What's exciting in business today?

Description: Hormats is excited about innovation in the energy sector.

Transcript:

In business today I . . . There is still a great deal of innovation. There’s innovation in the energy sector. There’s innovation in pharmaceutical industry. New drugs are being discovered all the time. Perhaps not as rapidly as one would hope to cure the major diseases of our time, but a lot of technical progress is being made there. A lot of brilliant people are working hard on developing new drugs. There is also a sense among people in the business community that they know they have to play a broader role, a more robust role in the global economy. And they’re doing it quite well. I think the business community has a greater sense of the opportunities available than perhaps it did 10 years ago in many of these areas. And I have a lot of confidence that American business can respond to these challenges. But I think it’s also incumbent upon American business not just to look after its own interests in running their company’s profitably, although obviously one has to do that. That’s critical for any company if it wants to survive, and be very profitable, and enhance shareholder value, and improve the opportunities for its workers; but I think American business also have to play a greater role in the policy area. American business should be a leader in emphasizing the importance of improving the American educational system. American business should be a leader in emphasizing that we need to reduce dependence on imported energy because we’re so vulnerable to disruptions there. American business should be the leader in supporting mid-career and late-career training programs or retraining programs for workers who are displaced by change. American business should be insistent that the federal government address these long term financial issues of entitlements, not just sweep them under the rug or kick the can down the road. Business has to, if it wants to enhance its own prospects for the future, be very actively involved in the policy debate, and be a constructive player, and make sure that we don’t have this two-tiered society – a society divided between those who feel they’re benefiting from change, benefiting from globalization, and people who feel that change, and progress, and globalization are a threat. And they . . . and they . . . And if they want to get the best employees in the future, they certainly have to be at the forefront of the effort to strengthen and enhance prospects for the education system. Because if we don’t have well trained students who can deal with mathematics, and physics, and chemistry, and biology at a very high level, American companies simply will not have the people they need for the next decade or two. And the American system will suffer, not to mention these individuals who won’t have jobs or won’t have good jobs, and will be deprived of the potential. And that’s particularly true for minorities and immigrant . . . people in the immigrant community. They need to get the very best possible education because they’re going to be a growing factor in the workforce. And unless we’re able to do that, and unless business is able to make this a high priority and willing to make it a high priority, those people will be alienated from our society. And our society won’t have the benefit of their talents, of their skills, of their creativity. And therefore the individuals lose and the society loses.

 

Recorded On: 7/25/07

Description: Bill George, on compassionate capitalism.

Transcript: Well there’s a tremendous amount of exciting things going on in business. I think the breakthroughs in healthcare that I participated in, and what can be done to improve human health; the contributions of technology to many of our businesses, and making them competitive on a global scale. But I would say of all the things, the thing that I’m most excited about is the emergence of great global corporations – companies that can operate anywhere in the globe and take advantage of the best skills anywhere. So I’m not a believer in the criticism outsourcing of those things. I think if we could blend together in a multicultural sense people of all kinds of ethnic backgrounds, religious backgrounds, racial backgrounds, gender and have that kind of unit, we can . . . an organization can make contributions through tough global problems – whether it’s global poverty, economic self-sufficiency . . . I’m a great believer in capitalism. I was a fervent capitalist, and I think the capitalistic model can work if we can be a collaborative capitalism; but what Narayana Murphy of InfoSys calls compassionate capitalism – one that emphasizes fairness, decency, transparency and honesty. But that can be blended in with the principles of capitalism, then I think you have the benefit for using capitalism to create a better society. However there’s a downside to capitalism. And capitalism run amuck can create damage and great harm to people. And that’s why we need authentic leaders running our organizations, not people that are in it for themselves.

Question: What challenge does business face?

Transcript: Well business faces enormous problems going forward.  A lot of companies are not adapted to being in a truly global world, and they’re still fighting against it.  They haven’t created a multi-cultural environment.  That’s certainly one thing.  A lot of companies are fighting against governments and not recognizing their problems. A lot of companies are so short-term oriented in their financial orientation and their financial performance that they destroy the very essence of the company.  And they don’t realize that the only way our share holder value is created is by being customer valued and sustainable customer valued.  And so business faces all those risks; and if business pushes beyond the bonds . . . or the bounds of what society is looking for, then I think business will be increasingly constrained.  And then we can’t let the best side of capitalism – which is creating new companies, new jobs, new products and services that can help people – really flourish.

But I think moving away from a sense of purpose, or making money the only purpose – which we’ve seen over the last 15 years – has become very damaging.  Money, if you . . .  Wealth creation should be the result.  It shouldn’t be the purpose.  The purpose should be creating a product or service that makes a difference in society or in the lives of others, and makes this a better place to live.  As a result, if you do that well, then you’ll be financially well-rewarded.

Recorded on: 7/6/07