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Monthly Archives: July 2021

Jade Romano (BYU Marriott School of Business) and Drew Fleming (Wabash College) Dare to Overcome!

31 Jul, 2021

IMMEDIATE RELEASE (EIN Presswire): BYU Marriot School of Business student Jade Romano and Wabash College student Drew Flemming are having the opportunity of a lifetime as corporate liaisons for the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s Dare to Overcome global initiative.

Jade is from Boston, Massachusetts, and is studying Marketing at the Marriott School, and Drew grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, before attending Wabash where he majors in Religion with a minor in Political Science.

“The opportunity for Jade Romero to intern with the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation has been excellent,” said BYU Marriott Dean Brigitte Madrian. “Jade is a marketing major, and the experiences she is having as the Fortune 500 corporate liaison for the Dare to Overcome initiative are invaluable as she prepares for her future as a leader in both her professional and personal life. She has mentioned what a profound influence this amazing internship has already had on her. We’re grateful that the foundation worked with our summer experience program to provide this opportunity to help Jade gain such a meaningful and quality experience.”

“I was excited to hear that Drew is working this summer on RFBF’s ‘Dare to Overcome’ initiative,” said Wabash President Scott Feller. “Drew’s internship is supported by our new Wabash Public Policy Project, which provides our liberal-arts students opportunities to learn about the wide variety of nonprofits and civil society organizations doing important work in that sector. As Wabash continues to promote lifelong learning and civil discourse, our engaged students like Drew will graduate as informed and active citizens, ready to serve others.”

“Jade Romano and Drew Fleming are role models for the rising generation!” — Dr. Brian Grim, President, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Dare to Overcome (DTO) is the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s global intersectionality conference, highlighting the ways diverse communities support and reinforce one another to build more inclusive workplaces and peaceful societies. Each day focuses on a different theme:

– Aug. 22: Social Justice, Equity and Religious Non-discrimination

– Aug. 23: Intersectionality Between Faith & Abilities Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

– Aug. 24: Business for Interfaith Understanding, Peace & Inclusion

DTO is the global convening point for faith-and-belief employee resource groups (ERGs). Members of these ERGs will gather virtually in support of their colleagues around the world and share best practices.

The United Nations Global Compact and the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation are collaborators for DTO’s signature initiative, the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award. Main sponsors include American Airlines and the Templeton Religion Trust.

DTO is held in the host city of the Paralympic Games: Rio 2016Seoul/PyeongChang 2018Tokyo 2021, as well as virtually due to the pandemic.

“Higher Education” Needed – On Diverse Religion and Belief

31 Jul, 2021

by Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Part of the blog series, Authenticity & Connection


Who is teaching the skills necessary to successfully engage the increasingly religiously diverse workplace landscapes of tomorrow?

     • Does your business school offer a course on how religious beliefs impact employees’ daily work; or on how to engage employees on a spiritual level at work?
     • Does your medical school offer a course on how to discuss death with patients of various faiths?
     • Does your technical school offer a course on the implications of faith and belief in daily work?
     • Does your law school offer a course on navigating faith-based values in the adversarial legal landscape?

Probably not.

There’s a huge gap in higher education. It’s time that gap was closed.

In workplaces around the globe, employees and customers sense a “calling” and responsibility to live out their work lives in concert with the principles of their faith every day. Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, atheists, non-theists, people all across the belief spectrum wrestle with the deep questions presented by their work. What is the core WHY behind my daily strivings? How should my core beliefs affect the way I conduct myself at work – especially when nobody’s looking? When do I say NO to the dictate of a boss that contravenes my faith? Is my work life defined simply by the hope of monetary reward?

How can I better understand the core motivations of my diverse coworkers? How can I help employees relate trustfully to coworkers who embrace diverse faiths? What can be done to help employees connect their core beliefs in ways that support the company’s business goals? For that matter, how (if at all) should the core beliefs of employees help shape the goals and vision of my company?

Where should we look for answers to these kinds of questions?

Increasingly, business schools focus on various cultural impediments to human achievement by diverse employees. They identify and lean strongly against overt and unconscious bias (as they should). They explore ways to promote a company culture that inspires all their people to engage heartedly (even soulfully) with their work. Some business schools and engineering schools offer courses on ethics, environmental stewardship, human rights, servant leadership, humility and the like. They raise helpful cautions about the profit motive as the preeminent corporate value. Yet in many schools, personal faith and belief are topics to be avoided, as if they were facets of human life that are irrelevant to work (at best), or destructive and shameful (at worst).

The same aversion to topics of faith and belief applies to many medical schools, law schools and technical schools. As a result, people emerge from our institutions of “higher learning” ignorant of the core values and motivations that influence their future coworkers. Many haven’t thought through the implications of their own professed faith for the way they will conduct themselves at work.

There are exceptions of course. Some faith-oriented colleges and universities seek to address these questions; at least from the perspective of the particular faith they espouse. Notable solid examples include The Catholic University in Washington DC and Brigham Young University in Salt Lake. But ask these questions about the institutions you attended. Are they advancing study on the application of one’s core values and beliefs to one’s work? Are they equipping students to engage meaningfully and trustfully with those whose core beliefs differ from their own? If not, why not?

For far too long, higher education has shunned religion and belief, except as a theological sideline, as if it were isolated from business and daily life. But people’s religion and belief are not going away. To the contrary, as the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation has shown, religion and belief are gaining influence worldwide. And core beliefs matter in business and life.

The next generation of workers needs to know how to navigate religious diversity. Will your alma mater offer courses of study to help? Can you help engage institutions of higher learning to begin to grapple with these questions?

It’s worth thinking about. It’s worth a course of study. Help us promote it.

King Husein, CEO of Span Construction, has critical role in countering rising tide of restrictions on religious freedom

30 Jul, 2021

PRESS RELEASE: King Husein, Chairman and CEO of Span Construction & Engineering, has played a critical role addressing the rising global tide of restrictions on religious freedom. Span Construction, the largest steel construction company in the world and exclusive builder of Costco stores worldwide.

King’s efforts range from helping found the South Asian Consortium for Religion and Law Studies, to helping kick off the first-ever Business Roundtable to advance International Religious Freedom during the 2019 UN General Assembly in New York City. In diverse venues such as the Horasis Global Conference in Portugal and the IRF Summit in Washington DC, King shares how religious ethics benefit business.

His advocacy also looks toward the next generation by his helping launch an initiative at BYU Hawaii to equip students from across Asia to know how to advance religious freedom when they return home.

“It is a true honor for us to recognize one of the world’s leading business champions of interfaith understanding and religious freedom,” said Dr. Brian Grim, President of the  Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, “and we wholeheartedly congratulate King as a finalist for the 2021 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards.”

A concrete sign of King’s commitment is that his company’s “About” page prominently features his official pledge to protect the freedom of all who work in the company to practice their faith and beliefs.

Reflecting on the values that guide his business in a to-be published manuscript on faith@work, King Husein shares:

“I love President Abraham Lincoln’s statement: “Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality.”

This summarizes how I strive always to keep my commitments in all aspects of my life. True success comes with preparation, opportunities, hard work, and relying on the Lord. Without a doubt, I know I can accomplish more with the help of God than I can on my own.

Commitment to my faith has enabled me to establish core principles to guide my business from its inception. These core principles became the foundation upon which I built my company. They are ingrained in the culture of my company. Culture defines my company, and my religion defines me. Not only does my religion defines me, it also sustains me in my business, as I know it does for so many of my employees. Providing a workplace where we can bring our faith with us to work makes for a better workplace and a more successful business!”

King Husein is competing for a Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal, which will be announced and awarded on Aug. 24 virtually at Dare to Overcome. Dare to Overcome is the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s global intersectionality conference, highlighting the ways diverse communities support and reinforce one another to build more inclusive workplaces and peaceful societies.

Background on the Awards

The Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards are presented biennially by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, a US-based nonprofit, in cooperation with the United Nations Global Compact’s Business for Peace initiative. The foundation helps educate the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business and how they can promote respect for freedom of religion or belief.

The awards are held in tandem with the opening of the Paralympic Games, including previously being held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and in Seoul in 2018. This year they will be held during RFBF’s Dare to Overcome event, Aug. 22-24, 2021, both virtually worldwide and in-person in Tokyo (due to pandemic restrictions, limited to those already in Japan) .

In the short video below, the global chair of the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards, Dr. Brian Grim (also president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation), shares the inspiration for these awards, followed by brief reflections by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Brian Grim Appointed as Advisor for Brandeis University’s “Chaplains as Facilitators of Covenantal Pluralism” Study

27 Jul, 2021

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dr. Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, has been appointed as an advisor to the Covenantal Pluralism Study by Brandeis University’s Chaplaincy Lab. He joins a diverse Advisory Committee of 28 key stakeholders in a wide range of chaplaincy and spiritual care across settings (a group only beginning to work together) who have, in turn, engaged their constituents at each stage of the project.

The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab received a $1.5 million grant from the Templeton Religion Trust for a three-year study and conversation about the demand for the work of chaplaincy and spiritual care across the United States. In partnership with Gallup, Inc, the Lab will conduct a national survey and in-depth interviews to learn who in the general public has engaged with chaplains in recent years and what their experiences have been. This project will also allow the Lab to map how chaplains are trained and where the gaps are between supply and demand.

Wendy Cadge, the project’s principal investigator and Senior Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives at Brandeis, said “We think chaplains and spiritual care providers are going to play increasingly central roles in religious leadership in coming years. The public has become more aware of their work since the COVID-19 pandemic as they cared for patients, staff and family members at a distance in hospitals across the United States.”

Chaplains have long histories in the military, prisons, and other settings and are increasingly found in new places such as community organizations, social movements, and social service organizations.

The project will analyze how members of the public have engaged with chaplains in recent years and use this new knowledge to think about how chaplains can best be trained for their work. Most attention to chaplaincy and spiritual care today focuses not on these demand questions but on the supply of chaplains. Scholars and educators debate how chaplains should be educated, what endorsements or certifications are required, and how to continue to support them over their careers. This project will challenge that conversation by collecting much-needed data about demand. In some settings this is demand for an actual chaplain; in other settings, the demand is for the skills of presence; empathetic listening; improvisation; an awareness of spiritual, religious and broad existential issues of meaning and purpose; knowledge and ability to comfort around death; and the ability to engage deeply across religious difference.

From the start, the project will have an advisory group of close to thirty stakeholders in spiritual care, the institutions where chaplains work, and theological education. They will play particular attention to how chaplains enable people from different backgrounds and belief systems to engage one another, as key facilitators of covenantal pluralism in the United States.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with Brandeis, Dr. Cadge and her team to support the work of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab,” commented Dr. W. Christopher Stewart, Vice President of Grant Programs at the Templeton Religion Trust.  “CIL has quickly become an important part of the American landscape in preparing educators and chaplains to facilitate cooperative, constructive engagement across deep differences while enhancing the spiritual welfare of individuals, and society. TRT supports CIL because chaplains embody the freedom of conscience, religious literacy, and humility that our world needs to engage others with empathy and patience, thus improving the overall conditions of societies and strengthening the vitality of religions.”

The Lab is pleased to be joined by postdoctoral fellow Grace Tien in this work. Tien completed her PhD in sociology at Princeton University on an accelerated track with the Dean’s Completion Fellowship and is currently a postdoctoral scholar and a research affiliate of Princeton’s Center on Contemporary China. The American Sociological Association recently awarded Tien the 2020 best student paper prize in economic sociology and entrepreneurship.

By the end of the project, the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab will have produced multiple working papers, publicly available and academic articles, and a draft monograph on the future of the field.

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About the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab

Founded in 2018, the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab supports chaplains in all sectors as they recognize and respond to changes in American religious and spiritual life. The Lab brings chaplaincy leaders, theological educators, clinical educators, and social scientists into a research-based conversation about the state of chaplaincy and spiritual care. Driving its work are questions about how spiritual caregivers can do their best work. The Lab aims to improve how chaplains are trained, how they work with diverse individuals (including those with no religious or spiritual backgrounds), and how spiritual care develops as a professional field

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About Brandeis University

Brandeis University was founded in 1948 by the American Jewish community at a time when Jews and other marginalized groups faced discrimination in higher education. Today, Brandeis is a leading research university for anyone, regardless of background, who wants to use their knowledge, skills and experience to improve the world. Nearly 6,000 Brandeis students and 550 faculty members collaborate across disciplines, interests and perspectives on scholarship that has a positive impact throughout society. Learn more at brandeis.edu.

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About the Templeton Religion Trust

Templeton Religion Trust (TRT) is a global charitable trust chartered by Sir John Templeton in 1984 with headquarters in Nassau, The Bahamas. TRT has been active since 2012 and supports projects as well as storytelling related to projects seeking to enrich the conversation about religion. TRT is always seeking more spiritual information, more “benefits of religion,” and more spiritual growth.

Chaplaincy Innovation Lab Contact

Michael Skaggs, PhD
Director of Programs
781 736 4399
[email protected]

Maurice Samuel Ostro, OBE, KFO, Finalist in the 2021 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards

26 Jul, 2021

PRESS RELEASE: Maurice Samuel Ostro, OBE, KFO, Chair of Ostro Fayre Share Foundation, Vice Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews (the UK’s oldest interfaith organization) and the Founding Patron of the Faiths Forum for London, has been an interfaith champion in business and philanthropy for decades.

He has promoted religious inclusion in the businesses he has started and grown. For example, he provided prayer rooms for all faiths represented by the more than 1,000 employees in his offices to ensure that all staff feel comfortable practicing their faiths during the workday. He has also established a social enterprise making jewellery in Burma, providing dignified, well-paid jobs to Buddhist and Muslim women and building bridges between these communities. In the UK, he is a founding patron of Faiths Forum for London, the capital’s preeminent interfaith body, the chair of Faiths United, a pan-UK coalition of faith leaders responding to COVID-19, and continues to support his Foundation’s initiative, Strengthening Faith Institutions, to assist over 900 faith institutions across the UK.

Maurice has been involved in advising several UK Governmental bodies, latterly on the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission, as well as having been a mentor for one of the UK’s most senior police officers. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and a Knight of the Royal Order of Francis I in 2014.

“It is a true honor for us to recognize one of the world’s leading champions of interfaith understanding,” said Dr. Brian Grim, President of the  Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, “and we wholeheartedly congratulate Mr. Ostro as a finalist for the 2021 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards.”

On the occasion of this nomination, Maurice Ostro OBE shared the following:

“I am honoured to be a finalist for these awards. It has been a privilege to work with faith leaders and businesspeople to build bridges between communities and use our different perspectives to deliver imaginative solutions to real problems. I stand on the shoulders of giants: this award is a testament to their vision and perseverance too.”

Mr. Ostro is competing for a Gold, Silver, or Bronze medal, which will be announced and awarded on Aug. 24 virtually at Dare to Overcome. Dare to Overcome is the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s global intersectionality conference, highlighting the ways diverse communities support and reinforce one another to build more inclusive workplaces and peaceful societies.

Background on the Awards

The Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards are presented biennially by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, a US-based nonprofit, in cooperation with the United Nations Global Compact’s Business for Peace initiative. The foundation helps educate the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business and how they can promote respect for freedom of religion or belief.

The awards are held in tandem with the opening of the Paralympic Games, including previously being held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and in Seoul in 2018. This year they will be held during RFBF’s Dare to Overcome event, Aug. 22-24, 2021, both virtually worldwide and in-person in Tokyo (due to pandemic restrictions, limited to those already in Japan) .

In the short video below, the global chair of the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards, Dr. Brian Grim (also president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation), shares the inspiration for these awards, followed by brief reflections by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Khalid Khoshnaw, Founder Hemn Group, employs all nationalities to work side-by-side in Iraq

26 Jul, 2021

PRESS RELEASE: Following the sectarian conflicts in Iraq, many families were forced to flee the country in hopes of seeking a safe place to openly practice their faith and beliefs. In response, Khalid Khowshnaw founded the Hemn Group which combats any form of discrimination including that of race, religion, ethnicity, or sectarian groups.

The Hemn Group promotes inclusion of differing nationalities working alongside one another, oftentimes sharing in each other’s celebrations and feasts. They are also credited for providing jobs for countless Christians, Muslims, and Yazidi in areas that are safe to practice their faith and beliefs free of discrimination and facilitates the free practice of worship. This also creates an inclusive, sustainable economy, an antidote to sectarian conflict.

The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation congratulates Khalid Khowshnaw as a finalist for the 2021 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards. On the occasion of this nomination, the Hemn Group shared the following:

  • — “During the many years of the sectarian conflicts in Iraq after 2003, many families fled from the other parts of Iraq to the Kurdistan region seeking a safe zone. We at the Hemn Group offered many the opportunity of getting jobs, many of whom have been promoted to occupy high levels of the jobs and have continued working with us for long time and still there are still a large number thanks that their areas are saved and safe now compare to the past years. In the Hemn Group, you will find different religious believers are respected and facilitations are provided for them to practice their worships: Muslims, Christians, Yazidi are free to express themselves without been hatred or prevented. We share each others’ celebrations and feasts.”

Khalid Khowshnaw is competing for a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal, which will be announced and awarded on Aug. 24 virtually at Dare to Overcome. Dare to Overcome is the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s global intersectionality conference, highlighting the ways diverse communities support and reinforce one another to build more inclusive workplaces and peaceful societies.

Background on the Awards

The Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards are presented biennially by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, a US-based nonprofit, in cooperation with the United Nations Global Compact’s Business for Peace initiative. The foundation helps educate the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business and how they can promote respect for freedom of religion or belief.

The awards are held in tandem with the opening of the Paralympic Games, including previously being held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and in Seoul in 2018. This year they will be held during RFBF’s Dare to Overcome event, Aug. 22-24, 2021, both virtually worldwide and in-person in Tokyo (due to pandemic restrictions, limited to those already in Japan) .

In the short video below, the global chair of the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards, Dr. Brian Grim (also president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation), shares the inspiration for these awards, followed by brief reflections by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

American Airlines: “Our purpose is to care for people on life’s journey.”

23 Jul, 2021

Millicent Rone ( MBA, ITIL), Sr. Specialist, Inclusion and Diversity, at American Airlines celebrated this week American Airlines receiving 2nd place for the Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index 2021 AND… has been named the official airline of Dare to Overcome, a Global Faith-and-Belief Oriented ERG festival in support of peace and people with disabilities, held in tandem with the Paralympic Games.

For the sixth year in a row, American received a top score of 100 on the Disability Equality Index (DEI) and is named one of the best places to work for disability inclusion in 2021.

At American Airlines, our purpose is to care for people on life’s journey – a mission that extends beyond the airline and into the communities we serve. Thanks to our Christian, Indian and Abilities ERGs for collaborating and for their passion to serve!

REDI Index | RFBF (https://lnkd.in/eQ256f5)

Dare to Overcome award from American Airlines goes to Justin Greene

What’s the WHY that Drives Your Company?

23 Jul, 2021

by Kent Johnson, J.D., Senior Corporate Advisor, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation

Part of the blog series, Authenticity & Connection


Economist Milton Friedman famously said,

“There is one and only one social responsibility of business–to use its resources and engage in activities designed to INCREASE ITS PROFITS so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.” (Emphasis added).

Do you agree?

Set aside for a moment the carefully worded WHY that your company may already have put in writing; the one that defines social responsibility in less craven terms than Friedman used. What’s REALLY the main why that’s driving your company?

Today I’ll suggest a course that clears the way to truly embrace a rich, resilient, and productive WHY. I’ll describe what, for many, will be a new kind of connection; one that will engage your increasingly diverse workers.

Nearly all major faith traditions agree that, when it’s the preeminent goal, the profit motive is a toxic master. When profitability is preeminent, the culture drives people to secretly walk as close to the edge of legality and ethics as they can, without getting caught. Over time, such a culture fans distrust among coworkers. It breeds skepticism, disloyalty and fear. It forces employees to hide their personal values and aspirations, as if they were something to be ashamed of.

For clarification, I’m emphatically NOT denigrating profit, and I’m not intending to frame the issue as pitting virtue against profit… as if maximizing one necessitated diminishing the other. Far from it. I’m simply pointing out how open discussion of people’s core values helps guard against making profitability the overwhelming value.

In the fight against Covid-19, rampant skepticism was heaped on pharmaceutical companies and logistics suppliers. Were they improperly taking advantage of the pandemic for financial gain? Skepticism about companies’ motives was also fanned by automotive lawsuits, where companies allegedly ignored concerns from employees about possible environmental and safety risks in order to save a few dollars per car. Many other examples will come to your mind. Think about it: Do you trust “big business” to care about anything but monetary gain?

Companies today need to clearly define their core values and their mission, and then connect their actions with their core values. They’ve got to look beyond the short term “bottom line.” But how should they go about defining and establishing those core values as real, outcome-determinative factors?

For this, I contend that they should look to the hearts and minds of their diverse people.

We at the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation have seen, time and again, the positively transformative effects that flow when companies and government agencies take the bold step of asking their employees to bring their core values and beliefs to bear in the workplace.

When we encourage people of faith – and atheists, and agnostics – up and down the reporting chain, to openly discuss their core beliefs and principles with management and with each other… and to listen carefully and respectfully to one another… several richly beneficial effects follow. First, simply by prompting such discussion, Management sends a much-desired message: that the core values and beliefs of their people MATTER to the way the company works. Their values and beliefs are not an obstacle. They’re not irrelevant. They are a treasured asset. They should be expressed.

Second, by inviting voluntary, open sharing of personal value systems, we enable our people to make themselves personally accountable to each other to conform to those values. In an environment where it seems profits are King, this kind of voluntary mutual accountability is countercultural. And positively transformative.

What kinds of values are we talking about here? Among many others, here are just a few specific core beliefs that employees often express when asked:

  • — Failing to give credit where it’s due, and taking undue credit to oneself, tears at the fabric of community and purpose, and saps creativity. It’s a form of theft. The same applies to the practice of stifling or failing to listen to the ideas of people of any category who often are excluded by the culture.
  • — A “blame and shame” culture is demoralizing. It pressures workers to hide serious problems, rather than address them.
  • — Respect for fellow workers, regardless of differences, strengthens culture. (The kinds of beliefs expressed by the winners of RFBF’s “Religious Freedom Film Competition provide additional examples).

When leaders formally open the door to discussions of core beliefs and values relevant to work, skeptics will think at first that they just want to “look good;” that behind the façade, they’re still driven by short term profitability, however it’s achieved. They’ll presume at first that coworkers who are talking about values just want to appear more virtuous than others. But with time, as the company navigates everyday operations and the sharing continues, sincerity, authenticity and connection gain credibility. Skepticism begins to dissolve and give way to solid hope.

Open this door. Then be amazed at the positive effects on your company’s true WHY.

Special thanks to Paul Michalski for several of the ideas I incorporated into this piece; including the quote from Milton Friedman.

Dr. Judith Richter, CEO Medinol, overcomes differences by focusing on the heart – cardiovascular & spiritual

23 Jul, 2021

PRESS RELEASE: In the Holy Lands, differing religious, cultural, and historical claims are connected to ongoing conflicts. In response, Medinol CEO Dr. Judith Richter founded the NIR School of the Heart to help high school students not only understand cardio-vascular career opportunities but also connect the hearts of people from different cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Dr. Richter helps students build bridges across cultures through the process of learning. As one of the graduates summed up the experience, The NIR School of the Heart “will make the whole Middle East a better place.” The program has become widely popular and currently has 826 graduates who are functioning as ambassadors for peace, out of which 225 are also pursuing careers in medical-related professions.

The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation congratulates Dr. Judith Richter as a finalist for the 2021 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards. On the occasion of this nomination, Dr. Richter shared some of the core principles underlying her amazing work:

  • — “Having shared goals will always lead to cooperation if a willingness to communicate is adopted and encouraged.”
  • — “Embracing diversity is the basis upon which tolerance, generosity and mutual respect can be achieved.”
  • — “Differences are assets to be cultivated and celebrated, rather than a reason for confrontation.”

Dr. Richter is competing for a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal, which will be announced and awarded on Aug. 24 virtually at Dare to Overcome. Dare to Overcome is the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s global intersectionality conference, highlighting the ways diverse communities support and reinforce one another to build more inclusive workplaces and peaceful societies.

Background on the Awards

The Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards are presented biennially by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, a US-based nonprofit, in cooperation with the United Nations Global Compact’s Business for Peace initiative. The foundation helps educate the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business and how they can promote respect for freedom of religion or belief.

The awards are held in tandem with the opening of the Paralympic Games, including previously being held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and in Seoul in 2018. This year they will be held during RFBF’s Dare to Overcome event, Aug. 22-24, 2021, both virtually worldwide and in-person in Tokyo (due to pandemic restrictions, limited to those already in Japan) .

In the short video below, the global chair of the Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards, Dr. Brian Grim (also president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation), shares the inspiration for these awards, followed by brief reflections by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

CEOs/Chairs of Intel, Tyson Foods, Span Construction, Medinol, etc. are 2021 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award Finalists

22 Jul, 2021

IMMEDIATE RELEASE (EIN Presswire): Washington and Tokyo – 2021 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award Finalists include CEOs/Chairs of Intel, Tyson Foods, Span Construction, Medinol & More

2021 finalists come from Australia, India, Iraq, Israel, Japan, UK & US in multiple industries: technology, construction, food, health, law, gems & education

Ten business men and women from around the world are in competition for gold, silver and bronze medals for their work in interfaith understanding, religious freedom and peace. All of the leaders are recognized for using their businesses to bridge cultural and religious divides.

“The world’s most successful companies, like Intel & Tyson Foods, by welcoming faith and belief in their workplaces are, in effect, “building” religious freedom for everyone, inclusive of all faiths and beliefs,” said Dr. Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.

Winners of the third biannual Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards will be announced and honored in a virtual global ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 24, the day of the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. For winners in Japan, a special awards ceremony will be held at the prestigious Sophia University in Tokyo in Aug. 22, based on health protocols at the time.

Previous Awards were presented in tandem with previous Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro (2016) and in Seoul (2018), where former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Robert C. Gay, former managing director of Bain Capital, gave keynote addresses.

The awards are presented by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit, in cooperation with the United Nations Global Compact’s Business for Peace initiative. The foundation helps educate the global business community about how religious freedom is good for business and how they can promote respect for freedom of religion or belief.

Finalists come from a variety of religious backgrounds and manage companies and enterprises in Australia, India, Iraq, Israel, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals are given in three categories: Core Business, Philanthropy, and Advocacy.

Finalists in Core Business:

  • — Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s CEO, and Sandra Rivera, executive vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and AI Group at Intel Corporation (US & Global), who have helped create a culture where people can bring their whole selves to work – faith and all – thanks to solidly incorporating religious diversity into their overall diversity & inclusion commitments.
  • — John Tyson, Chairman of Tyson Foods (US & Global), was an early pioneer of building a faith-friendly workplace by recognizing the spiritual and psychological needs of all employees.
  • — Khalid Khowshnaw founder of the Hemn Group (Iraq), combating any form of discrimination including that of race, religion, ethnicity, or sectarian groups by promoting people of these differing nationalities to work alongside one another in reconstruction.

Finalists in Philanthropy:

  • — Dr. Judith Richter, CEO of Medinol (Israel), dedicated to the science of cardiovascular intervention, who also founded the NIR School of the Heart to help high school students not only understand cardio-vascular career opportunities but also connect the hearts of people from different cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds in Israel, Jordon and the Palestinian Territories.
  • — Maurice Ostro, Chair of Ostro Fayre Share Foundation (UK & Global), Vice Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews (the UK’s oldest interfaith organization) and the Founding Patron of the Faiths Forum for London. He has been an interfaith champion in business and philanthropy.
  • — Dr. John Gathright founded Tree Climbing Japan, helping children of differing faiths, abilities, and challenges come together to find an increased self-confidence through embracing the challenge of climbing trees. The program’s goal is to help all children grow up like magnificent trees, standing tall and strong, kind and unique, and helping each other.

Finalists in Advocacy:

  • — King Husein, Chairman and CEO of Span Construction & Engineering (US & Global), has played a critical role addressing the rising tide of restrictions on religious freedom that has swept the globe over the past decade. His contributions range from helping found the South Asian Consortium for Religion and Law Studies, to helping kick off the first-ever Business Roundtable to advance International Religious Freedom during the 2019 UN General Assembly in New York City.
  • — Peter Mousaferiadis, founder of Cultural Infusion (Australia), is a pioneer in using cultural and artistic expression as a means of promoting social cohesion and interfaith understanding. Cultural Infusion has developed award winning and world leading platforms that can transform diversity and inclusion in organizations and communities and people’s understanding of cultural diversity.
  • Candice Corby, CEO of Cobra Legal Solutions (India & USA), promotes the celebration of religion and belief, encouraging employees to be their full selves including bringing their faith and beliefs to work by observing every festival and religious holiday world-wide, and also by hosting a commemoration for religions in a week known as “Cobra Life Week”.

Additional Details

The awards are presented as the culminating event of Dare to Overcome (DTO) (August 22-24, 2021), the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s global “intersectionality conference” highlighting how diverse communities support one another in building more inclusive workplaces and peaceful societies. Conference website: https://event.vconferenceonline.com/microsite/html/event.aspx?id=2056

The 2021 jury is comprised of a group of high-level experts, including from the European Union (H.E. Ján Figeľ, former Special Envoy for promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU); the NGO religious freedom community (Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice, and a former Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom); and the business & peace community (Per L. Saxegaard, Business CEO, and Founder and Executive Chairman of the Business for Peace Foundation, Oslo, Norway).

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