Rekindling the Human Spirit in Business

The World Business Academy is founded on the understanding that business is the dominant institution in society today and the one most capable of responding to rapid change. As such, business must adopt a new tradition of responsibility for the whole. It must do this by defining business interests within the wider perspective of society in order to create a positive and sustainable future.

The Academy's mission is to explore and clarify the fundamental paradigm shifts underway globally. Its goal is to enable Academy Members to integrate this knowledge into their lives and business practices and to disseminate it into the world to rekindle the human spirit in business.

"Business has become, in this last half of century, the most powerful institution on the planet. The dominant institution in any society needs to take responsibility for the whole, as the church did in the days of the Holy Roman Empire. But business has not had such tradition. This is a new role, not yet well understood or accepted.

"Built into the concept of capitalism and free enterprise from the beginning was the assumption that the action of many units of individual enterprises, responding to the market forces and guided by the "invisible hand" of Adam Smith, would somehow add up to desirable outcomes. But in the last decade of the twentieth century, it has become clear that the "invisible hand" is faltering. It depended upon a consensus of overarching meanings and values that is no longer present. So business has to adopt a tradition it has never had throughout the entire history of capitalism: to share the responsibility for the whole. Every decision that is made, every action that is taken, must be viewed in the light of that kind of responsibility.

"And that, to me, is what the World Business Academy is really about. It is not just another association of business people to exchange information and foster collegiality. It is about investing ourselves in a task of historic proportions. Some will be called to this task and many will not. Those who are will find it to be extremely gratifying and fulfilling."

Dr Willis Harmann, Emeritus Professor Stanford University
World Business Academy Cofounder and Fellow.
Website : www.worldbusiness.org