Barry's Blog

An interview with Ken Costa conducted by Michael Skapinker of the Financial Times, as part of their ongoing series of interviews, "Lunch With the FT,"  caught my eye recently. The interview is thought-provoking, as it portrays an executive who has achieved much success in the world of business, but also shows a side of Costa that might surprise some - he is a highly committed Christian. Costa serves as an exemplary model at the intersection of both the world of business and the world of faith, a rather rare commodity in our world. Costa recently left UBS, and SG Warburg, its predecessor, where he was employed for more than 30 years, to become chairman of Lazard International, co-running its UK investment banking business.

The interview was conducted at The Ritz Restaurant in London, and Skapinker asked Costa, "So you bought this place?" Costa replied, "My very good friends and clients did," referring to his good friends and investment banking clients, the Barclay twins, Sir David and Sir Frederick, who bought The Ritz in 1995. "I rather like supporting clients. I think it's always useful, you know." It was the great City of London figure, Sir Siegmund Warburg, who taught Costa the secret of investment banking: "He always used to say, 'First make a person your friend and then become his banker.' In many ways, that's the right way round, and not often practised in this demanding world," Costa remarks. He has become banker to many other friends since, including Sweden's Wallenberg family and South Africa's Oppenheimers.

 
EARLY YEARS  
Costa recounted his days at the university as a student leader in South Africa, where he was president of the students' council at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, a hotbed of white student radicalism. While his family, farmers of Lebanese origin, were not political, he soon turned against apartheid when his boarding at an all-white Christian Brothers school in Pretoria disallowed a Chinese boy from joining them.

Although he was a Marxist at university, the fashionable stance of university students, he soon came to see the hollowness of Marxist ideology: "The Marxist concept of man was the prevailing thought. We thought that the way in which society would right itself would be by forced redistribution of its resources and by the greater concentration on the humanity of individuals. What I didn't realize then is that in its essence Marxism is the denial of that humanity and that the compulsory redistribution of resources would deeply offend the individual's freedom." When he arrived at Cambridge University in 1973 as a post-graduate student, he realized that Marxism "suffered major flaws."

JOURNEY OF FAITH
Skapinker then asked Costa, "After which you made a seamless transition to Jesus, right?" Costa gives a long laugh, "Yes," he says. And what convinced him of Christianity's rightness? He pauses in the interview to turn down a waiter's offer for another drink, "Well, it was a case of being persuaded. Claims that were made by Jesus were, in fact, true." That has led Costa on his spiritual journey through the years to today, where he now serves as chairman of Alpha International, an interdenominational program that has spread around the world, where over 10 million people have attended Alpha's relaxed meals and introductions to Christianity.

While the interviewer sees a great reluctance in Britain for people to speak openly about religion (Tony Blair, who recently became a Catholic, said he never discussed his faith while in office because people would have considered him a "nutter"), Costa counters, "There is a greater openness than ever before for people to discuss the issues of religion. We talk about it...I"m absolutely convinced that the 21st century will show a heightened interest in spirituality...The global world will encounter spirituality that it has never had to deal with before because major corporations will be employing people of different faiths. It's going to become an issue for every boardroom..."

GOD AT WORK 
Last year Costa wrote a book, "God at Work," examining workplace issues such as ambition, disappointment, and money from a Christian worldview. He draws on business terms as he talks: the Bible is "the prospectus," as in, "That's what the prospectus sets out, from Genesis to Apocalypse." City work puts family life under stress, particularly when you are in the middle of a bid, but "it's the trend that matters" - in other words, you can give your family more time when the deal is done. 

Skapinker questions him, "is there not a contradiction between Christianity and the great wealth investment bankers enjoy? Isn't Jesus' preference for austerity?" Costa counters: "There is a stereotyped view of Christianity as being reductionist, narrow, bigoted, frugal, ascetic - choose whichever word you want - but that is not the way of the New Testament. The New Testament's way is the responsible enjoyment of all the good things that we're given. And by responsible I mean the recognition of where the goodness comes from, the enjoyment of the wonderful meal that we're having, beautifully prepared" (he gestures towards their fillets of brill, garnished with squid ravioli and swimming in curry veloute') - "or the wonders of art, of a mountain, something that you enjoy by reading, studying, and reflecting."

One last question in the interview: Is it true that he has read the Financial Times and the Bible every morning for over 30 years? "It is true," he says, adding: "The only question is: which comes first?" And which does come first? The FT? "I know," as he gives a naughty giggle. "Awful."

 
"Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." -Paul's words to Timothy, 1 Timothy 6: 17-19

For FinishingWell,

Barry Morrow