Today kicks off a series of video interviews with entrepreneurs "pioneers" of the Economy of Communion that we have titled "Flashes of Life & Roots." The protagonist of the first interview is Brazilian entrepreneur Rodolfo Leibholz
What is the purpose of the Flashes of Life & Roots project? If we sought decided to interview a series of "pioneer EoC" entrepreneurs, it is to collect the "precious pearls" contained in the experiences of those people who, in different parts of the world and in different cultural contexts, have responded in a radical way to a common vocation: that of giving life -with their lives- to the Economy of Communion.
The stories of the pioneers are fruits of the same tree, nourished by the same roots.... Getting to know their stories allows us to savor how different expressions of the same life can be, with different forms but a common aroma. The intent of this interview series is therefore to nurture and encourage those who, in the present and future, feel called to put the Economy of Communion into practice with their lives. That is to say, fruits that become seeds to generate new life in its many expressions.
The first protagonist in our interview series is Rodolfo Leibholz, a German-born Brazilian; with his brother Henrique in 1971 he took over the company his father had founded in 1966. In his narrative, the questions he asked himself about the meaning of his work and the answers he gave himself, along with his life, over the course of his long impenditorial practice emerge.
In 1976, a big question arose for my brother and me: what did we want from life? Were we going to continue to grow the business within the rules of capitalism, which is the system in place here in Brazil? And how were we going to do that? We realized that if we sold the company at that time, it would make enough money for both him and me and our families that we would not have to work anymore. So what we wanted was financial independence, or was there something more? Then a number of reflections arose - born in my opinion from a calling, an inner calling, which we called inner purpose, and this inner purpose was very much related to the interruption of a collective unawareness that we were seeing in the world.
... One wonders why wars happen? Wars even today happen because of a collective unawareness that always exists in the world. So, our inner purpose was to disrupt this collective unawareness by making our company not just a tool for producing or generating goods, but a tool that provokes awareness in this economic world we live in -- that's kind of our story.
