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Four essential business skills Now, like never before, businesses have to equip their people to face a number of emerging challenges, starting with those related to artificial intelligence (AI) and ethics. Their success depends on it.
2. Ethical practices Research by Martineau, Decety & Racine (2020) 1 suggests that empathy also plays a crucial role in ethical decision‑making. It provides a better understanding of different points of view and complex, emotionally charged contexts. Issues that have emerged in recent years — financial fraud, the climate crisis, the #MeToo movement and others — have justifiably put new pressure on top brass. Generations Y and Z in particular want to work for businesses that have a moral compass and that can challenge their own status quo. This is why it is important to invest in an ethical, empathetic business culture. Developing ethical practices is becoming essential, and not just to attract and retain talent. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are also a priority for investors, not to mention consumers. But adopting a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy is not enough. Implementing ethical practices is a multifaceted process, and one that requires careful reflection. Boards can play a key role in promoting ethics by pressing executive committees to take action, and they in turn can influence operations. “With ethical practices, the idea is to do everything with integrity,” Foucher says. “A board of directors has the power to set things in motion.”
The upheavals we are seeing on the social, financial, climate and technological front are here to stay. To remain on track, it is important for organizations to cultivate new skills in their teams. This starts at the top, with leaders who can see beyond today’s issues and envision new ways forward. 1. Empathetic leadership “In 2024, we are seeing a shift from an ego-driven to a team-driven mindset,” Olivier Foucher, Director, Corporate Programs, at Executive Education HEC Montréal, says enthusiastically. This emerging new leadership style is more people-oriented and collaborative, with an increased focus on engagement. Leaders have to create workspaces where teams feel like they can stick their neck out. Foucher believes that safe spaces should also be brave spaces. For experienced leaders as well as professionals who climb the corporate ladder without management training, embracing this position requires openness, introspection and support. “You need to start by working on yourself and developing your emotional intelligence if you want to be an effective leader,” Foucher says. These efforts, he feels, have the potential to reap many rewards: businesses that adopt an empathetic leadership style attract top talent and inspire teams to give the best of themselves. Against the backdrop of a labour shortage, this is one key organizations can’t afford to do without.
1 Martineau, J. T., Decety, J. & Racine, E., “The Social Neuroscience of Empathy and Its Implication for Business Ethics,” in Martineau, J. T. & Racine, E., Organizational Neuroethics: Reflections on the Contributions of Neuroscience to Management Theories and Business Practices, Advances in Neuroethics , Berlin, Springer, 2020, pp. 167–189.
20 EXECUTIVE EDUCATION HEC MONTRÉAL
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