Here’s the line that jumped out at me when 60 Minutes re-aired the story about Harry Markopolos, the analyst who was ignored when he told the Securities and Exchange Commission that Bernie Madoff’s investment fund was a fraud:

Len Forest and his friends thought they were part of a small, exclusive group of investors lucky enough to have a connection with Bernie Madoff. And because they thought they were making 12% a year, they weren’t inclined to ask a lot of questions.

There’s just not anyone who doesn’t know that temptation is there—to avoid looking a gift horse in the mouth…to leave well enough alone…? And isn’t that partly how we came to be in the mess we’re in?

Finance is more than wishful thinking. Finance is a set of interconnected disciplines that can be humbly practiced in the world as it is (however far that may be from the world as we wish it were). That’s the spirit in which InsideWork® is pleased to invite you to our first More Than Money conference at the historic Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

More Than Money is not your parents’ Christian financial seminar—unless you have parents with a carefully-formed worldview that includes a pretty clear understanding of current global economic volatility, how global markets interact, a sophisticated perspective on risk and risk management, a broad (and deep) appreciation of ancient biblical economic practices (identified by the biblical texts as oikos) and how all that affects their business, your family in general, and any wealth they are prepared to pass on to you in particular.

By design, More Than Money is 180 degrees away from the sort of conference that ends up being more about a theology of stewardship—where “stewardship” is taken to mean our responsibility for the money we collect for doing whatever it is we do for a living—than a means of improving our serious, active and ongoing participation in the marketplace. The extraordinary presenters we’re gathering at the Palace Hotel next month are working at the top of their game, at the top of their field (This being a small world, it’s possible you recognize one or more of these presenters from a context that has nothing to do with business leadership and the global economy. Be that as it may, they’re coming to this conference because of their contribution to these fields).

If those featured presentations form the blood and bone of More Than Money, the nervous system that connects them is a series of brief discourses on six key concepts that express the core of our mission at InsideWork®—Business Spiritually Engaged. We think you’ll agree this fusion of market-tested economic theory and practice with a thoroughly biblical perspective creates a unique professional learning experience.

Join a select group of businesspeople in San Francisco—spouses welcome, of course—to explore More Than Money: Financial Management in a Volatile Age.