Engagement in the News: NY Times Highlights Need for an Enterprise Approach to Engagement

Op-ed contributor David Leonhardt continues his call for CEOS to address the needs of all stakeholders. 

 

By Bruce Bolger 

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David Leonhardt, the New York Times columnist, highlights Peter Georgescu, a former Young & Rubicam CEO and a refugee who made it in the U.S., and who recently celebrated his 80th birthday. Georgescu is  afraid, Leonhardt says, “because the American economy no longer functions well for most citizens. ‘For the past four decades,’ Georgescu has written, ‘capitalism has been slowly committing suicide.’” 

 

Georgescu attributes his business success to the spirit of America—the willingness of so many people who had no reason to care about him who helped him along his way. These people, he tells Leonhardt, believed in a society in which a sense of community was valued, and in which corporate executives paid themselves reasonable salaries and created businesses where employees saw their wages rise over time. What Georgescu calls “stakeholder capitalism”—which he says “optimizes the well-being of customers, employees, shareholders and the nation” (sound familiar?)—gave way to “short-term shareholder-only capitalism.”  

 

Leonhardt says that Georgescu is using his retirement “to agitate other corporate leaders. He has published a book, called Capitalists, Arise! Georgescu believes that capitalism could fall apart, says Leonhardt, but he believes that business, more than government, can solve the program. His prescription is what we call Enterprise Engagement. “He told me that executives should resist pressure to maximize short-term profits. Companies could make even more money if they invested in their workers and became more productive and innovative, he says. Costco is a favorite example of his.” 

 

Leonhardt doesn’t believe that Corporate America will solve the problem voluntarily, and that government action will be required. “But I am grateful for Georgescu’s efforts, because the culture and values of corporate America have a big effect on society. Not so long ago, top executives made decisions that took into account not just their own bank accounts, but also their workers, their communities and their country. Georgescu is asking them to do so again.” 

 

David Leonhardt should check out the CEOs selected for the ISO 10018 Honorary CEO Citation for Quality People Management.