2020 has been a headline year, dominated by news of a global pandemic, US elections, Brexit and China’s rise to power. On the business front, Corporate Purpose has emerged as the theme of the year. It comes on the back of an August 2019 statement released by the US-based Business Roundtable, calling into question the primacy of shareholders. For the past 50 years, corporations have operating on the principle that the only responsibility of business is to generate profits for its shareholders.
With the world in such a muddle, that core idea is coming into question. If issues like climate change, inequality, and social justice aren’t addressed, there’s growing concern that societies everywhere will come face-to-face with collapse. Corporations – so say pundits – are best positioned to make a difference.
Helping companies make that shift so that purpose and profits might co-exist is the work of my two guests this episode. Robert Quinn and Anjan Thakor are US-based professors. Together, they wrote a book entitled: The Economics of Higher Purpose: Eight Counter-intuitive Steps for Creating a Purpose Driven Organization. I spoke with them by phone recently. We touched on the traditional employer-employee contract, the new operating paradigm, and what it takes to bring a purpose agenda to life.
Reimagining “Community” (w/ Kai Soto)
The Hard Problem of Carbon Emissions and Developing Asia (w/ Jeff Delmon)
In Search of Impact Heroes (w/ Tomo and Aska Hamakawa)
Asia’s Turning or Tipping Point? (w/ Cindy Hook)
Sustainable Talent (w/ Jeanne Ng)
Are We Facing a Global Mental Health Crisis? (w/ Anurag Banerjee)
Purpose Nomads (w/ Zayd and Akshita Khoury)
Seeding Purpose (w/ Elizabeth Hernandez)
The Age of the Employee-Centric Workspace (w/ James Soback)
Driving Purpose Through Partners (w/ T.C. Ng)
The Ocean Economy (w/ Jack Kittinger)
Riding the ESG Wave (w/ Steve Okun)
Sustainable Angels (w/ Mark Inkster)
Putting the Purpose in Strategy (w/ Tom Malnight)
Advisory Boards Come of Age (w/ Louise Broekman)
Future Food (w/ Isabelle Decitre)
MNCs Weigh New China Risks (w/ David Hoffman)
The Way of the Storyteller (w/ Anna Ong)
Powering People Through Inclusion (w/ Jane Horan)
A Case Against Cronyism (w/ Razeen Sally)
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