Teaching Subsidiarity Through Purpose: A Classical-Experience-Based Curriculum Development

The idea that the purpose of business defines a benevolent and pluralistic approach to its stakeholders beyond its focus on shareholders has grown dramatically in recent years. But this is still far from mainstream teaching. This chapter advances the idea that the purpose of business is an important trigger for promoting subsidiarity and freedom and presents a classical-experience-based curriculum to develop the necessary attitudes and talents for realizing them within organizations. This course creates a reflective and transformative space for executives to explore what is necessary for businesses to become more purpose-led centered in human flourishing, and how it is always both a personal and organizational challenge. This chapter summarizes the intellectual and practical roots of the initiative, the teaching approach, the embeddedness of subsidiarity into the class dynamics, the testimonials from the participants, and concluding comments.