Being and Acting Businessworthy
Speaker Highlights for Corporate Governance and the Vision of the Firm
Author: Saxegaard, Per
Year: 2010
Abstract:
Being and Acting Businessworthy
Per Saxegaard
Founder and President, Norden Realkapital Group, Oslo, Norway
Founder and President, Business for Peace Foundation, Oslo, Norway
-- unleashing the power of business to foster peace and prosperity through the forces of ethics and responsibility --
There is a deeply-rooted misunderstanding that the capitalistic principles of Adam Smith and the invisible hand of capitalism relieves business of the need to bother with moral values. Two-hundred-fifty years after Mr. Smith, the recent financial crisis is but one proof that the invisible hand does not show up very often and that values are needed to sustain value in business. More relevant than the invisible hand, should be an invisible handshake of ethics and responsibility.
What is needed is an Adam Smith 2.0 -- and a capitalism businessworthy of the challenges of today and tomorrow. Such a conscious capitalism can attack the basis for the many business actions, unintended or not, that are leading to structures that constitute a continuous state of constraint on human potential, e.g., structural violence. This businessworthy capitalism can instead contribute to a mutually reinforcing win-win relationship between business and peace for the benefit of society and humanity. The win-win relationship is the hallmark of business. In essence, this is a peace process -- for you to win, the other was to win as well. That is to be Businessworthy. By being and acting Businessworthy,a businessperson can gain threefold; a consciousness of contributing to higher objectives by igniting the positive interdependence between business and peace, a future-proofing of your business to the rising ethical and responsible awareness of the global community, and a stronger consciousness of yourself, contributing to our human need for meaning, fulfillment and peace of mind.