With his background in marketing and organizational behavior, can Fr. Max Oliva ’61 teach business ethics to the Vegas Strip? This article first appeared on Nov. 12, 2012, in the Las Vegas Review-Journal under a different title.
By Tim O'Reily
24 Apr 2013
“People are fascinated with a priest who works with businesspeople on ethics,” Max Oliva says.
Through short talks to business groups, full-length seminars, or individual sessions, he works with businesspeople—Catholics and non-Catholics—to try to sort through quandaries they encounter in the office. How should a business person deal with a larcenous partner, lay off people to satisfy cash-flow necessities yet not crush the spirit of the former employees, or handle a contract dispute with a client?
“My experience is there’s not a lot of people you can talk to about this stuff,” Oliva says. “You don’t want to talk to your boss. You can’t talk to a pastor because he is overwhelmed with other things. You don’t want to take it home and make it a big problem. In walks Father Max Oliva, a Jesuit with a background in business.”