DAY 1
We can no longer exonerate businesses, in the name of profit, from their responsibility and the damage that they do
name of jobs or profit, paying charities to clean up after them. Gamhewage believes it to be the responsibility of current leaders to ensure young people gain the skills they need to manage the depleted planet they are inheriting. She talked about living in a fourth industrial world, in which we have moved beyond a digital era into a social age. ‘We need to be socially literate, meaning the brand of a company is not owned by the company but by the people we work with; everything is changing, we need networking, not just to be applying data,’ she said. She also expressed her concern that the leaders of the future do not have the competencies they need because we are preparing them for an old system. She added that ‘the ability to learn will be the most fundamental skill going forward’, expanding on this by saying that learning does not have to take place in an institution but that learning from others, and from experience, is just as essential.
generation of leaders have the right set of skills to lead organisations in the short and long term, as well as for their thoughts on the future of business. Sutherland was first to share her insights, stating that she believes Covid-19 has created a ‘chasm’ in the business world, with organisations that will completely reinvent and change on one side, and those that won’t on the other – destined to become ‘our future dinosaurs’ in business. She observed that changing industry at any level is a tough challenge, but asserted that ‘rewarding shareholder value can no longer be the only purpose of business’. She explained that, instead, business needs to be responsible for everything it does, including for its impact on the planet. ‘We can no longer exonerate businesses, in the name of profit, from their responsibility and the damage that they do,’ she argued. She added that she would like to see MBA graduates and other leaders join her in this thinking and stop businesses being allowed to do harm in the
UDOCHUKO RICHSON
GAYA GAMHEWAGE
SIAN SUTHERLAND
Ambition | BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
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