Leuven business ethics professor delivers Master’s inaugural lecture

Johan Verstraeten of the University of Leuven recently delivered the inaugural lecture of an MA Business Ethics programme. His lecture was entitled ‘Spirituality and wisdom: the neglected dimension of leadership in business’.

The MA in Business Ethics programme of the University’s Faculty of Theology is organised in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy and supported by Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Fondazioni Malta.

Prof. Verstraeten’s areas of specialisation are business ethics, spirituality and leadership, Catholic social thought and peace ethics.

The topic explored leadership beyond managerial rationality and Prof. Verstraeten explained that leadership requires more than business ethics and management skills.

“Leadership requires inspiration and in order to achieve this we need to think outside the box – we should learn a ‘new language’, a new way to communicate through a new world of meaning,” he told students.

Prof. Verstraetan challenged the audience further by insisting that “the most important change people can make is to change their way of looking at the world”.

He underlined how the prerequisites of a good company rested with having leaders who realise that economic success must be based on human flourishing.

The inaugural lecture, held at Middlesea Insurance plc’s conference centre, was well atten­ded by students reading the Master’s in Business Ethics and by Middlesea chairman Joseph F.X. Zahra and vice-president, corporate affairs, Chris Borg.