Monthly Archives: June 2023

Report on Faith in Action to be released at Davos 2024

The report will set out a comprehensive agenda to accelerate business engagement with faith partners, and the ground-work for a regional Faith in Action Dialogue Series in 2024.

The World Economic Forum will launch its Faith in Action report during Annual Meeting 2024 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, as part of its ongoing engagement on the relevance and the role of religion towards global challenges.

Dr. Brian Grim, has been invited to join the Faith in Action Advisory Board. As board member, Grim will provide insights and expertise to help shape the content and direction of the report, ensuring its relevance and impact on a global scale.

Advisory Board members will have a profound impact on the global understanding of the impact of faith towards systemic global challenges and the potential for stronger collaborations that benefit all.

In partnership with key global faith representatives, experts and community leaders, the Forum will launch the report in January 2024 highlighting key contributions that faith communities and organizations are providing through partnerships.

Covering key thematic areas for public-private cooperation (from climate action to values-based investments), the report will provide a roadmap for business, government and philanthropic engagement of faith communities and organizations in transformative partnerships.

Salesforce’s Faithforce shines light on service & celebrating each other’s festivals

By Brian Grim

The highlight of my current trip to India has been a visit to the Hyderabad headquarters of Salesforce. I met the president of Faithforce India, members of their leadership team as well as the Executive Vice president for Faithforce Global, who’s based there.

The Faithforce Business Resource Group (BRG) India is a network of 1,500+ members spanning multiple cities. In addition organizing inclusive mindfulness yoga in locations across the country as well as celebrating each other’s festivals and gaining knowledge of each other’s beliefs, they also collaboratively engage in community service.

For example, during last year’s December holidays and their champion month, each office put up a sustainable Christmas Tree through which they collected donations for children in need across India. The donations for this #BeAFaithSanta Drive included hygiene kits, educational kits, clothes, sports equipment and toys. Faithforce members planted the trees afterwards, in partnership with their environmental Business Resource Group – Earthforce.

Each floor also has a purpose-built mindfulness room for meditation and prayer, just as Salesforce offices do worldwide.

To learn more about the inclusive and cross culturally engaged Salesforce communities in India, watch the recent Indian “Economic Times Now” episode profiling Salesforce on “India’s Finest Workplaces,” which also features India’s Faithforce story (beginning at 5:45 mark)!

And what’s the business impact of all of this? It improves collaboration and engagement, increases retention and recruitment, and ultimately increases the bottom line. Indeed, Faithforce is a Business Resource Group (BRG)!

Companies in India and worldwide are invited to checkout Dare to Overcome, Oct. 3-5, 2023, to learn more about the positive role BRGs play in business success!

By Brian Grim

Greetings from India! As US President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Modi held their summit in Washington, I have been meeting with partners in India to prepare for our global edition of Dare to Overcome (DTO), in tandem with the G20 hosted by India..

Time after time, I’ve been impressed with how many people are working for an India where all people — regardless of creed or belief — are valued and included.

I also met with UNESCO’s Culture Program officer Junhi Han, who enthusiastically supported Dare to Overcome.

As more partners come on board, the promise of India as a counterpoint to the ultra authoritarian system promoted by China is a light on the horizon.

To quote Modi, “regardless of caste, creed, religion [or] gender, there’s absolutely no space for discrimination.” Of course, walking the talk is what’s needed.

The challenges are real. Nonetheless, it’s an ideal to be realized if India is to be the success story of the 21st century!

SAP Interfaith Alliance Team hosted an enlightening and thought-provoking virtual event with business people who are members of faiths often misunderstood: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Scientology, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism. Watch to have your myths dispelled!

High Level UK Meeting to Explore Positive Role of Faith and Belief at Work

By Brian Grim

On Monday at No. 10 Downing Street, office of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, I met with Myles Stacey OBE, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister. We discussed the upcoming high level Faith and Work summit to be hosted at No. 10 on July 10.

The Faith in Work summit will bring together senior leaders from the worlds of government, faith and business, to explore the positive role and impact of religion and belief in the UK workplace.

A growing number of businesses are discovering that wellbeing, productivity, and profitability often improve significantly when employers acknowledge the importance of faith and belief among their workforce and encourage employees to bring their whole selves to work.

Along these lines, this high-level meeting will explore proven models and future strategies to enhance the place of faith in work across the UK.

Additionally, on Monday, I participated in the World Economic Forum’s Civil Society Community Connect session. It was hosted by Klaus Schwab, Founder and Chairman of the World Economic Forum. (Also see Davos 2018 video.)

These come on the heels of speaking last week at Salesforce Faithforce and Microsoft Interfaith Connection events.

I’m arriving in India on Wednesday to work on preparations for our Dare to Overcome conference in India.

Stay tuned for updates!

Brian Grim delivered a fireside chat for Faithforce’s global leadership team this past week. He discussed Salesforce’s results on the Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index, scoring as the #1 faith-friendly software company.

Grim also met with members of Microsoft’s employee initiative Interfaith Connection. He shared about the REDI Index with them, including its history and the benefits of benchmarking progress in workplace religious inclusion.

Dr. Brian Grim, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation President, participated in the World Economic Forum’s Civil Society Community Connect session on June 19. It was hosted by Klaus Schwab, Founder and Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

The World Economic Forum’s Civil Society Community includes the most impactful and influential international organizations representing the interests and concerns of citizens, marginalized populations, workers, grassroots movements and social causes: including non-governmental organizations, non-profits, labour and trade unions, faith based organizations and religious leaders, and indigenous peoples and communities.

What are the issues at the top of this community’s minds halfway through 2023? How can we advance public-private collaboration through the Forum’s multistakeholder model through the meaningful integration of civil society voices?

For more on faith engagement at the World economic Forum, see the publications from the Global Agenda Council on the role of Faith archive, Grim’s WEF articles, Grim’s WEF content in Chinese, articles with Jo Anne Lyon, articles with Linda Woodhead, and the Davos video below.

By Brian Grim

I had the honor of presenting the REDI Index Faith-Friendly Workplace Award to Bosch on Wednesday at one of their key U.S. facilities in the Detroit Metro Area.

Thanks to the work of Interfaith@Bosch, Bosch is the #3 most faith-friendly workplace in the Global Fortune 500, according to the 2023 Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index.

Interfaith@Bosch first joined the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s Dare to Overcome initiative during the pandemic when our global conference (slated to be in Tokyo during the 2020 Paralympic Games) was virtual.

Bosch representatives were not able to receive their award at the 2023 Dare to Overcome conference in Washington DC last month to recognized for their success in being a religiously inclusive workplace, so we took the award to them!

The vision of Interfaith@Bosch is to promote understanding and respect for the diverse faiths, religions, and spiritual beliefs represented at Bosch through networking and dialogues, which foster increased awareness and acceptance of all.

Interfaith@Bosch was launched in 2017, with more than 1,800 in more than 37 countries where Bosch offices are located.

Participants in the on-site awards presentation included Interfaith Executive Sponsors, Steering Committee and Management Board from Detroit, Chicago, Charleston and Sunnyvale, and HR colleagues. The Interfaith@Bosch leadership comes from various functional roles: Regional President, VP Sales, Engineering Directors, IT, Finance, etc.

Click here for more information on LinkedIn.

Jeffrey D. Patton, J.D., delivered a keynote address at Dare to Overcome (May 23, 2023) on how faith can be legally integrated into a company’s culture

Jeff’s presentation begins by asking “Where do you want to be as a company?” He discusses examples of faith-based and faith-friendly companies and explains the legal guidelines that help a company map its route, and then from a practical perspective, how to legally implement your company’s plan.

• — Where: Dare to Overcome National Faith@Work ERG Conference. Washington, DC.
• — When: Morning, second day of Dare to Overcome, May 23

Jeffrey D. Patton is the managing Member of the North Carolina office of Spilman Thomas & Battle. Spilman is a regional law firm in the Southeast with a national practice. Jeff’s primary areas of practice are labor and employment, providing management with strategic advice and counseling. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary and his law degree from Wake Forest University. Jeff is part of the presenting team for t-Factor, a Coca-Cola Consolidated training initiative whose purpose is, “To transform workplace cultures around the world for good, for God, for growth.”