by Fr. Jacob Peenikaparambil, CMI
Recently a friend of mine in the field of social work shared with me his understanding of professionalism. According to him the three elements of professionalism are knowledge, skills and attitude. I would like to substitute the term attitude with "altruism" because I understand altruism as the soul of social work. Knowledge and skills alone will not make a person social worker. Knowledge and skills will definitely enhance the effectiveness of a social worker and his social interventions.
Mr. Karl Kübel was a very successful entrepreneur who had made his employees jointly participate in the development of his company and shared the profits and finally built up joint ownership. I think that the altruism he had imbibed from his catholic upbringing could have been the reason for adopting the participatory approach as an entrepreneur. The same altruism motivated him to sell his company and invest the entire proceeds of the company sale in Karl Kübel Stiftung for supporting the deprived sections of the society. I had the fortune to meet Mr. Karl Kübel on several occasions and I could see in him a spiritual person who was driven by the care and concern for the poor.
