Is everyone screwing business as usual?
- By Helen Craig -
- Mar 30, 2012
Yesterday I attended the launch of a report on the changing role of business leaders. Sir Stuart Rose, former Executive Chairman and CEO, Marks & Spencer and Mark Foster, Chairman of IBLF, were there to discuss the new report and the exciting challenge facing business leaders, which has conventionally been the territory of political leaders and NGO activists.
“Leadership in Rapidly Changing World” was produced by Ashridge Business School and the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) and outlines what we can learn from current and former Chairs, CEOs and senior executives of companies large and small from around the world, about the shifting demands of business leadership.
Sir Stuart stated: “There are chief executives who are ahead of the game. There are chief executives who are more visionary. There are chief executives who recognise that the world is not the place it was 10 years ago and that they have to find different routes and listen to different inputs. They are necessarily in the minority. The tail end will never catch up and the rest are in the middle. The middle's a comfortable place to be, and everybody else seems to be doing the same thing until you suddenly find, ’Oops! They’re not doing that any more. Oh dear!’, and you realise you’ve been left behind.”
This is what the Virgin message is all about - Screwing Business As Usual and being brave enough to do things differently in a rapidly changing environment. As our Big Red Box film shows, Richard Branson and the CEO’s from around the group, understand the need to make business a force for good and are already taking some innovative steps to drive change.
The new report is a really interesting look at what business leaders should be doing and lead change beyong business boundaries.
By Helen Craig. Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability at Virgin. Tweets @helcraig
