The elea Way - Preview

elea’s FOUNDATION AND OPER ATING MODEL

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born; that is, in which country, in which family, and under which condi- tions. Whereas the topic of inequality within and between countries has been controversially debated for a long time, research on global equality among individual people on the earth is still in its infancy. An obvious starting point for any liberal to answer this third ethical question is to focus on ways to eradicate absolute poverty, thus providing at least some equal opportunity to those at the very bottom of the pyramid. Ethical vir tues for day-to-day guidance In line with the liberal ethics framework, we consider a few practical eth- ical virtues to be important and helpful in guiding us in our daily work. They are integrity, humbleness, engagement, and partnership. Integrity manifests itself when somebody expresses his ideas, ambi- tions, and intentions in a clear and reasoned way, and when his concrete actions are in line with this. In other words, when saying what we are doing, why we are doing it, and then actually doing it are consistent. Integrity is a combination of identity (clarity on what and who we are) and authenticity (consistency in our convictions and between what we say and what we do). This concept goes much deeper than a superficial call for honesty and consistency. It is a very basic prerequisite for relationships based on trust. As many elea activities are centered on relationships – with entrepreneurs, investors, and other investment organizations, as well as among elea colleagues – we apply high thresholds of integrity to our own behavior as well as in how we expect others to behave. Humbleness is another virtue that is critical, particularly in light of elea’s great global ambitions. In some ways, its journey has been a hum- bling experience. It takes substantial resources and hard work on a daily basis to achieve impact. Sometimes, efforts fail or are undone by external factors, such as political instability that results from bad governance prac- tices. People with less engagement in this area often challenge our work by asking, “Is it not a drop in the ocean and therefore meaningless?” The principle of humbleness requires two things: accepting that some things are challenging and that there are no quick fixes, and recogniz- ing that it takes continuous creativity and persistence to continue on the road to create impact despite all the roadblocks. This means being rigor- ous in finding and selecting new investment opportunities and showing