The Greenwich Leadership Forum held its annual dinner this week. It was a lovely affair, with nearly 200 people in attendance to hear Andy Sieg, head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, and to honor the Rev. Neely Towe, former pastor of Stanwich Congregational Church.
For those that do not know, the Greenwich Leadership Forum, or GLF, is an organization that provides a forum for business men and women to explore how faith can be a valuable resource in their personal decision-making, ethics and leadership. It is based on Christian principles and Biblical teachings and welcomes men and women from all faith traditions. GLF has events throughout the year with exceptional speakers such as Andy and Lt. Gen. John Sattler, USMC (Ret.).
In our fast-paced, hectic world an organization like GLF may seem an anomaly. Why would we need a regular reminder of faith, ethics and leadership? You cannot have leadership without ethics—they go hand-in-hand. Philosophers have been discussing ethical leadership for centuries. Aristotle is quoted as having said: “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
Leaders who are ethical and lead ethically are often role models. They communicate the importance of having ethical standards. They hold their employees to ethical standards and create an environment based on those standards. Ethical leadership creates positive outcomes. This is terrific, but what are our ethics? Certainly you could argue that there have been people with poor ethical standards who have been extremely successful, until they are not. We read every day about someone on Wall Street found to have perpetrated fraudulent business dealings.
This is where GLF comes in. Their gatherings are moderated by David W. Miller, Ph.D., director of Princeton University’s Faith & Work Initiative. They bring in very successful leaders to talk about the role that faith has played in their leadership, in their ethics. Their stories, their faith journeys, are real and often very personal. They are shared as examples that others can learn from. Their journeys have not always been easy. Often faith is something that they have had to build, trust, challenge, lose and gain back. Their careers and their leadership have benefitted when they have incorporated faith as a foundational element of their ethics. These are conversations worth hearing and learning from.
The other part that made the event so special was hearing Neely Towe again. She speaks with a soft eloquence and reverence that is captivating. Originally from Florida, her voice still has a southern charm to it that soothes you as you are enveloped by her words. A trailblazer, one of the first female clerics in the county, she was senior pastor at Stanwich Congregational Church for 20 years, retiring in 2007.
Tuesday evening, Neely held those in the audience in rapt attention. We heard from more than one person that they felt as if she were speaking directly to them. She talked about the difference between resume virtues and eulogy virtues. Do we do things in our lives, in our work, simply to be more successful, or do we do things that help others and leave a legacy? Neely talked about the need for deeper character with a greater moral depth and faithfulness.
One of the ways that can happen is through an organization such as GLF, which she helped found. She encouraged everyone to strive for incarnational growth and to remain faithful in the face of an ever-challenging secular culture. It was a wonderful message.
The Greenwich Leadership Forum is to be congratulated on another year of terrific programming. We thank Russ Reynolds, Dick Murphy, Grant Gregory, Hank Higdon, Gene Lockhart, Morgan Mitchell, Chris Clark and Neely Towe and David Miller for having the vision and foresight to establish GLF 13 years ago. They have contributed much to our community and will continue to do so in the future.
