Tuesday 21 June 2011

The Social Entrepreneur as CEO/Business Leader

Towards the end of my corporate career almost 20 years ago there was much talk about how human resources executives would soon be the new breed of CEO’s. This hasn’t eventuated!

Accountants, lawyers, and engineers still dominate CEO ranks. In many cases this means logic overrides intuition, in personal and organisational decision making, rather than the ability and willingness to find the relationship harmony point between logic and intuition.

Could a change be in the air? Human resources executives will probably still not become the new breed of CEO, however my sense is that Social Entrepreneurs will.

The causes of the financial crisis, greed, incompetence, poor legislation in some countries, all defy logic. The good news is that the crisis has accelerated the need, indeed the imperative, for a new breed of CEO.

For me intuition is an inherent human gift. It is something we all have access to when we allow it. When intuition, our sixth sense, our gut feel, is supported by logic we create a dynamic that enables us to create and enact new forms of decision making, and the premises on which we make them.

My intuition is telling me that the way we operate in business, particularly in financial services is broken, and so far very few political or business leaders have come up with anything to fix what is broken.

Business cannot survive in societies that fail. says Bjorn Stigson the President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. His words are a rally cry for common sense to finally become the common thing.

Social Entrepreneurs are folk who conduct business by putting people and the planet before profits. They realise that profit is a result of being good at business, not a reason for being in business.

The key question for you as a leader today is are you for people and planet first? If you can answer yes, you are the new breed of CEO/Leader. If you answer no, you are destined for the graveyard of CEO’s/Leaders who failed to follow their hearts.

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
The Change Master™ - catalyst for changing what’s normal inside organisations for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

Sign-up here for my monthly changing what’s normal newsletter, and get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business

No comments: