BUSINESS FOR A BETTER WORLD

The second roundtable I chaired literally consisted of the world around one table. There were chief executives, pressure groups, institutions and a business school dean. They came from Germany, Japan, Mozambique, Norway, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, the Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States. Our brief this time was how to spread the word. We distilled our thinking into five priority tasks, which I was invited to present to the full summit audience of more than 1,000.

1. Network – use local and national networks, including Chambers of Commerce and business clubs.
2. Staff – instead of managing this from the top down, enable staff to decide their own contributions and support these.
3. Communicate – simplify the messages, use new media, tell stories, bring them to life in video.
4. Celebrate – with fun, including an awards scheme.
5. Benefit – show that acting on conscience can help business in all kinds of ways from cost reduction to staff retention.