When the great-grandson of President William Howard Taft spoke on the topic of stewardship in Duluth recently, one could have heard a pin drop.
John G. Taft, CEO of RBC Wealth Management and author of the recently published book, "Stewardship: Lessons Learned from the Lost Culture of Wall Street," was the keynote speaker at the Scottish Rite Foundation's 22nd annual fundraising dinner to benefit children with speech disorders. The foundation raises money in support of the Scottish Rite Speech Disorder Clinic. Taft's book was selected by Amazon as one of the "Top Picks" for March and an "absolute must-read book" by Bloomberg TV's Tom Keene.
Speaking at Northland Country Club on Aug. 16, Taft began by saying: "It is absolutely appropriate that I'm going to talk to this audience tonight, because what the [Scottish Rite] clinic does is put the concept of stewardship into action."
In his book, Taft writes, "Stewardship as a foundational principle has to do with the proposition that one's true purpose -- and that the ultimate purpose of organizations and of our communities -- is to serve others." In his speech, Taft used the concept of stewardship as the lens through which to assess the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.
To do so, he first recalled the airline passengers on Flight 1549 who found themselves making an emergency landing in the Hudson River. Those passengers, Taft reminded the audience, were standing on the wings of the downed airplane, scared and cold -- but they had survived. "It was an emergency landing, not a fatal crash," he said. He then observed that the financial crisis of 2008-2009 was an emergency landing of our collective wealth system.
ADVERTISEMENT
Since that time, Taft noted, "A lot has happened to make the financial sector better than it was." He cited less risk, better tracking of derivatives and more regulation. But, he said, if we're going to prevent another financial crisis, we have to address the broken culture of Wall Street.
Taft stated his view that society has lost touch with its core values, and that laws, regulations and rules alone will not change that.
In fact, Taft continued, he is concerned that a failure of stewardship may be occurring in society more generally. In his view, the crisis in the financial services industry is a case study of what happens when people lose touch with stewardship values; he said that that crisis should serve as a societal wakeup call. For example, Taft stated, many American politicians have been exhibiting the same problematic behavior that financial analysts did before the financial crisis: They are not addressing problems upfront.
Having spelled out the problem, Taft said we can solve it if we take responsibility for our world and again embrace good core values. Taft referred to his grandfather, Robert Alphonso Taft. "He believed that if your core principles are correct, anything is possible."
Taft received a standing ovation.
Next, Carol Roberts, director of the clinic since it opened on the campus of UMD in 1990, spoke. In the last 22 years, she said, the clinic has served some 1,561 children, providing speech therapy twice a week, one hour per session, free of charge. The clinic, now at the corner of Second Street and Fourth Avenue East, is visited by about 83 children a week for therapy and by many others for assessment of communication problems. Therapists treat children ages 2 to 9.
In a subsequent interview, Roberts stressed the value of early intervention. She said the clinic provides two years' worth of therapy to each child, and that the clinic is funded by private donations, grants and the Scottish Rite Foundation.
Judging from the waiting list, the clinic's services are in high demand. "Currently, 36 children are on the waiting list," said Roberts. Beginning Sept. 1, Roberts said, the clinic will begin charging a fee for services, but on a sliding scale.
