Heart-Business: Building a Kinder, Gentler Workplace,
by Dolores Lynn Torrell
Introduction
Many people know the corporate environment as a "mean
environment" where 'dog eats dog' and competition is as stiff as the gladiators
fighting in the colosseums of Ancient Rome. Though this may appear as a normal
stereotype of corporations during the Industrial Revolution, Dolores or Dee Dee
Torrell offers a different view of this corporate marketplace. Instead of looking
at the marketplace as one of fierce competition, she focuses on an aspect of
corporate environment that is present but has been neglected: its humanity.
Eventually, she says that a corporation is a company of people, linked
together in success or failure. It is our ability to understand, to support
and to care about one another that is critical to the success of the corporate
business.
A special and heartwarming book
This book written by Dee Dee Torrell is not only special and heartwarming,
it is a very important contribution to a better understanding of the
business environment. It reminds us that our personal commitments
to treating people with respect is not in conflict with our success;
on the contrary, treating people with respect is essential to business
success. AT&T Vice President William V. Catucci writes in the foreword
of Dee Dee's book:
"At AT&T, we are proud of the way we treat one another, in good times
or bad. And we are proud of people like Dee Dee Torrell, who are living
proof that even in a large organization, one individual can make an
enormous difference.
The chapters in the book
Dee Dee outlines her writing into six brief chapters:
Chapter 1 - A marketplace devoid of spirituality
Chapter 2 - The marketplace: its culture and philosophy
Chapter 3 - A personal journey into the marketplace
Chapter 4 - Representing God in the marketplace
Chapter 5 - The dignity of work
Chapter 6 - The seventh principle: diakonia
Seven principles
Dee Dee shares many things about her bringing humanity and spirituality
to the corporate environment and the marketplace. All this can be summarized
in the seven principles she outlines in Chapter five of her book - The dignity
of work. These seven principles are:
Do business with a heart
Trust and be trusting
Be compassionate
Be kind, be honest, be kind
Listen with a "third ear"
Be supportive
Be of loving service to others
Dolores (Dee Dee) Torrell
Dee Dee, called by others as the "ministry lady at AT&T" is an Executive
Assistant to the Director of Service Plans Support/Federal Government
Affairs at AT&T Headquarters, Basking Ridge, New Jersey, USA. She holds
a Masters of Arts degrees in English Literature and Communications and
in Pastoral Ministry and Counselling. At the printing of this book,
she is a Ph.D. candidate in Psychology and Religion at Drew University.
Dee Dee's assessment of the modern work environment tells us that
meanness is not necessarily "in", competition does not necessarily
rule supreme, and that spirituality and compassion in business often
help the "bottom line". William J. Toth, Asst. Professor of
Moral Theology at Seton Hall University recommends this book very
much and says: "I commend this book to all the prophetic realists in
our midst, especially those who seek to extend the justice, joy and
peace of God's reign to our workplaces."
Many people know the corporate environment as a "mean
environment" where 'dog eats dog' and competition is as stiff as the gladiators
fighting in the colosseums of Ancient Rome. Though this may appear as a normal
stereotype of corporations during the Industrial Revolution, Dolores or Dee Dee
Torrell offers a different view of this corporate marketplace. Instead of looking
at the marketplace as one of fierce competition, she focuses on an aspect of
corporate environment that is present but has been neglected: its humanity.
Eventually, she says that a corporation is a company of people, linked
together in success or failure. It is our ability to understand, to support
and to care about one another that is critical to the success of the corporate
business.