Network activities

Network activities mentioned below represent all upcoming activities organized by our members.

For all activities organized by the European SPES Forum itself please visit "The Euro SPES Agenda".
For the activities of the SPES Academy (Dutch) please visit the SPES-forum.

UCSIA and the University of Antwerp are pleased to announce the organisation of a two-day multidisciplinary conference on Morals and Banking. This international conference explores the question how modern banking practices can be reconciled with moral values. Without a doubt, banking, insurance and the financial intermediacy play a key role in any modern economy. Well-functioning capital market are essential to investment and capital accumulation driving economic growth and prosperity. However, these complex markets are driven by mixed morals. Profit seeking and self-interest is the major incentive for lending, risk taking and innovation.

The conference programme will be clustered around three main themes: integrity and trust in the banking sector, socially responsible banking (SRI, religiously inspired banking, microfinance, and cooperative banking) and financial crises in the small and in the large.

When? Deadline call for papers: June 1, 2010 / Conference: December 1-3, 2010
Where? University Antwerp

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Imagine a company that stimulates, motivates, trains, dialogues and consults in an open and positive way, that tries its best to develop the full potentiality of each individual it interacts with. How much more developed and successful and able to attract and retain talent would that workplace be compared with another company that just - uses - its stakeholders solely to maximise its profits?
Now add to that a bigger purpose and imagine that the service or product that the organization offers is truly beneficial to the community surrounding it, taken to its extreme final objective: imagine a workplace that ultimately contributes to the building of civilization. Now how motivating would that be?

You will find attending this event a diverse group of women and men who cross generations, borders, sectors and beliefs with a common passion for the application and search for innovation, values-inspired leadership, moral and ethical values in their work environment.

CEOs, directors, business owners - entrepreneurs, young professionals, MBA students and executives - social innovators: you will meet like minded individuals keen to explore and share ways to inspire a new paradigm of work. A successful, values-driven one.

When? The event starts at 17:00 on Thursday the 23rd of September and ends at 14:00 on Sunday the 26th of September
Where? dePoort Conference centre, Biesseltsebaan 34, 6561 KC Groesbeek (The Netherlands)

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New Publications

In the light of the current financial crisis the task of reinventing the management profession seems to be more relevant than even before. The book is a collaborative efforts of 18 professors of different CEMS universities to create a new professional profile for management. We believe that business management should be renewed if business leaders are to uplift the financially collapsing, environmentally degrading and socially disintegrating world of our age.

The New International Manager as presented in the book is (i) a reflexive practitioner, (ii) committed to environmental sustainability, (iii) exercises social responsibility, (iv) works with sensitivity toward gender and diversity issues, (v)harmonizes information communication technologies with processes and organizational culture, (vi) applies holistic perspective in problem solving, (vii) cooperates with social and political actors, and (viii) is engaged in progressive entrepreneurship.

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Sharda Nandram and Margot Borden and 18 other authors from Europe, USA and India contributed chapters to the book. Each of the 20 chapters presents a different view of the role and potential of bringing spirituality into the workplace; bringing spirit into matter! The authors were honored to have H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar write the foreword. The book has been well-received good by the following business people and academics: Ms. Liva S. Judic, Mr. Sushil Jiwarajka, Mr. Karel Samsom, Mr. Toon Bullens, Mr. Ed Voerman, Mr. Gul Kripalani, Mr. Stephen Stumpf and Professor John Drew.

The book is written for: Individual professionals, business professionals, academics, students interested in management concepts and anyone interested in participating in an evolution of consciousness in our society. It presents the topics of: mindfulness, various leadership models, transformational learning and coaching, business ethics, sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, a holistic model for market research, diversity, meditation and breath as means of engendering a transformation in consciousness.

Refenenties: Spirituality and Business Exploring Possibilities for a New Management Paradigm
ISBN: 978-3-642-02660-7 Nandram, Sharda ; Borden, Margot Esther (Eds.) Hardcover

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The author's experiences in many organizational and cultural contexts are reflected in this book's selection from his writings during the past twenty years. They portray an evolution in his mind-set - from rational to ethical to spiritual perspectives on leadership. This evolution is not just a personal matter; it reflects developments that are taking place, although usually tacitly, at the individual and corporate level throughout the world.

A primary motivation underlying the development of the book is to inspire leaders as well as teachers and students of leadership to integrate their hearts, minds and souls when making decisions, and to develop the awareness and conviction that wise and successful leadership is concerned not only with effectiveness and wealth generation, but also with contributing to the well-being and fulfilment of all those whom one serves as a leader.

The book is divided into seven interrelated themes: Morals and Ethics; Conflict and Consensus; Ethical Accounting; Values and Leadership; Identity; Responsibility; and Spiritual-based Leadership.
Read the preface

More information and orders on www.peterlang.com

This book provides an overview of current advances regarding the integration of sustainability in the financial sector. Its originality lies in the fact that it does not focus exclusively on a particular aspect of this emerging trend, but instead, presents various illustrations – for instance in the fields of SRI, sustainable banking or innovative investments – of what can be considered as the beginning of a paradigm shift in global finance. Indeed, the different contributions show that the still-dominant logic of financial markets and institutions – the search for short-term profits and the maximization of shareholder value – is increasingly questioned by alternative views and practices, which can be observed in a number of activities and countries. Written by academics and practitioners, this forward-looking book suggests that a change in mindsets and behaviors could open new paths for financial actors in the future – and even in the present, starting here and now.

More information and orders on www.palgrave.com

Globalization and information technology are driving the world into a new era. Is it the responsibility of business to pursue the common good - and more precisely, to participate in the construction of the global common good? This book brings together contributions from various disciplines, written by scholars who are at the forefront of this debate. It provides multiple insights into a tripartite relationship: business, globalization and the common good. It helps explain why the business sphere will probably not be in a position to ignore the common good much longer, and why this latter concept, widely ignored in today's management realm, is likely to become part of tomorrow's corporate policies and practices in the global context. Finally, this work opens up a plethora of avenues for future research, calling for the development of transdisciplinary approaches and for the elaboration of a research program embracing theoretical, empirical and spiritual perspectives to tackle this complex issue.

More information and orders on www.peterlang.com

This remarkable book, written by a former senior Dutch diplomat, offers a penetrating analysis of some of the major threats to humanity. Its special feature is that it goes beyond the usual pragmatic approach by putting the emphasis on a spiritual awakening. Edy Korthals Altes makes a convincing case about the need for a fundamental transformation in our deepest motivation; a reappraisal of man's place in Ultimate Reality. Here is, according to the author, the base for the so urgently required change in attitude towards man, material goods and nature. This 'spiritual approach' has not only far-
reaching consequences for our personal development, but also for the society we live in. Spiritual values should not be treated as
abstract notions, but have to be translated into hard reality. Hence, the inspiring chapters about just and sustainable economics; a comprehensive concept of security and a responsible European Union.
This is a challenging and most timely book in a world short of hope and vision. It should be widely read by all those who care for our time.

Authors: Korthals Altes E.
Year: 2008
ISBN: 978-90-429-2046-0
Pages: VIII-235 p.
Price: 48 EURO

Orders: PEETERS@peeters-leuven.be

Leading with wisdom: spiritual-based leadership in business
Peter Pruzan and Kirsten Pruzan Mikkelsen (together with Debra and William Miller)

352 pp | 234 x 156 mm | hardback | ISBN 978-1-874719-59-5 |
Published 15 June 2007
List price: GBP24.95 EUR37.50 USD$45.00

More information and orders on www.green-leafpublishing.com