You can subscribe to the podcast: RSS or iTunes.

You can subscribe to the podcast: RSS or iTunes.

You can subscribe to the podcast: RSS or iTunes.

The event was hosted and chaired by the Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Christopher Hill, at the Guildford Cathedral Refectory.

Ken spoke on the subject, ‘Winning at Work without Losing in Life.’

The two companies are locked in exclusive talks that could create a new colossus in emerging mobile markets with a market value of more than £35 billion. More.

Anil appoints Lazard man to lead on MTN talks
Reliance Communications has appointed a veteran London banker and one-time anti-apartheid activist to lead its team of advisers on talks with South Africa’s MTN that could create a giant Indo-African telecommunications group.

Ken Costa, chairman of international business at Lazard, will lead Reliance’s negotiations with MTN, the two companies being locked in exclusive talks that could create a company with a market value of more than $68.7 billion.

Now a well-known city banker, Costa in his youth was the leader of the students’ council at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, then a centre for anti-apartheid activism, and spoke about his passion for justice in a recent interview.

The current chairman of MTN is 56-year-old Cyril Ramaphosa, a veteran of South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle who resigned key positions in the government after losing the contest to be South African president to Thabo Mbeki in 1997.

Ramaphosa continues to be a member of the executive committee of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa. More.

The event will be held at The Roxburghe Hotel, Edinburgh on the 25th September. For more information, click here.

Ken spoke about how faith should lead to action, how his career had taken shape and he also gave some advice to those about to embark on careers and how to make decisions.

Matt Bennett, founder of the Christian Union, said, ‘Ken Costa was an incredible and wonderful blessing to us all! We loved having him!’

Another delegate said, ‘[Ken's] presentation challenged many students - their feedback was ecstatic. [The] message could not have been more aligned with the purpose of the weekend. Thanks for making the trip to Yale.’

Listen
Listen to the talk here.

Read the talk here.

The New York Times
‘Three years ago a group of evangelical Ivy League alumni formed the Christian Union, an organization intended to “reclaim the Ivy League for Christ,” according to its fund-raising materials, and to “shape the hearts and minds of many thousands who graduate from these schools and who become the elites in other American cultural institutions.”

Founder Matt Bennett says, The Christian Union’s immediate goal, was to recruit campus missionaries. “What is happening now is good,” Mr. Bennett said, “but it is like a finger in the dike of keeping back the flood of immorality.”

“Trends in the Ivy League today could shape the culture for decades to come,” he said. “So many leaders come out of these campuses. Seven of the nine Supreme Court justices are Ivy League grads; four of the seven Massachusetts Supreme Court justices; Christian ministry leaders; so many presidents, as you know; leaders of business - they are everywhere.”

He added, “If we are going to change the world, we have got, by God’s power, to see these campuses radically changed.”‘

Published May 2005, read more here.

Colin Mackay chats to Ken Costa, one-time anti-apartheid activist turned City investment banker and devout Christian, about whether there is space for God in the workplace. Listen here.

BBC Scotland’s ‘A Life in Question’ invites individuals from all walks of life to reflect on their experiences.

He was speaking on Moses and the subject of ‘what will you do with what God has given you?’ He referred to Exodus 4:2, where the Lord asks Moses, ‘what is that in your hand?’

The talk came the week after Nicky Gumbel, Vicar of HTB, had spoken on Vision Sunday, ‘It’s time to Accelerate.’ Listen here.

The show focusses on healthy body, mind and spirit on every Wednesday and Thursday evening 19:00 to 21:00 targeting 5.2 million listeners.

He was asked questions about his book God at Work, recently published in South Africa, and how he reconciles life as an investment banker, completing billion dollar deals with his life as a Christian. He then received questions from listeners.

Criselda Kananda has been actively involved in the fight for the rights of both the HIV infected and HIV negative people. She served as a Member of the Board of Trustees at the National AIDS Counsel (SANEC) 2005-2006 and in 2006 represented South Africa in New York during the United Nations General Assembly Special Meeting on communicable diseases, commissioned by Mr Koffie Annan. Criselda has also received an award from the First Lady Mrs Zanele Mbeki for her contribution towards the up-liftment of young women in South Africa as an ambassador for the Young South African Women in Dialogue.

Also invited from the UK is Baroness (Caroline) Cox. The Emcee for the Congress will be Eric Metaxas, author of New York Times bestseller Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery.

The Ivy League Congress on Faith and Action 2008 is expected to be the largest gathering of Christian Ivy League students, staff, faculty, alumni, parents, and friends in history. The weekend is designed to increase people’s vision and ability to advance the kingdom of Christ in their vocations and society.

The Plenary sessions aim to motivate delegates to change the world for Jesus Christ and keep Christ Lord of all, with a realistic expression of the costs associated with being used of God to build His kingdom.

Ken Costa and I take in the pink marbled splendour of The Ritz Restaurant in London. The winter sun streams through the window behind us. In the distance, a pianist tinkles away at “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. “So you bought this place?” I say. “My very good friends and clients did,” he says – his very good friends and investment banking clients being 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.”

…The restaurant is filling up now. Our starters are excellent. Costa keeps an eye on the new arrivals. Let us talk about your years as a student leader in South Africa, I say. “Ah, you jog me with nostalgia for those days,” he says. Costa was president of the students’ council at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, a hotbed of white student radicalism. “Being a young 20-year-old, I had a burning passion for justice, and the injustices of the apartheid system were horrible in every way, mostly because of the dehumanising effect – curiously, not only on the recipients but also on those who were meting it out. We, the students, became the vanguard of agitation against the government.”

They were exciting times, but frightening ones, too. “You’d hear knocks on the door from strange policemen.” Did that happen to him? “Yes.” Friends were locked up. One, Ahmed Timol, died after falling from a 10th floor window while under interrogation in Johannesburg’s notorious John Vorster Square. “There were some very brave and courageous people,” he says. His associates included Steve Biko, the black student leader, who also later died while in police detention. “He was the outstanding leader of our generation,” Costa says.

…Costa’s family, farmers of Lebanese origin, were not political. What turned him against apartheid? He boarded at an all-white Christian Brothers school in Pretoria. One day the students heard that a Chinese boy would be joining them, but he never turned up because the law did not allow it. “I was deeply offended by that,” he says. With this came the “realisation that we were an entirely privileged group of people and that we never had normal contact with black people”.

…Costa is, today, not just a Christian. He is chairman of Alpha International, an interdenominational programme that has spread around the world. More than 10 million people have attended Alpha’s relaxed meals and introductions to Christianity. What convinced him of Christianity’s rightness? He pauses to turn down a waiter’s offer of another drink. “Well, it was a case of being persuaded. Claims that were made by Jesus were, in fact, true.”

It is unusual in Britain to find people talking openly about religion. Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s press spokesman, said: “We don’t do God.” Blair himself, who recently became a Catholic, said he never discussed his faith while in office because people would have considered him a “nutter”. Costa insists this is changing. “There is a greater openness than ever before for people to discuss the issues of religion. We do do God. We talk about it.”

Costa last year wrote a book called God at Work, examining workplace issues such as ambition, disappointment and money from a Christian point of view. As he talks, he draws on business terms. 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.

…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.” He gives a naughty giggle. “Awful.”

You can subscribe to the podcast: RSS or iTunes.

You can subscribe to the podcast: RSS or iTunes.

You can subscribe to the podcast: RSS or iTunes.

You can subscribe to the podcast: RSS or iTunes.

You can subscribe to the podcast: RSS or iTunes.

The banking crisis, politicial tensions and the threat of terrorism fuel international fear…

The annual gathering of Davos is always a stimulating way to start the new year, offering a chance to discern the critical trends lying ahead for the global economy. Beyond the eclectic seminars and high-visibility plenary sessions that frame the formal agenda for the meetings, it is always fascinating to find out what the underlying, and often unexpressed, key issues are.

Tellingly, the closing session of this year’s forum, to be led by Tony Blair, is on the unsettling, if prevailing, topic of: “Why are we afraid of the future?”

I am particularly looking forward to the debate on two topics that have been given high prominence this year: sovereign wealth funds; and the role of religion in the global economy.

Tony Blair will be spearheading a discussion on the implications for the global economy of religion and faith communities in the world. It will need his skills to steer the discussion on faith and modernisation, something that is never easy when the debates are theological and not economic.

Will faith-based societies be a restriction or an advantage in developing the global economy? As the corporate landscape changes, and companies become more involved in the communities of the developing world, new corporations will emerge in strongly religious societies. So the debate on the relationship between the business community and the faith-based world can only intensify.

Davos is ahead of the curve by giving this debate the prominence it deserves. Many institutions lack the basic tools for undertaking co-operation, dialogue and effective decision-making in the context of intensely held religious views. Davos could help in creating such a model and so helping to diffuse one of the most serious fears for the future.

The conference takes place from the 26th to 29th February at the 7,600 seater auditorium at Rhema Church in Sandberg, taking place over 4 days with approximately 4000 delegates attending. Other speakers include Brian Houston from Hillsong, Joseph Prince, John Bevere and Jentezen Franklin.

Ken will be speaking at two workshops and a breakfast event.

Rhema Church is South Africa’s largest church and is led by Pastor Ray McCauley.

Click here for flyer.

Nicky Gumbel, the vicar of HTB and pioneer of the Alpha course has interviewed Ken Costa, the author of God at Work for a series of Podcasts based on the subjects from the book.

The series includes topics such as stress, tough choices, ambition and why work matters.

You can subscribe to the podcast: RSS or iTunes.

This was the question posed to the congregation by Ken during a recent service at Holy Trinity Brompton. The answer? ‘It’s a choice.’

You can listen to the talk here.

To subscribe to HTB Sunday Talks, click here.

Following his departure from UBS and on gardening leave until he starts with Lazard, Ken Costa has been in South Africa, where he was interviewed by Business Day.

‘Costa is on gardening leave — not that you’d know it. The first day of the 57-year-old’s trip back to SA is peppered with work. As the man who earlier this month ended his three-decade career with Swiss investment bank UBS sits down in the coffee shop of Sandton’s Michelangelo hotel, a former colleague from UBS comes over and greets him…

On Black Economic Empowerment
“Social transformation is not linear. Economic transformation is not linear either. There are bumps in the road. Models have to be tried and tested and seen how they work and how they fulfil changing objectives. My own view is that, give or take some examples, phase one has been a remarkable success. How it morphs into stable, sustainable, long-term investment is, of course, the question of the day.”

On Subprime Lending
How, then, does a Christian banker view the excesses that are now apparent in the collapse of the US subprime lending market, where greed led bankers to lend money to people who could not afford it and greed led people to borrow money that they had no hope of repaying?

“The markets overreact. It is the nature of markets to do so. And irresponsibility, uncontrolled greed, or irrational exuberance — call it what you wish — take hold of markets and these have to be corrected. At the moment, we’re inundated with knowledge, but we are knowledge-long and wisdom-short. There is a premium on pursuing wisdom, but it doesn’t always work in the capital markets.”

Read more here.

‘Ken Costa appeared to be heading for a baptism of fire yesterday as his surprise departure from UBS after a career spanning more than 30 years was announced…

Throughout, he tried to square his devotion to Christianity with his career. This year, he recounted this in his book God at Work. His commitment to good works also saw him act as a trustee of the redevelopment appeal for St Paul’s Cathedral.

This time it will be cultural change he will have to reconcile, building a close working relationship with investment bankers who were regularly on the other side of fierce takeover deals.’

More in The Times.

Costa leaves UBS for Lazard
An article in the FT today announced the change of roles for Ken Costa.

‘Lazard, the independent investment bank, on Thursday strengthened its senior ranks by hiring Ken Costa from UBS as chairman of its international arm…

The hiring of Mr Costa comes a year after Lazard created a unified management structure for its European operations in a move designed to end the long-running rivalry between the bank’s London and Paris offices.

Mr Costa joined SG Warburg – now part of UBS – in 1976 and has spent his entire career at the bank. He is well known as a senior adviser with close links to a number of large British companies…

A committed Christian, he also recently wrote a book, God at Work, about reconciling religious belief with global capitalism…’

A friend of the family
Ken Costa likes to quote the Bible’s parable of talents, in which two servants who put their master’s money to work are rewarded, while the one who preserved the capital and took no risk is punished.

The 57-year-old investment banker has lived by the maxim, too, during a 30-year career as a rainmaker. After studying law and theology at Queen’s College, Cambridge, the South African-born banker joined SG Warburg in 1976 under its founder, the late Sir Siegmund Warburg…

More.

Lazard Press Release
In a press release Bruce Wasserstein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lazard said, ‘Ken Costa embodies the special character of Lazard, I have known him for over 20 years as a banker of unusual talent, integrity and professionalism. With hiring Ken, we reinforce our strategy of servicing clients with the top talent around the world.’

Mr. Costa has been particularly involved in structuring cross-border mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. Mr. Costa also specialises in providing advice to family controlled companies, and has advised a number of Middle Eastern investment companies on acquisitions. He studied law and theology at Queens College, Cambridge.

Banking veteran Costa quits UBS for Lazard
Telegraph article on the move.

‘…Whatever happened to moral responsibility among the financial institutions? Do their employees have no conscience at all?

One robust answer to these questions came earlier this year with the publication of God at Work: Living Every Day with Purpose, by Ken Costa, the South Africa-born vice-chairman of UBS Investment Bank, and a 30-year City of London veteran.

It might seem surprising to see a seasoned dealmaker fromone of the world’s toughest professions trying to get a discussion going about God. There is not always a lot of evidence of benign intent in the banking sector…

But Mr Costa is not advocating a softhearted approach to business. He would not have survived at SG Warburg, SBC and now UBS had he ever done so. He reminds us that in the Bible’s parable of the talents (Luke 19: 11-27) it is the two servants who put the master’s money to work who are rewarded, while the one who preserved the capital and took no risk is punished. And he quotes the great Methodist John Wesley, who told his followers: “Gain all you can, without hurting either yourself or your neighbour.”

Mr Costa has written his book because he senses the need for a greater awareness of spirituality even in the heat of commercial battle. The world may be more efficient, but perhaps it is also “more efficiently unfair”. And the - now faltering - recent bull market has made him even more aware of the dangers of excess. “There seemed to be a headlong compassionless pursuit of financial reward without restraint,” he writes…

…at a time when scepticism per-sists about “do-gooding” ap-proa-ches to business, religious faith may offer an alternative values-based code of conduct. The credit crunch of 2007 suggests something other than a market triumphalist free-for-all is needed…

Could Christianity even prove a winning business strategy? The idea might provoke hollow laughter among many in business, even those who consider themselves Christians. Mr Costa, an evangelical Christian, is prepared to be mocked. “If the Christian faith is not relevant in the workplace it is not relevant at all,” he says…’

Read the full article here.

Agu Irukwu, pastor of Jesus House and leader of Mandate Men’s Ministries interviewed Ken Costa for Mandate Magazine - the first Christian lifestyle magazine in the UK aimed at men.

‘Two words sum up Ken Costa ‘high achiever’. Ken is a man at the top of his game, one who oozes a subconcious message that reads ‘I am enjoying life!’

Despite being the Vice Chairman of UBS Investment Bank, one of the largest investment banks in the world, a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, a member of the Advisory Committee of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Chairman of Alpha International, (arguably the most innovative and effective evangelistic tool on the planet), he somehow finds time to write. His new book, called ‘God at Work’, helps to reconcile with our life purpose the much maligned workplace. As if all that wasn’t enough Ken also finds time to serve as a warden at his local church.

As you can imagine it wasn’t easy securing time with such a busy man, who travels extensively and spontaneously. In this in-depth interview Mandate Magazine delved deep to explore the Ken behind the roles and accolades, the man who literally influences every facet of his realm, and found a man at ease with himself and his domain, relaxed, affable, bright eyed and raring to make his impact on the world.’

Read the full interview here.
Order a copy of Mandate here.

‘Called God at Work, it is of course about God at work at work! But it’s more than that. It’s really about God at work in the life of the author day by day in the life that he actually leads, whether at home with his family, at work at the bank or preaching in church. It is a plea for Christians to understand that there is no area of life into which God does not wish to come.’

‘It should be compulsory reading for every member of university Christian unions contemplating their future career and inclined to the view that only youth work or school teaching are safe enough and worthwhile enough avenues of secular work for a committed Christian. This book explodes that myth. But nor is it a plea for more Christians to go into The City. It is simply his testimony that wherever you walk: up the steps to a pulpit, into the classroom, into the surgery or the law court, onto the stage or into the biggest business house in the world, you may “walk with the Lord in the light of his Word”.’

Read the full review here which appears in issue 11:1 of Faith in Business Quarterly.

FIBQ.

Some extracts:

What did you want to be as a child?
I grew up in South Africa and felt very strongly that I wanted to do something that would correct the injustice of apartheid, so I thought I’d be a lawyer.

What did you realistically think you would end up being?
Probably a commercial lawyer. I knew I would have to earn my keep.

You studied law and philosophy at Witwatersrand University and law and theology at Cambridge. Was it worth it?
Absolutely. Philosophy and theology give a structure for understanding more of life than the material. You have to have a structure to answer the big questions such as, what is the purpose of work?

What motivates you?
Trying to apply my Christian faith to the workplace.

Learning to love one’s neighbour in a highly competitive environment is a challenge, to say the least.

More in the Education section of the Independent.

‘No bank…would survive the promised return of Christ.’ So says Ken Costa, the vice-chairman of investment banking at UBS, reports the FT’s people column…

In the book, he describes a moment of epiphany, struck by the looming facades of the Bank of England and the Swiss Bank Corporation…

“As an investment banker in the City of London, I have read the Financial Times and the Bible almost every day for the last 30 years.”

But which has generated the greater return?

FT Alphaville.

In the slim volume, the vice-chairman of investment banking at UBS sets out deeply personal views on reconciling his faith with the City, where he has spent his entire working life.

Mr Costa, who was born and brought up in South Africa, writes that the apartheid regime initially turned him away from Christianity, but that his belief was revived while studying at Cambridge University in the 1970s. He joined SG Warburg in 1976 and embarked on a stellar career that saw him rise to the upper ranks of the investment bank.

But he retained a sense of perspective. In one passage, he describes being impressed by the looming facades of the Bank of England and Swiss Bank Corporation. “But then, in a flash, I saw the truth,” he writes. “No bank - Swiss Bank or the Bank of England - would survive the promised return of Christ. Strong as they appeared, their apparent security would be broken in an instant.”‘

In the People Column of the FT.

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Ken spoke at Bar Ha! Ha! to over 100 people at an evening event hosted by All Souls, as part of their ‘Workplace Sunday.’ Jago Wynne, Associate Minister said the night was a great success, ‘very practical and real.’

Talks given that day at the church included: Vision for Work and A Vocation to Work.

‘God is in every workplace’
24 May 2007

Ruth Dickinson meets Ken Costa to find out how God and work can fit together.

It’s probably fair to say that Ken Costa’s working life is not, on the face of it, going to be that representative of anyone else’s. While you might wonder what this high flyer has got to say to the ordinary nine-to-fiver, it’s worth taking a look at his book…

Right from the beginning, Ken rejects the lazy but pervasive assumption that the only real Christian work happens in Christian organisations.

‘It is a very sad state that we’re in, that we divided up creation into those things which God is really keen on, and those things that God doesn’t really mind if they happen or not,’ he says. ‘That is a reductionist view of God. He created the entire world order for us. To separate them out would be for us to look at the creation and to actively pick and choose from within it. So you either have the view that he is lord of all - including commerce and [secular] work - or he is not Lord at all.’

What actually matters according to Ken, is working out what God has called us to do and how he has gifted us to perform our calling…

Work, according to Ken, is something which the church has overlooked at great cost to itself. ‘The principal cause of the decline of the church in this country is that it is irrelevant to 95 per cent of people 95 per cent of the time.’ Addressing issues of work, he says, is one major way in which new life could be breathed into the church…

The whole point of the book is to help people seek to glorify God in the work that they do…

More here.
The Baptist Times.

IDEA

‘Bringing God into the Workplace’
May/June 2007

Extract on Tough Decisions, from God at Work in the in the May/June edition of Idea, the Evangelical Alliance’s bi-monthly magazine.

Read here.
idea

Ken Costa was interviewed on Inspirit, BBC LONDON’s multi faith magazine programme, about religion in the office and whether God belongs at work.

The weekly Sunday morning show takes an ethical look at the week’s top news stories and tackles a wide range of religious subjects.

Discussing his book and personal experiences, Ken was joined by Christian GP Dr Mark Pickering and Muslim lawyer Aina Khan.

Ken Costa appeared on Jeff Randall’s Weekend Business show to chat about religion and the workplace. The weekly slot discusses the latest news and features from the world of business and finance.

Jeff Randall:
Now how do you reconcile the pursuit of great personal wealth with strong religious beliefs, well, that’s the subject of a book by Ken Costa, a senior director at the giant investment bank, UBS. Ken welcome to Five Live.

Now Ken, you are a devout Christian but as a city banker you earn more money in a week than some people earn in a year. Can you live comfortably with that?

Ken Costa:
Well Jeff, I think it depends on the attitude, it depends on how you view that prosperity and I love the remarks of John Wesley, you know, ‘Make all you can, save all you can and give all you can.’ And that’s been a pretty good guide for many people.

Jeff Randall:
So you’re saying it’s no sin to earn lots of money, but it’s what you do with it once you’ve got it.

Ken Costa:
Well it’s both that. I think it’s to do what you – you’ve got to be sure that what you’re working in is the right place, that you’re providing a service to the community and then what you do with it matters.

Jeff Randall:
So do you agree with Peter Hain, the government minister who said that he wanted people in the city to give their bonuses away…

Listen to show here.
Read a transcript of the interview here.

Listen to the talk here.

Punctuated with godly wisdom and liberally dusted with real-life stories that illustrate biblical principles, this compact hardback is a gem!

Costa acknowledges it is difficult and getting even harder to be a Christian in the workplace – particularly in the financial sector where markets have become more volatile and decisions more complex, making choices less clear cut. Ken Costa chairs Alpha International so it is no surprise that this book is written to appeal not just to Christians…

High: A book to regularly return and dip into to be reminded of timeless truths.

More

Rediscovering the religious debate in the corporation

The title for this talk is easier to formulate than it is to answer. Where does one begin? A discussion on success raises as many questions about definition, objectives, and values as there are people in the room. Groucho Marx once pronounced, ‘The key to success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made!’ I am trying to look at success, stress, and purpose from a distinctive perspective. That is a values-based, or specifically Christian, point of view.

But are the two concepts, ‘success’ and ‘Christian teaching’ not diametrically opposed? Surely to be successful one needs to thrive in the competitive, cut-throat demands of the marketplace. There is a widespread popular view that God and the pursuit of success simply don’t mix. Was CNN founder Ted Turner right when he said that Christianity is for losers? As you can imagine, I think not.

The Inconvenient Truth
The Inconvenient Truth of our time is not climate, important as it is, but Christ. After 2000 years he continues to make his presence felt…

Read more here.

Ken Costa, one of the most influential bankers in London, writes about how his faith impacts his working life

A book by one of the country’s leading bankers, Ken Costa, Deputy Chairman of UBS bank, is published this month. In this extract, he describes how he became a Christian and the influence his faith has had upon his working life.

‘As an investment banker in the City of London, I have read the Financial Times and the Bible almost every day for the last thirty years. People often ask how I reconcile being a banker and a Christian. There is a widespread view that God and business simply don’t mix. The competitive, cut-throat demands of the marketplace are seen as the obvious enemy of Christian compassion and love. But I have found that the God who created and sustains the world is also the God of the workplace. If the Christian faith is not relevant in the workplace, it is not relevant at all.

But where did this journey of faith start? I was born in a nominally Christian country, South Africa, and grew up in the brutally oppressive apartheid era.’

Read more in UKFocus, in association with Alpha News.
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Ken Costa spoke to more than 80 people from the Birmingham business community on Wednesday 21st March. The breakfast event was hosted by ChaplaincyPlus at the Hotel du Vin.

ChaplaincyPlus, led by Chris Dinsdale, serves the professional business community by being part of daily business life, seeking to encourage and support professionals in Birmingham’s City Centre.

Ken spoke briefly about the challenges of the workplace today and why he was motivated to write God at Work. He then took questions from guests, ranging from the issue of ambition to the challenges of long working hours.

Ken Costa addressed The Trinity Forum at The St Stephen’s Club, London on the subject, ‘Success, Stress and Purpose in Today’s Business World’ on Monday 19th March.

Founded in 1991, The Trinity Forum is a leadership academy that works to cultivate networks of leaders whose integrity and vision will help to renew culture and promote human freedom. Their programs and publications have offered the opportunity for leaders to consider together the big ideas that have shaped Western civilization and the faith that has animated its highest achievements.

Hosted by Jonathan Aitken, the Executive Director of The Trinity Forum in Europe, Ken was introduced by a long standing friend and competitor, Lord Griffiths, Vice-Chairman of Goldman Sachs International.

Read the speech here.

City stalwart explains the influence of evangelical Christianity on his everyday business life in his newly published book God at Work
The Times, Business, Monday 14th March 2007

Attempting to square God with Mammon is not the usual pastime of investment bankers, especially ones who earn hundreds of thousands of pounds a year and whose deal résumé includes the likes of Anglo American’s £12 billion takeover of De Beers.

Ken Costa knows this. And he realises that his new book, God at Work, which focuses on the relationship between the Christian faith and working life, could have him accused of hypocrisy.

“The reservations are deep,” says the chairman of investment banking for Europe, Middle East and Africa at UBS. “Who wants to put themselves out as a target to be sniped at?”

A charge of hypocrisy would not sit easily with the author, a native South African. It was the perception of falseness that prompted Mr Costa, who came of age in apartheid-era student politics, initially to reject Christianity, or at least the “warped” version of it offered by his country’s regime at that time.

But now, towards the end of his career, and as chairman of Alpha International, the evangelical Christian organisation, he is willing to take any flak that may be directed his way. “The answer is that it is another part of one’s faith. If there is good news, tell it.”

Read more here.

Robin Baird-Smith of Continuum paid tribute to Ken Costa for writing an honest account about the difficulties of applying the Christian faith in the cut-throat world of the City.

Nicky Gumbel, Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton and pioneer of the Alpha Course, said that there was ‘no one more qualified than Ken’ to write about the Christian faith in the workplace. A friend of Ken Costa since their days at Cambridge, he recalled the time when Ken was considering his future career.

‘Ken was praying about what he should be doing. Full time Christian service or whether it was banking or the City? He turned to the book of Luke and right at the end of the gospel, where Jesus told his disciples that they would receive power from on high. Ken got to this verse and got stuck on the first four words of that verse where it said ‘stay in the city’ and here we are over 30 years later and Ken has stayed in the city all those years! That is what has enabled him to write this book - he has stayed in the city and has combined that with this strong faith in Jesus Christ. It is what makes this book such an important book.’

Following his Vicar, Ken Costa gave a brief talk:

“Why write this book? Why does one want to do it? There was a moment when I asked honestly, ‘do I really want to do this to write something of this kind – some kind of practical help to others who struggle like I struggle?’

Well, the stakes are high, they really are and I think that unless we find the church is relevant to the workplace where people are spending all their time, then we should not be surprised if the churches are empty if we have got nothing to say to people doing their day to day work. This is a tiny little piece that might help in trying to work it out. I think that’s the first thing.

The second is much more exciting, I think society has just run out of energy. It really has. It hasn’t begun to understand the power of the resurrection, the newness of life, the throbbing excitement of living a life with God in a difficult and struggling place - the harshness of commercial compromise - that we all have to do every day in our workplace. And yet, this is where it is now.

We know the stakes are as high as they are. What are we going to do about? Well, we are going to live a life and we have got a life. I remember our wedding sermon which was preached on the text, ‘I came that you might have life in all its fullness.’ Sure it’s tough and sure its stressful but there is a fullness that I don’t know anyone else has. I look around at the bankruptcy of the ideas and the lack of oxygen and the lack of sense of hope for the future and I wonder to myself ‘if we don’t take a grip on this, then who is?’”

Ken ended by thanking the congregation of HTB and paid tribute to those who had helped to bring the book to publication and also to his family.

“They have been an amazing support as have you. I really want you to buy as many copies as possible! Check out the website. Buy the book! I want to thank you very much for being here.”

…Depression about work is very common, says Ken Costa, chairman of UBS Investment Bank. A failed transaction, a disappointing pay review, unpleasant relationships, and fear of the future can all be triggers.

Mr Costa, who also chairs Alpha International, addresses this and many other workplace issues — including what he calls the “illusory nature of the idea of job security” — in his book God at Work, published next month by Continuum.”

He introduces the book by writing: “I have read the Financial Times and the Bible almost every day for the past 30 years. People often ask how I reconcile being a banker and a Christian. There is a widespread view that God and business simply don’t mix: the competitive cut-throat demands of the marketplace are seen as the obvious enemy of Christian compassion and love. But I have found that the God who created and sustains the world is also the God of the workplace. If the Christian faith is not relevant in the workplace, it is not relevant at all.”

He says that there are no magic buttons to press for Christians at work, but there is a need “to strain towards the light”.

“Some think that faith makes us immune from making wrong choices. I wish that were so. God gives us the spiritual resources to grow through weaknesses, and to recover when we succumb to the ever-present temptation.”

He also shows how working relationships can be as much a test of faith as business practices.

One of the purposes of the book, he says, is to rediscover joy at work, whatever the job. Different chapters look at ambition and life choices, decisions, work/life balance, stress, money, and spiritual renewal.

Holy Trinity, Brompton, in London, plans to use the book as a basis for a new course starting this year to help Christians in their daily life at work. A spokesman said that this would be distinct from Alpha in the Workplace, which presents the fundamentals of Christianity in small groups in the workplace.

From the Church Times, 12th January 2007.

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