The shift from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism – a report by the Center for Creative Leadership highlights the transition the new world is demanding for corporate leadership globally


Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), a leading global not-for-profit leadership development provider, highlighted in its report titled Beyond Doing Good – Six Mindset Shifts for Determined Leadership how leadership teams will need to nurture organizational purpose, making it more central to culture, business strategy and talent engagement.

Authored by Sunil Puri, Head of Research and Development, CCL and Elisa Mallis, Managing Director and Vice President, APAC, CCL, the report examines how the pandemic has awakened leaders across Asia to the need to evolve towards stakeholder capitalism as opposed to shareholder capitalism.

Based on in-depth interviews with 20 executives and board directors across Asia, the report lays out the six changes organizations need to make as they move towards more socially accepted versions of themselves and financially better off in the future. The six mindset shifts described include altruism to impact, nation-centered to world-centered, short-term to long-term, exclusive to inclusive, organizational to personal, and why to how.

Business leaders in both the private and public sectors recognize that the world has entered an era where inclusive growth is essential to preserve global stability and well-being. Focusing primarily on maximizing profits for shareholders is no longer enough. Business focus has changed at an accelerating pace, evident from 2019 when 181 Business Roundtable CEOs adapted a new statement on “the purpose of a corporation,” stating that “businesses must not only serve their shareholders, but also bring value to their customers, invest in employees, deal fairly with suppliers and support the communities in which they operate.

Business leaders now recognize that longer-term inclusive growth requires an ecosystem approach, focusing on the well-being of employees, customers, suppliers, communities and the environment.

Speaking of the report, Sunil Puri, Research and Development Manager said: “Relying on the collective wisdom of executives and board leaders, we have seen that the post-pandemic world has created a new set of rules for companies to follow. Adapting to this new world order will require a shift to a goal-oriented organizational culture, where senior management is able to flex a different set of leadership muscles that encompass traits like humility, courage, and empathy. .

For more information and to download the report, visit this link.

Notes to Editor:
Quotes of some leaders from the research paper are as follows:

“It’s a new era, and we’re not going back to the story of shareholder primacy; any company that dares to follow this path will be “punished” by society, customers, employees and most certainly by investors”, as stated by a business executive.

Altruism is not very often associated with business; conventional wisdom suggests that business is played on a competitive playing field and often a zero-sum game, but it is worth noting that it [altruism] forms the basis of our organization, shared a senior business leader in a regional organization.

“Greenwashing can bring short-term gains; in the long term, however, stakeholders are able to see through the dressing of the sustainability report,” said a senior executive.

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