ad for a position that is new to us — “Vice President, Integrity.” The ad does not make clear precisely what the new hire will do. Or why. — WK
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In this issue
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Passing the baton
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Prospects bloom in Jordan Valley
A $20 million MEDA project aims to transform 25,000 women and youth into robust economic players in a Middle Eastern “pocket of peace” lush with citrus, dates and ancient tourist sites.
Duty called, but they wouldn’t let him do his job. Page 12
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Cookbook of values
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Stymied in Dallas
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In the shadow of MEDA
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Called by the poor
Departments 22 24 19 20 22
Roadside stand Soul enterprise Soundbites Reviews News
Volume 47, Issue 3 May June 2017 The Marketplace (ISSN 321-330) is published bi-monthly by Mennonite Economic Development Associates at 532 North Oliver Road, Newton, KS 67114. Periodicals postage paid at Newton, KS 67114. Lithographed in U.S.A. Copyright 2017 by MEDA. Editor: Wally Kroeker Design: Ray Dirks
Change of address should be sent to Mennonite Economic Development Associates, 1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste. 201, Lancaster, PA 17601-4106. To e-mail an address change, subscription request or anything else relating to delivery of the magazine, please contact subscription@meda.org For editorial matters contact the editor at wkroeker@meda.org or call (204) 956-6436 Subscriptions: $25/year; $45/two years.
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Marketplace 1891 Santa Barbara Dr., Ste. 201 Lancaster, PA 17601-4106
Even Marketplace editors have to retire eventually, no matter how much they love their work. This magazine is happy to welcome its third-ever editor — seasoned journalist Mike Strathdee.
Published by Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), whose dual thrust is to encourage a Christian witness in business and to operate business-oriented programs of assistance to the poor. For more information about MEDA call 1-800-665-7026. Web site www.meda.org
Mixing faith and business can be like various kinds of baking. An entry level effort might be like icing on a cake. Then there are chocolate chips in a cookie, or the transforming power of yeast.
Like many MEDA supporters, the stories of Earl and Marilyn Rose reached deep into the fabric of history. In their case it was the cataclysmic drama surrounding the assassination of a president.
Gerhard Friesen was there when MEDA started in Paraguay in the 1950s. As a youngster he saw the excitement of the first projects — the dairy, shoe factory, and a new treat called soda pop.
Calvin “Calbeano” Miller’s lifelong war on poverty took him from simple huts in Bolivia’s jungle to the UN’s marble-floored digs overlooking the ancient ruins of Rome. By Susan Miller
Visit our online home at www.marketplacemagazine.org, where you can download past issues, read articles and discuss topics with others, all from your desktop or mobile device.
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This church is all business Two years ago it was rated the fastest-growing church in the U.S. Crossroads Church in Cincinnati could safely be called pro-business — from its strategies to its language. Where else would you hear the Christian faith described as “the most successful startup in history.” Or the parable of the talents deemed “the first recorded instance of venture capital and investment banking.” Congregants are often reminded that “the Bible is full of merchants and people doing work.” Operations include an in-house advertising agency and direct-marketing campaigns. Creating jobs in the community is a target of outreach. In a sense Crossroads was a start-up itself, spun off in 1996 from a Bible study by Procter & Gamble employees. The core group, “some of whom had helped build billiondollar consumer brands, reimagined church as one might
iStock photo by urfinguss
“One Sunday, our church was commissioning its youth group to go to Tijuana to build houses. Professional carpenters and an owner of a construction company accompanied them, and were commissioned with them. It occurred to me, ‘Why were we commissioning them for this volunteer ministry, but we’ve never thought of commissioning members who were in the construction business for their work building and remodeling homes and offices in Seattle?’ Was the same work they did in their daily business now ‘mission’ because it was an ‘official’ church program? “As a pastor, I realized that I was more interested in people’s volunteer time, and charitable giving, than in their daily work.... I was interested in their volunteer time, not their business life.... The financial fruit of their work interested me more than how they made that fruit. “Since then, for the past 30 years, it has been a great delight to learn from and support people, especially those in business, to discover God’s purposes for their work....” — Tim A. Dearborn in Business as a Holy Calling? A Workbook for Christians in Business and Their Pastors
iStock photo by mahaaphoto
When work became “mission”
expect P&G executives to do,” according to BloombergBusinessweek. They gathered demographic data, scoured the media for the right music and “wrote brand positioning statements — a church for friends who don’t like church: a church for people who’ve “Recently I learned that a friend has a malignant brain tumor. given up on church.” Right now, more than anything else, I want her doctor to be “A business endeavor is close to the heart of really good at brain surgery. Right now, I care more about that God and every bit as important as anything else than I do about whether he offers his services pro bono at the on God’s green earth,” the senior pastor recently free clinic or if his management style is hierarchical. Similarpreached. ly, when I’m driving over a long bridge, I trust that the bridge The business plan is working. Crossroads has inspector is someone who takes her job very seriously, who is nine locations in the Cincinnati area and 30,000 highly competent and vigilant. I want the chemists and engincongregants, a robust segment of whom are tougheers at our region’s nuclear power plant to be diligent, careful to-reach millennials. A recent survey showed that experts in the safe operation of the facility....The quiet, faithful, of people who had joined the church in the last diligent pursuit of excellence in a vocation can be absolutely two years, 43 percent were 18 to 35. vital.” — Amy L. Sherman in Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good
“I want them competent”
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Who grew your coffee? Here’s one person’s take on how to grasp our dependency on people we have never met and who may live far away: “As you walk around your home, bring to mind all the people who built it, treated its timbers, baked its bricks, installed the plumbing, and wove your linens. When you get up in the morning, remember those who planted, picked, and spun the cotton of your sheets and who collected, treated, and exported the beans you grind for your morning coffee. You enjoy their products, so you have a responsibility for them, especially if they were working in poor conditions. Who baked the bread you toast for breakfast? Become aware of the labor that went into the production of each slice. As you set off to work, reflect on the thousands of workers and engineers who build and maintain the roads, cars, railroads, planes, trains, and underground transport on which you rely. Continue this exercise throughout the day.... We are what we are because of the hard work, insights, and achievements of countless others.” — Karen Armstrong in Twelve Steps to A Compassionate Life
iStock photo by Herianus
A blessing to the city
A Christian became the CEO of a hospital in the heart of a large U.S. city. His mandate was to run a good hospital and to increase profits, but he had some additional ideas. When he met with top-level departmental executives — operations, medical, nursing, finance, academics, HR and legal — they were surprised by what he said. “This is my vision for this hospital. We will become a blessing to this city. I want to see the people of this city flourish because this hospital exists.” He made some suggestions for how to flesh out this transition to blessing. Operations, medical and nursing could strive to help patients feel more like honored “What is the church’s story of itself? Who and what are central to guests and less like “numbers.” From the mothe narrative? For a simple test, visit the websites of a few churches ment they entered the front door to the minute and notice the images describing the congregations and their they left, each patient could be treated with priorities. You will likely find many depictions of worship, youth dignity. Human Resources was encouraged to activities, service projects, clergy, and perhaps a foreign missionary hire the most caring employees. Everyone paid or two. Seldom will you see photographs or other descriptions of by the hospital — doctors, nurses, housekeepchurch members in their weekday work. Too often we reduce the ing, food services, patient transportation, etc. church’s rich story to a collection of programs, inevitably dampen— could smile, show compassion and go the ing the vitality of a community of believers serving Christ through extra mile. The chief legal officer could think their everyday living. creatively about how to care for patients who “How different might our understanding of discipleship be if the lacked health insurance or other means to pay. church’s narrative told of bankers, Efforts could be made to extend medical care bakers, teachers, and truckers — to the city’s poor and marginalized. the living body of Christ in action? Animated by his faith, the CEO used his Perhaps we would begin to see influence to gradually change his organizawork life within the scope of a tion’s culture, so that everyone touched by it shared Christian vocation, rather — co-workers, suppliers and patients — could than as something ‘other’.... There flourish. Before long, the community began to is arguably no more important feel blessed. — Adapted from The High Callissue on the horizon than the ing, a digital blog featuring “everyday conversachurch’s need to explain itself — tions about work, life and God.” to itself and to others — in a way that connects with where real people spend their daily lives.” — “Money won’t make you happy, but John C. Knapp in How the Church Overheard: Fails Businesspeople (and what neither will poverty.” — Warren Buffet can be done about it)
What websites reveal
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Passing the baton The Marketplace welcomes its third editor
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Photo by Steve Sugrim
EDA editors are a rare breed, partly because there are so few of them. Thus far the organization has had only two people occupy the editor’s chair — Calvin Redekop, who founded The Marketplace in 1980, and Wally Kroeker, who came on board in 1985 and will retire on June 30. We are delighted to announce our third. Seasoned journalist Mike Strathdee joined MEDA on May 1 as publications editor. He brings over 20 years of writing and reporting experience to the role, starting as editor at a university paper and extending to a successful journalism career, writing about business, agriculture and technology for the Kitchener-Waterloo Record in Ontario. While there he won awards from the Canadian Farm Outgoing and incoming: Retiring editor Wally Kroeker (left) with successor Mike Strathdee. Writers Federation and the articles to The Marketplace, most reWord Guild Canadian Christian Writ- out Eastern Canada and wrote for a number of faith-based periodicals. cently a feature on Leamington, Ont., ing Awards. He has a BA and an MA degree from metal fabricator Abe Fehr (March/ Prior to joining MEDA Strathdee Wilfrid Laurier University in political April 2017). was a gift planning consultant with science in Canadian-American rela“Mike is incredibly well suited Abundance Canada (formerly Mennonite Foundation) where he worked tions. Strathdee received his Certified to take over, both in terms of jourFinancial Planner (CFP®) designation nalistic qualifications and zeal,” says with individuals and families in in 2007. outgoing editor Wally Kroeker. “Five estate and charitable gift planning. He has contributed several or so years ago he took me aside at He also spoke at churches through6
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Photo by Steve Sugrim
a MEDA convention and declared, ‘I want your job.’ He may have been a bit crestfallen that I still planned to stay so long, but he persisted — to both his and MEDA’s good fortune.”
Founder Calvin Redekop, a noted sociologist, played a key role in establishing some of the early Mennonite business organizations that later merged with MEDA. He also edited earlier MEDA periodicals,
Ray Dirks, artist and curator of the Mennonite Heritage Gallery in Winnipeg, has handled the design of The Marketplace for 31 years. Here he displays the first black & white issue he designed (Jan/Feb 1986), featuring Vancouver entrepreneur Arthur Block.
including the MEDA Newsletter and the MIBA/MEDA Newsletter. He was succeeded in the summer of 1985 by Kroeker, who by then had worked as a reporter and editor for 18 years. Kroeker describes his more than three decades with MEDA as “a rushtimes-two. Not only have the years sped by at warp speed but they’ve also given me a phenomenal ‘rush of the spirit’.” Kroeker says he has deeply enjoyed “both tracks” of his job: “To help readers see their daily work (whether in a factory, office or executive desk) as a ministry, a place to be God’s junior partners in the task of sustaining creation, and to help mobilize the resources and skillsets of supporters to create business solutions to global poverty. “It’s hard to leave a job as good as this one,” he says. “Where else can you have a front-row seat to programs of such life-changing impact? Where else can you witness the transforming impact of workers and bosses who see their work as a ministry where they employ their faith values on a daily basis? “I’m handing off the best job in the MEDA world.” He also praised his many coworkers. “It has been exhilarating to work with people who are driven by a sense of personal mission to make big dents in poverty,” he says.
As part of MEDA’s strategic engagement team, Strathdee will: • Produce The Marketplace (circulation 6,200) and other publications that affirm and celebrate 7
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entrepreneurship as one way to fulfill God’s purpose, and engage supporters with MEDA’s mission and values in their own workplaces and through connections with MEDA’s global efforts to create business solutions to poverty; • Produce articles that engage the reader with a robust sense that God uses daily work, business and entrepreneurship to sustain creation and meet global needs; • Enhance MEDA’s visibility/appeal among North American Anabap-
“Where else can you have a front-row seat to programs of such life-changing impact?” tists and other constituents. Strathdee will work out of MEDA’s corporate headquarters in Waterloo, Ont. “Given how well The Marketplace is loved by its readers, having the chance to produce this magazine is both thrilling and terrifying,” says Strathdee as he takes the baton. “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to return to writing full-time, and to do so within a faith-based context. I look forward to hearing and sharing your stories.” ◆ The Marketplace May June 2017
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Adding value in a “pocket of peace” New MEDA project targets robust livelihoods for 25,000 women and youth
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iStock photo by rrodrickbeiler
new MEDA project aims to transform women and youth into robust economic players in the Middle Eastern country of Jordan. Called Jordan Valley Links, it will operate on the Jordanian side of the Jordan River Valley, an area lush with citrus and dates and teeming with ancient tourist sites. The $20 million project aims to bolster the livelihoods of 25,000 women and young people over a span of five years, primarily in three Market assessments and value chain analyses are under way on local produce like these growth sectors: food prodates in a Jordanian market. cessing, tourism and clean technology (renewable and alternaFarah Chandani, MEDA’s country taking among women and youth tive energies). It aims to lower barriers manager. “It’s one of the only places are hindered by lack of support and to their entry into the market stream to work in that part of the world.” infrastructure as well as cultural and equip them to build businesses, restrictions. Yet, small enterprises Though itself relatively stable, improve financial management and are key to economic growth, employJordan’s economy is vulnerable to entrepreneurial skills, increase income surrounding geopolitics and the ment and job creation, especially for and connect to higher-value markets. influx of people and refugees. Unem- women and young people (a fifth of Global Affairs Canada will conployment is 13 percent. Food security the population is between the ages of tribute $19 million and MEDA sup15 and 24). Small and medium-sized is challenged by limited water, landporters $1 million. enterprises account for one-half to locked territories, a growing population with varying food demands, and two-thirds of private sector employJordan, a country of nine mil- climate change. Jordan has relatively ment. lion people, plays a key role in the In the Jordan Valley, entreprefew natural resources and imports Middle East. Bordering Israel, Iraq, neurs in general have poor and 97% of its energy. Syria and Saudi Arabia, it is considlimited access to markets, financing ered a “pocket of peace” in a region options and business development Jordan Valley Links (JVL) of political and economic instability. services, but all the moreso among aims to help remedy urgent eco“It’s the only country in the women and youth. Moreover, socinomic needs in the region. Entreregion that’s not in conflict,” says etal and cultural perceptions of their preneurship, innovation and risk8
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iStock photo by Manuel-F-O
entrepreneurial potential are not favorable. As a result, promising entrepreneurs are not able to bring their good ideas to fruition or to develop job-creating businesses at a time when they are needed most. Groundwork for the project began a year ago, including navigating thickets of bureaucracy, hiring staff and identifying on-the-ground partners.
Photo by Amer Swedan, RENAS Women Cooperative
Initially project
designers thought herbs and pickles (cucumbers, eggplant) might be good prospects for food processing, but further Ancient religious sites like Petra (above), as well as numerous nature reserves, offer strong investigation suggested tourism potential for job-creating businesses. stronger profit potential value chain analyses right now to tour guides,” says Farah Chandani. might lie elsewhere. MEDA’s local help us develop our interventions,” “This will get further study. The impartners are investigating. With the says Janice Bothello, field project portant thing is to zero in on things abundance of citrus (oranges and that will add value.” lemons) and dates in the region, pos- manager for Jordan Valley Links. Tourism also holds possibilities. A third sector, clean technolosibilities could include jam products The area contains many popular gies, will come later. and stuffed dates. Another option religious antiquities (such as the anmight be in processed potatoes, cient city of Petra) as well as nature Beyond specifically boosting which figure strongly in some tradireserves. The initial plan focused on the prospects for women and youth, tional Jordanian foods. the nature reserves of Dana, Muiib, the project aims to improve the gen“Two of our key facilitating partAjloun and Fifa, but additional reeral climate for their entry into the ners (the Nour Hussein Foundation serves are also possible. market and economy. and the Jordan Hashemite Fund for “We’ll be looking at communityMEDA and its partners will work Human Development) are working based tourist ventures that utilize a with communities, families and in the food processing sector and are market actors to ease entry for enterundertaking market assessments and lot of local skills, such as cooks and prise development. Specifically, they will develop lead entrepreneurs and female/youth sales agents to provide goods and services to a network of producers and processors at the community level. MEDA will work with local partners to help mobilize communities and private sector players who can extend supply chains to women and youth or provide products and services to them. Another group will include support service providers, such as banks or microfinance institutions, market information providers, or even telecommunications firms who could leverage Small enterprises are a key to growth for women and young people (a fifth of products for women and youth. ◆ the population is between 15 and 24). 9
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Blending values Welcome to the bakery of faith/work integration
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any years ago MEDA board member John W. Eby, then professor of business at Eastern Mennonite University, suggested a simple kitchen metaphor to illustrate various levels of applying Christian faith to the realm of work and business. He said people who seriously want to integrate their faith and business life can be like different kinds of baking. They can begin the journey tentatively, then become more committed as they go along. By request we reprint the essence of what he said.
1. Icing the cake
The most basic level of faith/work integration, superficial piety, is like putting frosting on a cake: you add a layer of glossy sweetness, but you don’t really change the substance. Beneath it all you still have the same cake. Now, icing is good. Most cakes are improved by it. But as a guiding spiritual principle it falls short. Icing is a veneer, a cover-up. It glistens. It tufts. You can spread it as thick as you want. It lets you project a pleasant, if unreal, image. And the cake? It doesn’t really care what kind of icing it gets: butterscotch, chocolate, cream cheese or pink. Beneath it all, the cake remains unchanged. People who see faith/work integration as icing might never get much beyond certain prooftexts in their use of Scripture (worthy as The Marketplace May June 2017
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these may be): “Go to the ant, you lazybones” (Prov. 6:6). Or, “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10).
2. Chocolate chips A more advanced level of integration is like chocolate chips in a cookie: they are part of the cookie, yet distinctly separate and isolated. Chocolate chip cookies are wonderful. Still, they do not exhaust the spiritual dimensions of being Christians in the workplace. The chips of succulent chocolate float freely within the batter. They just kind of hang there, plopping
down along with the glob of dough. In the hot oven they heat up and get soft, but they have enough self-identity to hold their own shape and then cool down firm. People who see faith/work integration as chocolate chip cookies might limit their Scriptural understanding to the story of Jethro as a picture of organizational skill and task delegation, and to certain New Testament parables (like Jesus’s use of the story of the talents, or the owner who paid his workers equally). Or, they might concentrate on general principles found in Scripture, like humility, accountability and stewardship, and apply them to the workplace. These are all good, but there’s more to it than that.
3. The leaven of yeast A third level of faith/work integration is like the yeast in bread: it
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permeates the dough and actually transforms its essence and behavior. It changes the texture, kind of like a completely converted world view. Baking bread is an art form, much more complex than cake or cookies.
More nourishing, too. Yeast is linked with fermentation. In order to ferment you have to die a little. In fact, it’s in the dying that the live-giving properties are released. You can’t get away from yeast. During the kneading process it spreads to every part of the dough, and makes it behave differently. When it’s all done, the taste and smell of the yeast are faint, but it has done its work — the bread has been transformed. A favorite Scripture passage for yeasty workers might be the early verses of Philippians 2 where Paul urges Christians to “take on the attitude of Christ” (verse 5). Like yeast, the implications of that are profound, calling for a complete reorientation — doing nothing out of selfish ambition, but considering others first, and looking to their interests before your own. Can you place yourself on the integration spectrum? Which level matches where you are? Where would you like to be? ◆
Are we social entrepreneurs?
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he rise of the term “social entrepreneur” has cast light on the role of values in business. A social entrepreneur wants to use business as a means to improve society and/or to solve certain social, economic or environmental problems (perhaps acting as yeast). While some in business might rely solely on business metrics like profit, revenue and share value, social entrepreneurs blend for-profit goals with generating a positive “return to society” and therefore use broader metrics (such as “people, profit, planet”). Not everyone likes using “social entrepreneur” as a sub-set of business because they believe all Christian businessfolk should be socially minded. A giant of social entrepreneurship expressed second thoughts near the end of her life last year. Pamela Hartigan, director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University, confessed to being “increasingly uncomfortable” with the term “social entrepreneurship.” Why? “Because I firmly believe that every entrepreneur has to be a ‘social entrepreneur.’ The way business has operated in the last 50 years must be disrupted because we will not survive as a society or a planet if we do not tear down the walls that compartmentalize economic, social and environmental activity....” She said the term served its purpose initially, but now was creating “a false separation between ‘this is where we make money, and this is where we do good’.” ◆
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Stymied in Dallas Legal duties were clear for the presiding pathologist in 1963. But he wasn’t allowed to do his job. The tentacles of MEDA’s support reach deep into the fabric of social and cultural history. Every faithful contributor has a story, some with surprising links to historic events. Earl and Marilyn (Preheim) Rose were long and generous supporters of MEDA’s overseas work to create business solutions to poverty. Like many in the MEDA family, their modest demeanor belied dramatic elements of their personal histories. They were part of MEDA’s story, and also closely connected with one of the most pivotal crises of U.S. history.
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ike so many people, Earl Rose couldn’t have imagined what lay ahead when he went to work in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Cataclysmic events would alter his personal life and an entire generation. It began like many other days. He headed for work at Parkland Memorial Hospital, where as Dallas County’s medical examiner he was accustomed to dealing with death, and doing so with diligence and devotion. On this particular day, swirling events would prevent this highly trained forensic pathologist from carrying out his professional duties. Pandemonium was quick to break out. A stricken president was taken to the trauma room close to Rose’s office. Rose was drawn in promptly. As he wrote later, “A murder had been committed and ... an accurate and thorough autopsy was critical for ... the credibility of the investigation.” But other considerations interfered with the legal duty Rose The Marketplace May June 2017
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Anthropologist Marilyn Rose and her husband Earl, who passed away in 2012.
needed to fulfill. This was no regular killing. Events moved at an anguished pace. Obstacles to a legal autopsy were raised. There was no
time, it was argued. Instead of being handled according to established law, it was decided the autopsy would be performed elsewhere.
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The Kennedy autopsy, performed elsewhere, generated heated controversy, much of which Earl Rose believed could have been avoided by following protocol.
Rose protested. Texas law had its clear protocols, and Rose was professionally and legally bound to perform a medicolegal autopsy. Thus ensued a corridor confrontation that has become the stuff of narrative legend. A secret service agent made it clear that he had a gun; accounts differ as to whether he brandished the weapon or simply opened his jacket threateningly to reveal its presence. In any case, Rose, despite being a highly trained forensic pathologist with a reputation as a “sterling role model,” was not permitted to carry out his legal duty, at least not on the slain president.
He would, in due course, per-
form other related autopsies, such as that of Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit, who was killed by Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Two days later, Rose was called out of church to perform the autopsy on Oswald, who had been gunned down on national television by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby. In 1967, when Ruby died of cancer while in prison for killing Oswald, Rose was again called in to perform the autopsy. The Kennedy autopsy was performed at a military center near the U.S. capital, and became subject to
repeated reviews and controversy. In his unpublished memoir, Earl Rose called the procedure “incomplete and unsatisfactory.” He believed many of the subsequent conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination would not have gained traction if he had been permitted to do his job. “We had the routine in place to do it,” he said in 2003. “It was important for the chain of evidence to remain intact.” “The ironic thing,” says Marilyn Rose today, “is that Kennedy’s death certificate had to come back to Dallas to be signed.” She thinks her husband finally signed it, but is not certain.
The Roses moved to Iowa City in 1968. “It was not an easy time,” Marilyn says. Both had distinguished careers in Iowa. Besides being a forensic pathologist, Earl had earned a law degree, and taught in both the medical and legal sections at the University of Iowa. He retired in 1993. When he died in 2012 at the age of 85, the New York Times described him, among other things, as “an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.” Marilyn, meanwhile, was a 13
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scholar in her own right. She had a PhD in anthropology and taught with distinction at the University of Iowa. Her 1991 dissertation, titled On the Move: A Study of Migration and Ethnic Persistence among Mennonites from East Freeman, South Dakota, has received acclaim from Mennonite scholars and others. Marilyn, whose maiden name was Preheim, grew up in a Mennonite home in Freeman, S.D., where she and Earl were married. “I maintained my Mennonite
Long after the cataclysm of Dallas, Earl and Marilyn Rose joined the ranks of MEDA supporters identity throughout our marriage,” she says. “I kept my church membership. Earl’s background was Congregational, but he attended the Mennonite church when there was one in the city where we lived.” According to the Des Moines Register, Rose described himself as a “visitor to the Mennonite faith.” Both of them were involved with MEDA. “We supported MEDA for a long time,” says Marilyn, who attends First Mennonite Church of Iowa City. “Our entrance was the Sarona fund. We got started with it when it first came out. We both felt MEDA was a very positive way to help development in low income countries.” ◆ The Marketplace May June 2017
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Growing up in the shadow of MEDA Memories of harnesses and soda pop
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erhard Friesen was a young boy in Paraguay when MEDA came into being in the early 1950s, but he remembers it all very well. He was old enough to sense the importance of what was happening around him. As a result he can play the “MEDA Mennonite Game” as well as anyone. He can cite a connection with most of the early partners. Either he knew them or was related to them. Friesen and his wife Mary moved to Winnipeg from Paraguay in 1966. He had been a teacher in the Mennonite colonies. In Winnipeg he worked with a Mennonite radio ministry for several years and then became a pastor, and later a seniors’ chaplain. But he maintained connections with his homeland, and retains a storehouse of memories of MEDA’s first five projects.
1. Sarona dairy In 1954 MEDA’s first project was a partnership with a group in the Fernheim Colony led by Peter Kaethler, a poultry producer and colony pharmacist. They formed a dairy they called Sarona, a hopeful name patterned after a fertile pasture in the Old Testament. This project aimed to boost milk production and improve dairy herds. MEDA imported a high-grade bull to cross-breed with the local cattle and milk production soon jumped from a few quarts per cow to several gallons a day. “This was a big deal at the time,” says Friesen. The Marketplace May June 2017
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leather. Located in Friesen’s village, Orloff, it was operated by his uncle, David Dyck, who needed capital to expand. MEDA invested in a building and better equipment. The tannery converted hides into leather for harnesses and other goods. Friesen remembers it as a fixture of life in the village as he was growing up.
3. Fortuna shoe factory A cattle operation and a tannery led logically to MEDA’s third project, the Fortuna shoe factory, in 1956. MEDA’s partner here was Hans Dyck Gerhard Friesen shows an empty bottle of (David Dyck’s brother, and Sinalco Cola, the kind he savored as a youngFriesen’s uncle). MEDA ster growing up in Paraguay. provided the capital for a When the enterprise was on its building and equipment. feet, MEDA was ready to move on. Using leather from the tannery, the Sarona’s local partners purchased all factory made men’s work shoes, then remaining shares in 1972. The dairy branched into dress shoes and shoes remained in business until 2000. for women and children. By the late This project was an enormous 1970s Fortuna was producing more success that helped transform the than 600 pairs of shoes a month, local economy. Family farms were employing four to six workers. Other strengthened. Jobs were created. products were added, like cowboy Today, the Mennonite colonies chaps and motorcycle seats. dominate Paraguay’s dairy industry. The factory became a critical The clover-shaped logo of the Trebol source of goods for colonists, ranchdairy (now located in Loma Plata, ers and Indians. “When we were the capital of Menno Colony) can be growing up,” says one longtime seen all over the country. resident, “the only shoes we could afford were from Fortuna.” 2. Sinfin tannery In 1972 Dyck bought out the The second MEDA enterprise, also North American MEDA partners on in 1954, was a tannery to process credit and operated the factory on his 14
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4. Fundicion foundry The fourth MEDA project (also in 1956) was the Fundicion foundry. Jakob Loewen was an inventive, selftaught farmer who erected a crude foundry in the village of Friedensfeld in Fernheim Colony. It wasn’t easy to find raw materials for his homemade furnace so he scrounged wherever he could, including gathering bullet casings left in the countryside from the Bolivia-Paraguay war of the mid1930s. MEDA forged a partnership with this resourceful local leader, providing him with an opportunity to acquire new machinery and travel to Canada and Germany to hone his engineering expertise. The foundry had a significant economic impact, says Friesen, becoming indispensable to farmers and local industries. It produced seeders to plant peanuts and cotton, as well as metal items like harness rings and cultivator parts that were otherwise available only far away in the country’s capital. 5. Sinalco soft drinks There was a lot of excitement when MEDA entered into its fifth project in 1961. Hans Kroeker, then an employee of the colony cooperative in Filadelfia, came up with $1,700 and MEDA invested $1,000 to set up a building to produce carbonated citrus and cola-flavored soft drinks. That was new in the Mennonite colonies, as multinational beverage companies hadn’t yet found their way into the Chaco. Kroeker’s drinks were called Sinalco. In Spanish, sin means “without.” Hence the name was short for “without alcohol.” The partnership didn’t last long. The official version was that MEDA discovered Kroeker was not a church member, which at that time was a stipulation for MEDA partnership. More likely is that Kroeker had a strong mind of his own and may
Erie Sauder photo collection
own. The final installment was paid off in 1986.
Hans Dyck (Friesen’s uncle) was MEDA’s partner in the Fortuna shoe factory, maker of footwear, cowboy chaps and motorcycle seats.
have resisted some of MEDA’s regulations. In any case, his new company was so profitable that he soon found other financing. “I remember Mr. Kroeker very well,” says Friesen. “Sinalco was the only drink I knew in my childhood years. Later on we could buy Coke and other soft drinks, but when I grew up this was all there was.” Friesen remembers travelling from the village of Orloff to Filadelfia, a distance of less than 10 miles but more than an hour by horse and buggy and being able to “stop at the coop store in Filadelfia and get a bottle of refreshing Sinalco. It was always special.” He recalls Sinalco being one of two huge treats at high school gatherings, the other being ice cream.
Friesen keeps up with developments in Paraguay, such as the progress of a modern tannery which opened in 2009 on the outskirts of Asuncion, Paraguay’s capital. The tannery, owned jointly by three large Mennonite colonies — Menno, Neuland and Fernheim — hearkens back to MEDA’s second project and is a symbol of inter-colony cooperation. The three colonies are huge players in the country’s beef industry, producing up to 40 percent of Para15
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guay’s total. The colonies do their own slaughtering but send all hides to the joint tannery. After processing, the hides are shipped as far as Italy to be finished into products like high-end shoes and purses. The tannery has done so well that it recently doubled in size, Friesen reports. The present manager, Ferdinand Kehler, is the grandson of Jacob Kehler, who worked with the original Sinfin tannery, which operated until the late 1990s. Friesen has fond memories of MEDA’s role in the Mennonite colonies. For one thing, its projects provided employment to native Paraguayans and to Mennonite settlers. Moreover, it created an environment to encourage inter-colony relations, not something to be taken for granted when different colonies with divergent cultural backgrounds sometimes experienced friction. Friesen remembers his uncle making twice-weekly trips from Fernheim Colony to the Loma Plata colony to deliver goods. Better trust relations developed as merchants and farmers would set up accounts in the cooperatives in both Fernheim and Menno colony. “MEDA projects contributed to building inter-colonial relations,” says Friesen. “This was very beneficial.” ◆ The Marketplace May June 2017
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Called by the poor Calvin Miller’s lifelong war on poverty took him from simple huts in the Bolivian jungle to marble-floored digs overlooking ancient ruins in Rome by Susan I. Miller
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Photo by Michael Miller
alvin Jay Miller prayers and letters. The was only 19 instruction and nurture when he was Calvin received at Salem wounded by and Lockport Mennonite a stray bullet while churches had led him participating in Goshen to become a convinced College’s Study Service Christian. Term (SST) in El Salvador in 1973. In Bolivia Calvin That experience and MCC colleagues during his first internalived in new villages betional service venture ing formed by Quechua is the kind that keeps farmers who had moved Calvin Miller at FAO headquarters of the United Nations, with some people from travfrom the altiplano and Rome’s skyline in the background. eling internationally, let mountain valleys to the Fayette, Ohio, where he helped his alone traveling and working in 117 tropical jungle of the eastern plains three brothers with chores as soon as to start new lives. With a solid comcountries around the world. But not he was big enough to feed calves and munity development orientation, the Calvin. drive tractor. He barely knew his fa“I was spared for a purpose,” MCCers assessed their situation and ther who had died in a farm accident made their own work, engaging BoCalvin said. He felt God’s calling to when Calvin was 23 months old. serve in a way that would make a livians in digging wells, using animal His mother, who modeled Christian lasting difference in the lives of imtraction, and working cooperatively. poverished people. His career, includ- faith and commitment in the face of The Bolivians, in turn, invited them adversity, supported him with her ing 15 years of MEDA employment, to participate in church and cultural has been closely aligned festivities. with MEDA’s mission, Those years living “Creating business soluin simple structures tions to poverty.” and riding a horse or After completing motorcycle contrast SST, he put college on sharply with Calvin’s hold and volunteered employment 30 years with Mennonite Central later when he worked Committee (MCC) for in a marble-floored office with a window a three-year term in overlooking the ancient an agricultural develRoman Forum and Coliopment assignment seum, and jetted around in rural Santa Cruz, the world to meetings Bolivia. His credentials with royalty and global at that time included financial leaders. speaking Spanish and Nevertheless, Calvin growing up on a dairy Calvin Miller in Bolivia during his MEDA years (1992). has kept true to his calland grain farm near
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Photo by Wally Kroeker
and Calvin and Jan developed deep ing to serve — using his talents and world, surrounded by peace-minded friendships with people in their com- friends at Akron Mennonite Church. the knowledge he gained from university studies and grassroots work. munity, the local Bolivian Mennonite Calvin worked from 1993-1997 as a He gives equal deference to impover- church, and staff members of MEDA Rural Development and Credit Conished men and women working to and its partner organizations. The sultant and Director of Microenterimprove their families’ lives as he does to powerful government leaders. After his first MCC term, he enrolled as a junior at Ohio State University to study agricultural economics. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. His thesis, based on research from his Bolivian experiences, received the Thesis of the Year award. At Ohio State, he met Jan Huston, who added Spanish classes to her nursing degree studies after learning to know Calvin and of his plans to return to Bolivia. They married in 1978 and later welcomed four children One of Miller’s achievements in Bolivia was to establish a thriving bean industry. By 2000, into their family: Raquel, 90 percent of farmers in the region were growing beans, and 75 percent of families were consuming them regularly. Here, beans are sorted for quality at the warehouse of ASOMichael and Nathan, born in Bolivia; and Lucas, born PROF, the national bean producers association spearheaded by Miller. in Akron, Pa. Millers all became fluent in Spanish. In his second volunteer term prise for MEDA Trade and Consultwith MCC, Calvin co-founded a rural Calvin also learned some Quechua ing. His work took him back to South and Portuguese. agricultural high school and helped America and to Central America a Continuing MEDA work from farmers attain credit through a savnumber of times. its Lancaster, Pa., office gave Calvin The Millers crossed cultures ings and loan cooperative. and Jan opportunity to be closer to again when they moved to a suburb In 1983 MEDA asked Calvin their aging parents and to reconnect of Atlanta, Georgia, and became to succeed Ken Graber as country with the North American Mennonite active in the small Berea Mennonite manager of its agricultural economic congregation. development and finance programs Helping Bolivians in Bolivia and Paraguay. Among Deciding to accept an offer Calvin’s many projects, his bean from CARE to direct its Economic promotion endeavors stand out. Development Unit came with some grow beans for Calvin got the nickname “Calbeano” soul searching. Calvin weighed the from his successful work in leading opportunity “to CARE, or not to protein, soil small farmers to grow beans for their CARE” with staying with the Menfamilies and community markets nonite organizations that had given improvement and as well as for export to Brazil, and him leadership skills he would use in later to many other countries. Jan the second half of his career. export earned him published a cookbook to encourage In Atlanta and on work trips families to add the high-protein food to many new countries, Calvin led the local nickname to their diets. CARE’s technical teams of agriculSanta Cruz was a good place ture, microfinance and enterprise “Calbeano.” for the Miller children to grow up development. He played an import17
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ant role in creating the MicroVest Investment Fund, a global leader in accessing investment capital to serve the poor. The ownership structure was 45 percent CARE, 45 percent MEDA, and 10 percent Seed Capital Development Fund.
In 2004 Calvin, Jan, Nathan
and Lucas moved to Rome, Italy, the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, leaving just-married Raquel and Steve Wilcox, and Michael in Harrisonburg, Va., where each had studied at Eastern Mennonite University. The Roman Millers learned to speak Italian and participated in an Italian language Brethren church.
Miller (left) and fellow MEDA consultant Henry Fast on assignment in Beijing, waiting by “The regular bus stop for foreign experts.”
After years of working with Mennonite organizations he faced a career juncture: “to CARE, or not to CARE.” While serving as senior officer of the Agribusiness and Rural Finance Group in FAO Calvin developed the concept and coined the term “value chain financing” and while carrying on a full travel schedule, completing projects, and producing a dozen technical documents and policy briefs, he wrote the book, Agricultural Value Chain Finance: Tools and Lessons, with assistance from Linda Jones. It has been translated into four other languages and has undergone multiple printings. Upon reaching the UN-mandated retirement age of 62, Calvin began doing independent consulting for/ with MEDA and other organizations. Last summer, a few days before he had scheduled a three-continent consulting trip, he suffered serious complications from a perforated appendix. The Marketplace May June 2017
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Miller, an expert in small farmer credit, teaching a rural finance class in Bolivia.
While Calvin was hospitalized, son Michael reviewed his father’s life and decided Calvin’s story needed to be told. Working with more than 30 contributing writers, Michael created a book, Calvin: A Life in Stories. The story is posted on Michael’s website: www.mikethatmiller.com After recovering from his enforced slowdown Calvin completed the consulting jobs he’d planned. He noted that in Vanuatu, an exotic islands country on the other side of the world, there was a thin line between work and play. Recently he went on a safari after working in Swaziland. In some ways, Calvin has come
full circle. He is once again living in a rural Mennonite community, this time at Keezletown, near Harrisonburg, Va., and his daughter’s family. He takes his turn working with the cattle and land that a group of homeowners own in partnership. At the time of this writing he was preparing to fly to Suriname, his 118th country, and on to China for consulting jobs, leaving at 4:30 a.m. after staying up late to complete a report before its deadline. Others may not push themselves so hard, but that’s Calvin! ◆ Susan Miller, Calvin’s sister, writes from her home in Hesston, Kansas.
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Soundbites
”Sorry, you’ve been decruited”
Owning up When you are an owner, you care, you pay attention, you build stewardship, and you think about the future. If you build a house for a quick flip, how strong will you build its foundation? People always tend to cut corners in a place where they won’t actually be living. And that is
why I have so often over the years quoted the dictum “In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car.” Ownership focuses you on long-term thinking over short-term, and on strategy over tactics. — Thomas L. Friedman in Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations
Leave a mark Your treasure is not just for pleasure. Rather, it is for leaving a legacy. Leaving the world better than you found it is not just your right — it’s your responsibility. — Phil Munsey in Legacy Now
Business of business
Great idea, but...
The purpose of business has been shifting in recent decades from creating wealth to being purpose-driven. As Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, once said, “Companies can do more than just make money, they can serve others. The business of business is improving the state of the world.” The triple, bottom-line focus on people, planet and profit is nothing new to progressive business.... It’s
People should not buy the myth that all they need is a good idea. In reality, it’s never the idea, it’s always the execution. — Nancy Strojny, SCORE business mentorship program
Hijacking “America” I enjoy reading The Marketplace and appreciate MEDA’s mission. As someone who grew up in Latin America I notice when “America” is used to describe the USA. The segment on Luther in the March/April issue (Roadside Stand) does just that when talking about the book markets. Since MEDA is involved internationally, I would encourage your editorial staff to pay attention to this. Latin Americans in general do not appreciate when the USA “hijacks” the term “America” to refer to the USA. I know that Europeans are okay with that and use it often. — Ernst Wiens. Hesston, Kansas
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time for business to play a greater role in bringing about social change, because the cost of leaving people behind, as we have witnessed in recent months, is very high. The public role models for business today need to be the silent majority who give back to their communities in generous ways every day, not the vocal few who cling to Friedmanesque values. — Steven Murphy, dean of the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University, in the Globe and Mail
Money matters There is an umbilical connection between our money and our lives — an inextricable connection where every money decision has the potential to affect the quality of our lives, and every life decision has the potential to impact the quality of our financial situations. — Mitch Anthony in The New Retirementality: Planning Your Life and Living Your Dreams ... at Any Age You Want
Comments?
Few topics have accumulated as many euphemisms as the action called downsizing, making redundant, laying off, demising, and even absurd, clunky phrases like personnel surplus reduction. When businesses mask their actions with vague, robotic language, both clarity and people are the big losers. The list of euphemisms for firing people is long and could fill a book. Workers can be attritioned, excessed, graduated, or even decruited, the evil twin of recruited. The suffix de- has proven prolific in this area, as future collectors of unemployment have been dehired and deselected when a company is in the process of destaffing or degrowth. — Mark Peters in “The hidden danger of euphemisms,” BBC Capital
Would you like to comment on anything in this magazine, or on any other matters relating to business and faith? Send your thoughts to wkroeker@meda.org
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Reviews
Empowered, not controlled by Norman Kauffman The Closed Door Policy: Vitalizing People Management for the Twenty-First Century, Core4. By Chester A. Raber (2016, 91 pp. $9.95 U.S., Amazon.com)
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early 40 years ago, Dr. Chet Raber served as a consultant to me with the purpose of helping set up a new division in which I was asked to be the leader. He has now put into writing the philosophy and practices that guided the organization of this new division. He helped our group set up a collaborative, non-authoritarian management system in which all were full members of the team/division. All members had one-on-one conversations with their supervisor and met regularly with their team members. The most important aspect of this approach was that people were empowered — not controlled. The morale and trust level was high with productivity and loyalty exceeding most management models. Because members were a part of the decisionmaking, they made the organization attractive to others. People wanted to be a part. We had little problem filling vacancies. Core4 goes to the heart of best practices for the management of people. It is profound, yet practical. This book reveals three findings and four people-management practices which Raber developed and became known as the Core4 Management System (earlier it was called Greenfield Management System). Three findings about people management are: 1. Authoritarianism. Raber found that most management was still top down and authoritarian, despite both management and employees not wanting it so — they said they didn’t
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know a better way. “Open door” and “One-minute manager efforts” aimed to minimize the authoritarian philosophy, but they were still authoritarian. 2. No system. Raber found that basically no real system for managing people was used. It was “Everybody does what is right in their own eyes.” If financial management were done this way, they said, it would be chaotic. Some coaching has helped individual managers be more responsive to the needs of their employees but not in a consistent manner. 3. Little training for managers or supervisors in people management. Despite seminars and coaching there was little or no training for communication in the one-on-one management of team members or how to lead a team meeting. “Do the best you can” was typical advice.
As successor to authoritarianism, Raber’s system hinges on a philosophy of participative management. As successor to authoritarianism, Raber’s system hinges on a philosophy of participative management with four practices being key. 1. Performance plan. Every person in the entire organization has a performance plan for a year (typically) that is mutually agreed upon (not just given) with targets throughout the year. Regular one-on-one sup-
port, coaching and review sessions are scheduled, typically monthly. 2. One-on-one. These regular private sessions between team leader and team member review progress and give support, coaching and praise, which generates rewarding results. 3. Team meetings. Every person knows and meets regularly with team members and leader with a “dynamic three” agenda with rewarding results for all. 4. Decision process. A decision process enables every member to submit proposals for team review and possible management implementation. This is an easy read with many stories from the workplace. Raber’s big picture identification is on the participative philosophy and methods which most managers and team members say they prefer. Participants have appreciated this approach and in one story the manager says: “Core4 has soul.” The values embraced by Core4 are openness, honesty, face-to-face conversation, agreement, participation, feedback, support, praise, coaching, growth, consistency, no embarrassment, and joy. ◆ Norman Kauffman has been town manager, Shipshewana, Ind.; administrator, Goshen (Ind.) College; and a management consultant.
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News
Panelists promote professional passion Seasoned business leaders shared insights and stories at a panel for young professionals and students interested in knowing more about MEDA and business. Held at Queen Street Commons in Kitchener, Ont., the Feb. 8 event drew 40 people, many from Conrad Grebel University College. “The goal was to more fully engage young professionals/students with MEDA,” says MEDA staffer Sarah French, who organized the event. She said most attenders were from the Millennial generation (born 1980 or later), which numbers 80 million in North America and represents $170 billion in purchasing power. Noting that Millennials constitute a demographic bulge equal to the Baby Boomer generation that preceded them, she said it was vital for them not only to understand the range of MEDA’s activities but also to expose them to the challenges and possibilities of business. Four panelists were featured: • Bryant Whyte, a co-owner of 7 Shores Café, a social enterprise restaurant in Waterloo, Ont., who also works at Kindred Credit Union. • Judy Johnson, a parish nurse who operates a consultancy to help faith communities and businesses bring healing and hope. • Anton Heimpel, owner and operator (since 1996) of At the Crossroads family restaurant in Elmira, Ont. • John Lichti, veteran hog and dairy farmer and former employee of Sears, where he gained experience in marketing and creating relationships. Panelists responded to questions covering wide interest for young professionals, including the financial realities of running a small business; how they achieve work/life balance; The Marketplace May June 2017
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Panelists, from left: Bryant Whyte, John Lichti, Judy Johnson and Anton Heimpel.
how they grew their business; how they view social responsibility in their community; and how business can be an agent of change. “A common theme from the panelists was ‘Whatever you do you have to have passion to be successful’,” says French. “Another was the need for work-life balance.” Liliana Camacho, MEDA’s senior program manager in climate change, presented a short report on her work.
A number of young professionals commented afterward that they had been unaware of MEDA’s extensive work in this area. By student request, another professional panel will be held May 24 at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo. Groups interested in using the panel template for local MEDA chapters or other small groups can contact French at sfrench@meda.org ◆
Why workplaces need corporate curmudgeons It may be nice to be nice, but being a bit crabby at work has its place, too, writes Meredith Bennett-Smith in Quartz, a digital news outlet that specializes in the global economy. “Employers may think a room full of smiling employees is a sign of a productive, successful office,” she writes. “But research shows that forcing workers to appear more pleasant and more cheerful than they actually feel can lead to a whole host of negative consequences – from emotional exhaustion to withdrawal.” Faking happiness at work can, over time, lead to frustration, burnout and even depression, some psychologists assert.
Irritation and cynicism are not without a sunny side, says BennettSmith as she urges grumpy workers of the world to unite. A pessimistic outlook can lead to higher productivity, fewer mistakes and better communication skills. She cites Australian studies to show mild negative moods can make workers more observant, detailoriented and better critical thinkers. A California study found that irritation promotes an effective and analytic way to process information. And a Dutch psychologist claims an occasional dose of anger can trigger out-of-the-box thinking and heighten creativity because it is “stimulating and energizing.” ◆
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Are smartphones the new teen drug? Researchers have found a “curious bright spot” in the youth drug culture. It seems that the more teenagers use smartphones, the less they use drugs. Could there be a link? For more than a decade, teen use of tobacco, drugs and alcohol has been falling in the U.S. Some experts think that’s the result of consistent anti-drug education programs. But others aren’t so sure. “Are teenagers using drugs less because they are constantly stimulated and entertained by their computers and phones?” asks Matt Richtel in a New York Times article. Not enough data is in, but the possibilities of a technological link
intrigue researchers “because use of smartphones and tablets has exploded over the same period that drug use has declined.” Morever, Richtel writes, “interactive media appears to play to similar impulses as drug experimentation, including sensation-seeking and the desire for independence. “Or it might be that gadgets simply absorb a lot of time that could be used for other pursuits, including partying.” One researcher likened smart-
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phones to “a portable dopamine pump” that meets a deep need for connection but also furnishes strong feedback loops. A high school senior is quoted as saying using her phone “really feels good,” almost like a chemical bump. Moreover, it’s a great party ploy for teens who don’t do drugs because “you can sit around and look like you’re doing something even if you’re not doing something, like just surfing the web.” More researchers will be exploring social media as “an alternative reinforcer” to drugs, according to a top drug abuse official who says, “Something is going on.” ◆
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WALLY KROEKER
PANEL DISCUSSION
SAMANTHA NUTT
DAVID ESAU
Girders of Faith: Hope that Lasts MEDA director of publications, Marketplace editor, and author
Building Bridges to New Lives for Refugees – Featuring Tareq Hadhad, Peace by Chocolate, and Cornelia Horsch, Horsch Machines
Justice, not charity. Solidarity, not pity. Opportunity, not handouts. Humanitarian, founder of War Child Canada and War Child USA, and author of Damned Nations
Biblical Mentors for Marketplace Ministry Lead pastor, Eagle Ridge Bible Fellowship, Coquitlam, BC
Join us for a weekend of inspiration, networking and fun celebrating the power of entrepreneurship to alleviate poverty! medaconvention.org
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1.800.665.7026
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