The Amish approach business with an attitude that holds lessons for the non-Amish world, says Erik Wesner, a researcher who is writing a book about Amish business practices.
One common theme that has come from the interviews he's done with more than 50 Amish business owners is that "it's not always about the dollar," Wesner said. "They have a very strong sense of what is important. ... They know what they won't give up."
Wesner will talk about his research at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, at Elizabethtown College's Bucher Meetinghouse, on Campus Road.
Wesner is the college's Fall 2008 Snowden Fellow and has been conducting research at its Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.
His lecture, "Is Success a Four-Letter Word? The Amish Approach to Business Achievement," is free and open to the public.
Wesner said he became intrigued by Amish culture about four years ago while going door to door selling the Family Bible Library in Arthur, Ill.
"I guess I really plugged into the community," he said. "Since that time, I've been in about 20 [Amish] communities and have developed a lot of contacts."
When not doing research, Wesner lives in Krakow, Poland, where he works as an English teacher and translator.
Though both his parents are from Poland, Wesner was born and raised in Raleigh, N.C., and earned degrees in economics and English literature from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, before moving to his family's native land.
In addition to the book about Amish business practices, scheduled for publication by Jossey-Bass in 2010, Wesner is writing a general-interest book about the Amish in Polish.
He has also been documenting his research on an Internet blog at
amishamerica.typepad.com.
Wesner said he met Donald Kraybill, a professor at Elizabethtown College and co-author of "Amish Grace," through the blog, and Kraybill encouraged him to apply for the fellowship.
One of Kraybill's earlier books, "Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits," with co-author Steven Nolt, covers some of the same territory as Wesner's planned book.
As farmers, the Amish had to contend with the vagaries of weather, which they view as a "gift from God," Wesner said.
As owners of other kinds of business, they've had to strive to retain that kind of humility while learning to develop relationships with customers and employees.
"Amish Enterprise" takes a sociological approach to those problems, Wesner said.
"Mine is more of a business wisdom according to the Amish [approach] with a transference to things the non-Amish can do," he said.
Dennis Larison is editor of the business section and can be reached by telephone at 291-8753 or by e-mail at dlarison@lnpnews.com.
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