The three R’s: Reason, Religion, Resolution

The little book I was reading today is dated 1884. I am pondering how its counsel would sound to the modern reader.

“Reason is the rudder wherewith you are to steer your course, and religion the compass by which you are to guide it; but resolution is the wind that will set you forward, without which your sails will often flag.”

The booklet was given to each person completing an apprenticeship in the City of London. Back in the day, these internships would last seven years, and the trainee would generally graduate before their 21st birthday. Actually, they were given their freedom from indenture, but it was not necessarily how we would define freedom. The handwritten note at the front of the book reads:

“…as a fellow worker for the common good of man.”

Today we have Fourth Sector corporations and B-Corporations. Lest we think serving the “common good of man” is a new concept, this greater goal of work dates back centuries to the very first companies in England. Nowadays many believe reason and resolution are enough. Back then, however, there was an admission that we cannot really serve others without all three R’s: Reason, Religion and Resolution. Business, like economics, was never meant to be a rudderless endeavor, and we know full well that “maximizing shareholder value” is not a compass that can withstand the twin attacks of greed and fear.

I think “reason” has its own dangers, as does resolution, of course. Perhaps it is the braiding of all three that makes any one of them palatable, if not essential, ingredients of good work.