Which answers does "Practical Wisdom" have to the current management challenges? What can companies in the 21st century learn from the lessons of Lao-Tse on sustainability? What food for thought does the indigenous land mysticism of Australia provide for the further development of our current system of property rights? To what extent can the German system of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) be understood as the institutionalized wisdom of the entrepreneur? What impulses do Islamic banking approaches have for structuring future financial markets? These and other questions were discussed by students, researchers and practitioners from seven countries at the Intercultural Summer School on "Rediscovering Practical Wisdom for Management" in Marrakech, Morocco from 7 to 17 October. With the support of the Practical Wisdom Society and the Hans-Seidel-Foundation, the Chair of Christian Social Ethics and Social Policy launched an international call for proposals - and 35 participants from Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America as well as a delegation from the University of Agadir accepted the invitation to Marrakech. Keynote speeches, student presentations, group discussions, case studies as well as excursions and company visits determined the dense program of these days and invited to rediscover "practical wisdom" from religious, philosophical and spiritual traditions - especially in their role as civilizing business practices. Cultural and normative traditions should not only be perceived as the ballast of a backward past. Rather, wisdom traditions in narratives, sayings or proverbs can represent an important "cultural asset" of society: An asset, which contributes to civilizing business practice and offers orientation in the everyday life of future business elites.
The focus was initially on the dual vocational training in Germany and the function of the chambers of industry and commerce as a structured form of cooperation between the public and private sectors ("institutionalized wisdom") - a topic that met with great interest in many African countries in view of the dramatically high youth unemployment. The participants made intensive use of the opportunity to discuss directly with the president of the IHK Munich, who had travelled to the event as a keynote speaker. In addition, a discussion with the managing director of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce from the Machokos region (Kenya) took place, which made the differences and similarities between the two types of institutions clear to the participants at first hand. Another topic was the situation of women in the Moroccan labour market. Two female students from the host country reported on the status quo from their respective perspectives ("modern woman" versus "traditional woman") - followed by an employee of Hans-Seidel-Foundation, who provided macroeconomic data on the precarious situation of women especially in rural areas (e.g. about 38 percent illiteracy), which triggered lively discussions in the plenum. Afterwards, while visiting a women's cooperative in rural areas, the Summer School was able to form its own impression of the working and living conditions in the villages of the Moroccan south, which are predominantly populated by the Berber minority (local indigenous ethnic group). Many contributions focused on the business ethics of Islam - such as the model of justice ("Zakat") in business, between exchange partners in the market, but also between competitors.
Despite the dense programme, there were also plenty of opportunities for personal intercultural encounters. Outside the seminar room - over a cup of coffee, lunch or a tour of the old town of Marrakech – the participants got to know each other and each other's cultures better. One of the highlights was, for example, a visit to the local Sufi sanctuary to pray with a leading Islamic religious scholar of the country. On another evening, the Moroccan students acted as guides for their fellow students and took them on a tour of the bustling market in Marrakech. When it was time to say goodbye, there was a great interest in staying in contact, organising joint exchange programmes and guest lectures, taking up the issues raised in research and initiating new projects. The practice representatives also signalled their agreement, interest and willingness to cooperate in the search for case studies and practical forms of "wise" entrepreneurship. Finally, the Hans-Seidel-Foundation in Magreb signalled its sustained interest in the topic as well as its willingness to participate in the organisation of a summer school again next year.
Selected Testimonials from the Seminar Discussions
“Culture plays a very important role in the teaching at Tangasa College, Catholic University of East Africa. Every Friday, students have a ‘Cultural Day’ wearing their traditional dresses; moreover, once a semester we also organize a ‘cultural week’ reflecting about the role of cultural values in the social practice of our society” (female Lecturer, Kenya).
“In our country, founder-entrepreneurs almost always bequest the company to their sons. Therefore, I was struck to learn about the experience of Dr. Sasse [Präsident der IHK München und deutscher Unternehmensgründer] that working together with the daughter as an heir is much easier than with a son” (female Moroccan business student from Univ. of Agadir).
“I did my internship in Mexico in a Jewish company. The owner treated his employees extremely well and tried to foster their personal development. Such wisdom has to do with a religious tradition, in which legitimate prophets often give witness against the king and take a stance for the poor and oppressed. Even if I am not religious, I was deeply impressed to learn about the power of religious values in the workplace” (female Mexican MA student currently studying in Germany).
“Albeit it was violently oppressed during the cultural revolution, Dao tradition still plays an important role for many Chinese Entrepreneurs. The teaching of the Daodejing concerning the harmony of cosmologic forces demonstrate multiple associations with the concept of Sustainability, which – as it is originating in Western thought – still remains somewhere alien to Chinese people” (female Chinese student, currently studying at WWF/ KU).
“The business ethics of the monotheistic religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – has basically identical content” (Dr. Abdallah Cherif Quazzani, leading business ethics researcher
in Morocco and advisor to King Mohammed V.).
“Many current violent conflicts in the Mexican society have to do with the massive cultural up-rooting taking place during colonial times. In Mexico today, we are still searching for our identity between Aztec and Catholic spiritual traditions. This holds also true for entrepreneurs, as well. Much intellectual work still has to be done in that respect” (female Mexican student, currently studying in Italy)
“During the 1960s and 1970s, many traditional houses at Marrakech laid idle. The recent
boom of touristic visits brought about new chances for traditional craftsmanship. Today
young people are educated in these traditional professions again and the knowledge is preserved”
(Marrakesh hotel owner & founder of a traditional art museum).
“The concept of servant leadership developed by the American scholar Greenleaf substantially
resonates with the responsibility ethos of African tribe leaders for their people. However,
their stories are never told in our textbooks” (female PhD student from Catholic University
of East Africa).
“Our chamber of commerce is supporting the formation of a professional identity of our
small and medium entrepreneurs. Therefore, we are strongly motivated to promote Practical
Wisdom from the African Tradition in our region Machoko” (General Secretary of a regional
Chamber of Commerce in Kenya).
