Category: Podcast

Here is our recent podcast of finding possibilities with Dan Runde of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Dan is Senior Vice President, William A. Schreyer Chair and Director of the Project of Prosperity and Development at CSIS. He joins us to discuss the need for society to learn from current experiences and the tectonic shifts underway around the globe. Specifically, he connects education, inequality and corruption and their effects in a pandemic-impacted world.

Dan is a connector of ideas and people. His insights are very helpful.

Recently, in our new offices, our Chairman, Brad Anderson, spoke briefly on leadership. You can hear his take on what each and all of us can do to lead at this time above or on our YouTube Channel here.

Brad, a former CEO of Best Buy and member of many corporate boards, thinks of leadership as deeply personal – personal to us and personal to those we lead.

The moral work of a leader is to give others a sense of significance in their work, no matter what their salary or title, social status or scope of authority. At this time, leadership, understood in this way, has a sacred quality – we must each step up to leadership.

I would be very interested in your thoughts and feedback.

Our podcast discussion with John Little of Melbourne, Australia, can be seen above.

John started an ethics center in Australia. He grounds his approach on insight and discernment, as recommended by the noted Jesuit thinker, Bernard Lonergan. He further thinks about how our work and lives could be more fulfilling if we more intentionally seek those ends or goods which seem under conditions of natural law most appropriate for our human species.

John first introduced me to the thoughts of Lonergan and I have been grateful to him ever since. Reflecting, having confidence in our capacity for insight, intuition and cultivating sensitivity to flow, empower our minds and spirits with self-confidence and brace them against the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” with a sort of humble courage.

I think you will find John’s comments very helpful to you at this time.

I am very pleased to inform you that our podcast discussion with Herman Mulder of The Netherlands is now available and can be viewed above.

Herman is one of the most experienced and astute leaders in the CSR/Sustainability evolution of capitalism, now with the Impact Institute in Amsterdam, a best practice leader in measuring the impacts of enterprises.

He is most notable for the initiation of the Equator Principles. He is currently a Chairman of the True Price Foundation, member of the board of the Dutch National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for MNE’s and former Chairman of the Global Reporting Initiative. He was also a Senior Executive Vice-President at ABN AMRO.

Mr. Mulder played a key role in the creation of NFX, a coordinated platform between the Dutch government and Dutch financial sector focused on finance for development. Herman was Senior Advisor to the U.N. Global Compact and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. He is an Ambassador of the International Integrated Reporting Council and Advisor to the Natural Capital Coalition.

In November 2005, he received a Knighthood of the Order of Oranje-Nassau as a recognition for his active role in the development of the sustainability topics and Dutch economy, after which he was promoted to be an officer in the same order in October 2017 for his work as Chairman of the Sustainable Development Goals – Dutch Charter Coalition.

The Caux Round Table is lucky to benefit from his experience and wisdom.

We have posted a podcast discussion with former Mexican Ambassador to Canada, Francisco Suarez Davila.

The video is embedded above or you can watch directly on YouTube here.

Amb. Suarez was introduced by our good friend Nicolas Mariscal of the Mexican business coordinating committee for social responsibility – Aliarse. Amb. Suarez is an economist by training and was with the Central Bank of Mexico and the IMF.

We discuss the fundamental need for trust for any social exchange in order for people to benefit from others and to feel confident about themselves. In Mexico, Amb. Suarez sadly notes the trust between government and business has collapsed, making it more worrisome to think about how Mexico can recover from the pandemic quickly and efficiently.

Amb. Suarez is not optimistic about this. He has been through many crises, but never one where health and economics were both negatively affected at the same time.

Michael Wright noted that if we close our fist to others, but expect to get something from them, we can’t receive it – our fingers are closed. To get, you must open your hand to give.

Born April 20, 1943 in Mexico City, Francisco Suárez holds a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge, King’s College.

During President Peña Nieto’s electoral campaign and until very recently, he served as Secretary General of the Colosio Foundation, the think tank of the PRI. He also held the post of Vice President of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI) (2008-2011).

He began his career at the Bank of Mexico where he became the General Manager of International Economic Affairs (1976-1980). He was an Executive Director on the Executive Board of the IMF (1972-1976); Financial Director at Nacional Financiera, Mexico’s industrial development bank (1980-1982); Undersecretary of Finance and Public Credit (1982-1988); and Director General of Banco Mexicano Somex, now Banco Santander (1988-1992).

For two periods, he served as a Federal Congressman (Député) and chaired the Finance Committee (1994-1997). Later, he was Ambassador of Mexico to the OECD (1997-2000), where he headed the Budget Committee.

Francisco Suárez’s extensive academic career includes teaching economic policy and international relations at the UNAM, Iberoamericana University and at the Colegio de México.

He has published numerous articles and co-authored several books. He has written a biweekly opinion column in the newspaper El Universal and served as both a member and Chairman of the Board of Trustees the UNAM.

With my colleagues Devry Boughner Vorwerk and Michael Wright, we discussed the impact of the pandemic on Mexico and the importance of collaboration between Mexico, the U.S and Canada, in line with the Caux Round Table Principles for Business on robust participation in international trade to make optimal contributions to wellbeing.

We recently had a very stimulating and insightful discussion with entrepreneur John Puckett. watch it above or you can see the podcast here.

With his wife, John started Caribou Coffee, a chain of coffee shops which were and are quite competitive with Starbucks. The Pucketts, both with MBA degrees, turned their vocations away from large firms to start their own business. As they grew, they accepted minority investors, but later found a divergence of priorities between the investors and themselves. They sold the company to start another.

Their new company is Punch Pizza here in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

John joked with us that both companies grew out of determined entrepreneurs in Naples, Italy, to overcome constraints imposed by living in a poorer part of the country. Finding Arabica coffee beans too expensive, they invented the expresso process to get quality flavor from the cheaper Robusta beans. With pizza, they invented a satisfactory food from cheap ingredients: flour, water and yeast.

What impressed me about John’s approach to capitalism was his intuitive regard for employees as an important capital asset.

Please do watch our discussion.