21st Century Business Models and the Protestant Work Ethic
When & Where
Date & Time
Location
ILR Conference Center
423 King-Shaw Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States
Overview
Please join us as Professor Anderson examines the contrast between profit-driven business models and the original Protestant work ethic, which emphasized fairness, community trust, and ethical labor practices. Drawing from 17th-century Puritan business principles, the lecture will explore modern challenges—such as private equity’s impact—and ways to improve professional and social services to create more fulfilling work for all.
The Konvitz Lecture is made possible through the generosity of Irwin Jacobs (BEE ’56) and Joan Jacobs (BS HE ’54).
Honored Speaker
About Milton Konvitz
Milton Konvitz was a founding faculty member in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and taught from 1946 until his retirement in 1973. He was also a professor in Cornell's Law School and was widely considered an authority on constitutional and labor law, and civil and human rights. Konvitz is perhaps best known for his American Ideals course, which he taught to more than 8,000 Cornell students over the course of his career, never giving the same lecture twice. "I saw the U.S. Constitution as it has been interpreted as a magnificent depository of our ideals, both individual and social," he said. His course exposed students to the great intellectual thinkers and philosophers throughout history whose writings had shaped those ideals. One student he influenced was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Cornell Class of 1954, who considered him a mentor – some of their later correspondence is in our library’s archives.