Introduction
I write this book for those working, or about to begin working, in the financial sector who are aspiring to find personal fulfillment and make a contribution to society. Finding fulfillment in work is best enjoyed in fellowship with others. I find it exhilarating to find those with fellow aspirations, and would be delighted if you found some personal encouragement by reading this book.
It is a book on ethics, but is more concerned with identifying what is good—the virtues and the opportunities—rather than avoiding the bad, even if the two cannot be easily separated and much good will involve correcting the bad! The virtues are not new concepts, but they are not always familiar to those trained in economics and finance. Some are inconsistent with widely held ideas and theories of business. I have tried to span the gap between the old concepts and modern research, because they agree more often than is appreciated. I also try to span the gap between ethical theory and personal practice. My hope is to contribute to the development of a common language to address questions of ethics in finance, and to our personal, social, and economic flourishing.
Before proceeding, let me explain a few personal quirks:
• It will be clear to you that this book is full of my opinions, so I have tried to spare you too many I think and it seems.
• As a break from my predictable prose, I have extensively quoted well-written opinions that resonate with mine, and which may suggest further reading.
• Exclamation marks indicate something that is meant to be amusing or at least ironic. My jokes are often so feeble that you may need help identifying them!
The Plan of the Book
The plan of the book is as follows. Part 1 introduces the concepts that make up the main themes of the book and looks at them in the context of structure of the financial sector.
Part 2 returns to my experiences of injustice and how they led me to uncover a traditional model of justice. In the two cases I mention, the injustices may have been overcome—although leaving many other problems. The traditional model described is then used to identify some of the particular faults of the modern practice of finance in Part 3. Developing a vocation involves seeking to contribute to the flourishing of everyone in our communities, and justice is a prerequisite.
Part 4 considers ways of developing ourselves for fulfilling these vocations. This involves working on and with heart, head, and hands—which leads to personal growth in the virtues of self-control, integrity, and wisdom as well as in our particular strengths and skills.
Vocation is personal, and I do not think a useful book could be written on vocation without the author sharing his or her own experience. Forgive me therefore when I take myself too seriously, dwell too long on some issues and seem to ignore others. Your vocation will only overlap in part, but that is a consequence of it being unique.