Category: News

We live now in very trying times, which may continue for some time. Quite timely comes Klaus Leisinger with a book on the art of leadership. The Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism is very honored to be authorized by Klaus to publish his new book, The Art of Leadership.

There are many trite phrases about the need for leadership in trying times: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going;” American philosopher William James advocated national service to serve the common good as the “moral equivalent of war.” “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.”

In his book, Klaus sets forth a practical agenda for every person to put into effect leadership skills. Klaus transposes the personal ideals which Erich Fromm notably articulated in his book, The Art of Loving.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs has written an endorsement and Professor Ulrich Lehner has kindly written a trenchant foreword. Prof. Lehner was Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of Deutsche Telekom and Thyssen-Krupp.

The paperback is available here.

The Kindle version is here.

In addition, Klaus has written a commentary on the requirements of good leadership, which you can read here.

Klaus is one of the best minds I know in business ethics. He is a Professor of sociology at the University of Basel. He worked for Novartis and served for many years as the Director of the Novartis Foundation, where I first met him. Klaus has advised the U.N. Global Compact and Hans Kung on ethical principles for global application.

You can learn more about Klaus here.

I invite you to read Klaus’s book and, if you enjoy it, please return to Amazon and leave a review.

Even though we are all right now caught in the webs of prevention and precaution seeking to stop the transmission of the coronavirus, we should not be so consumed with what is immediate that we forget to plan ahead.

We plan to hold a dialogue at Mountain House in Caux, Switzerland on Monday, October 19, 2020, to mark the 25th anniversary of our Principles for Business and consider what should be done next to hone their efficacy. The dialogue is sponsored by Initiatives of Change, which manages the conference center at Mountain House for most worthy purposes, enhancing the prosperity, sustainability and moral courage of our global community.

Antoine Jaulmes of Initiatives of Change and Brad Anderson and Tunku Abdul Aziz, our Co-Chairmen, and I join in sending you notice now of the proposed dialogue.

You may find the notice here.

The dialogue is subject to cancellation if circumstances do not permit us to convene at Mountain House in October.

We look forward to having you join us then – “The good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise,” as they say in the southern Appalachian hills and hollers of my country.

Here is the April edition of Pegasus.

In this issue, we include an article on public interest capitalism and going beyond return on equity, the proceedings of our recent round table on climate change and a piece on Earth as a stakeholder by Patrick Rhone of our staff.

I would be very interested in your thoughts and feedback.

Our colleague Alan Fine is making digital copies of his book, A Familiar Place: The Path Forward, available for no cost until March 26th.

Alan has written me saying he is doing this “to help people get perspective during this critical time and hopefully to start an important broader dialogue on life meaning, leadership, constructive societal engagement and positive political, economic and social change.”

Alan teaches at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

His book can be found on Amazon here.

Here is the March edition of Pegasus.

This issue is all about AI.

We would be most interested in your thoughts on our draft principles for AI, included in this edition.

Here is the February edition of Pegasus.

In this issue are the proceedings of our valuation round tables in Sydney, Amsterdam and San Francisco.

As always, enjoy!

Last fall brought us some very good news: the vision of our Principles for Business was unexpectedly fully affirmed by statements from the Business Roundtable on August 19 and by Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum on December 2. Further, we also received affirmation of the importance of moral capitalism from French President Emmanuel Macron.

Now, with leading organizations providing validation of our work, we need to press ahead with greater efforts in 2020 to provide more thought leadership for global business. Your financial support is needed. You can support our work in confidence that it is making a very constructive difference.

As our advocacy of a moral capitalism now reflects a tipping point in conventional thinking, we have opportunities to help companies with training of their managers and employees, to guide investors and the accounting profession in consideration of valuation methodologies which take proper account of stakeholders and the intangible capitals now so necessary for firm success in the marketplace and to convene more round tables around the world. We need support for our publication on Amazon of unique books, important intellectual contributions written by our friends and those who we admire which may not attract conventional publishers.

We would be very grateful for your consideration of a beginning-of-year contribution to our work.

To donate, please visit our homepage – www.cauxroundtable.org – and click on the yellow “donate” button.

If you rather give by check or wire transfer, please let us know.

Recent statements by the Business Roundtable and World Economic Forum have set a new course for business enterprise: engage with all shareholders to seek long-term capital appreciation. This, as I have noted before, ratifies the vision of the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism (CRT).

Boards of directors must now determine for their companies just how to engage with all shareholders, attending to their material interests and making profits for owners. The more comprehensive business model requires boards to step up to wider and more strategic responsibilities. Boards are the custodians of enterprise value and the culture that will create or destroy value through its provisions for risk management of stakeholder relationships.

The Competent Boards Certificate Program available online is the only one I know which provides insightful and comprehensive orientation for board members – old, new and prospective – relevant to this new world of strategic stakeholder engagement.

I have been a speaker on a previous program and found my colleagues well-informed and attuned to the CRT approach to modern global capitalism. I also value the international scope of the program – available all over the world, building up a common understanding of responsible business leadership at the board level.

The interactive program covers 12 strategic topics of focus, including climate, ESG, supply chain, diversity and responsible use of data and cybersecurity, covered during 12 bi-weekly, 1.5 hour online interactive sessions.

Program participants will learn from over 70 global leaders, including our friend Paul Polman, Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, as well as global peers. Participants will also receive engaging preparation materials, questions to bring to your organization and board recommended readings and case studies.

As a privilege to the CRT network, Competent Boards offers you a 10% discount (a $449.50 value) off the full price, should you register for the next program. When you register, please use code Caux2020 for the interactive online program.

To learn more about the program and register, please click here.

Here’s the January issue of Pegasus.

This edition is our 2019 Year in Review (annual report).

Last year was a tipping point for stakeholder-based capitalism, which we have been advocating since our founding in 1986.

Here is the December edition of Pegasus.

I apologize it’s a little late, but it’s not lacking for quality.

In this issue is the proceedings of our 2019 Global Dialogue.

The January edition will be available at the end of the month and include our 2019 Year in Review (annual report).