Jain Education and Research Foundation
Jain Education and Research Foundation (JERF) and Florida International University have been arranging an invited lecture series to commemorate the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Mahavir, the 24th Tirthankara of the Jains, in April every year. Since 2012, JERF and FIU have initiated another lecture series, named the Mahavir Nirvana Lectures which will be held in late October or November every year, to coincide with the nirvana anniversary of Bhagwan Mahavir. While the Mahavir Jayanti Lectures focuses on aspects of Jain religion or art, Mahavir Nirvan lectures focus on the application of Jain principles like non-violence, non-possessiveness and plurality of views on secular activities like in business or medicine or environmental sustainability. The first Mahavir Nirvan lecture was held on November 14, 2012 and was delivered by Dr. Dipak Jain, Dean, INSEAD, Paris and ex-Dean, Kellog School of Management, Northwestern University, Chicago. This first Mahavir Nirvan lecture was titled: Spiritual Entrepreneurship: From Knowledge to Wisdom. It was attended by students and faculty from FIU and also by members of the local Jain community. The program opened with a sweet rendering of a Jain Bhajan by a local student, Ms. Madhumita Parmar. Prof John F. Stack (Jr), Director, School of International and Public Affairs, FIU addressed the gathering and recounted the highly productive collaboration between FIU and the Jain community. Mr Robert Callahan, Asst Dean, FIU, introduced Dr Jain.
Dr. Dipak Jain's lecture presented a new and inspirational model for spiritual entrepreneurship as a new paradigm for business entrepreneurship. In the model proposed by Dr Jain, the focus of global business has moved from colonialism and occupation of land by nations in the 19th century to free market capitalism by multinational corporations in the 20th century and now to human capital development by individual entrepreneurs in the 21st century. Correspondingly, global business performance metrics has evolved from a yardstick of power and strength in the early period, through a measure of success through profits, and finally now to a judgment of business achievement by its basic purpose and significance to society.
In keeping with the change in the real world business trends, the development of management decision making has changed over the last 50 years which can be divided into three broad time periods: driven by judgment and intuition till the mid-1960s; driven by data and analysis up to the late 1990s, and post 1990s, the
paradigm for successful decision-making involves business ethics and sustainability.
Dr. Jain provided an evolutionary scale of the phases of entrepreneurship as follows:
- Business Entrepreneurship
- Social Entrepreneurship
- Spiritual Entrepreneurship
While Business Entrepreneurship is driven by corporate profit and bottom line, the Social Entrepreneur lays emphasis on the collective or societal good. The Spiritual Entrepreneur, on the other hand, identifies and develops the moral, ethical, and spiritual qualities needed within self and sets the vision above and beyond the business models, to foster positive change in the wider community and, indeed, on a global scale. Dr. Jain describes this as a process where "value creates value"; where the business itself is humanized by recognizing that people are the key source of differentiation and value creation; where building human capital through education will lead to global parity and prosperity; and where purpose is given a higher priority than performance.
Finally, Dr. Jain suggested that business leaders and entrepreneurs need to move beyond conventional boundaries of thinking. Think beyond just business and move toward a triple-bottom-line approach of business viability, social parity, and environmental sustainability. Think beyond success to a notion of success with significance to society. Think beyond the US and the EU to a future that recognizes the importance and economic significance of the juxtaposition of both the developed and emerging market nations.
Dr. Neptune Srimal, President, JERF thanked FIU administration, the speaker and the audience on behalf of JERF. The program ended with blessing chants by Samani Dr. Chaitanya Pragya and Samani Unnata Pragya followed by Jain dinner, hosted by the local Jain community.
