Chicago Business Roundtable

By Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, and Sister Joellen Sbrissa, CSJ

September 25, 2014

Sister Simone:

From my perspective, the business round table was one of the most interesting and creative discussions I have had about the common good. We met with six successful business leaders (one woman and five men) to talk about their experiences.

We came to realize that the reason the CEOs keep wanting more in salary is not because of needing more money. Rather, we realized that entrepreneurs are very competitive and money becomes the measure of success. We discussed what could be a new measure of success so that we could distribute more of the money to those who are being left out.

We also talked about the complexity of regulation for business and how challenging it is to follow all of the rules. The business folk said they wanted less regulation. But as we talked I realized that these laws and regulations start out very simple but get more complex in the lobbying process as industries have their lobbyists advocate for special consideration. It is all of these special considerations that add volume to the regulations. So if business complains, we need to explain to them how they are part of the problem.

In short, when we have curious conversations with people we do not usually talk to we can get new insights. This is the way we work for the 100%.

Sister Joellen:

One perspective from when Sister Simone and other sisters met with for breakfast with business people in Chicago stood out to me in particular:

When talking about minimum wage, an owner of an amusement facility shared that he would start workers at minimum wage and increase it after a short period of time. He also gave all workers benefits, including young people who work for him. However, he felt it was difficult to keep raising wages because he is unable to increase the price of the amusement entrance fees due to the fact that tourists from out-of-state considered an increase mad it too difficult for them to buy entrance.