Corporate responsibility is the rule, not the exception, according to business, academic and government leaders who took part in the fourth annual Bentley Leadership Forum. The half-day event took place on Thursday, March 27, presented in cooperation with TIME magazine.
Gloria Cordes Larson, Bentley president, and Edward McCarrick, TIME magazine president and worldwide publisher, welcomed 550 attendees. The keynote speaker was Patty Stonesifer, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who joined TIME Deputy Editor Romesh Ratnesar in a “conversation” that addressed the forum theme: the Global Imperative to Serve the Public Good.
“How do you have a career that is both successful in the business sense, but also makes an impact on the community and gives back to the world?” Ratnesar asked on behalf of college graduates preparing to enter the work force. Stonesifer acknowledged the movement toward corporate responsibility among employers, because “to get the right employee base, you have to have it. Every corporation has assets that can and should be used not only to further the self-interest of shareholders, but to further our shared responsibility to leave the world a better place. It’s growing conversation in corporate board rooms.”
She reflected, too, on the attributes of good leadership, including “the ability to look harsh reality in the face and still believe in the necessity of moving forward and doing what you can.” Her own work includes spearheading Gates Foundation initiatives to prepare American students for college and to create alliances for developing malaria and AIDS vaccines. “Resilience . . . is what’s necessary to change the world.”
Providing Direction, Taking Action
The Leadership Forum also featured a panel discussion moderated by Bentley Professor of Management and Sociology Tony Buono, who coordinates the college’s Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility. Participants included two former U.S. ambassadors: Swanee Hunt, founding director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Charles Stith, director of the African Presidential Archives and Research Center at Boston University. The third panelist was Carol Cone, chairman of Cone Communications, which specializes in cause-related branding and strategic philanthropy.
The three explored how all types of organizations can infuse their business model with socially beneficial outcomes. Speakers also addressed the challenges ahead for a generation of leaders who see social responsibility as the norm. The role of current U.S. presidential candidates in shaping expectations and delivering demonstrable results was another topic of discussion.
“What America does matters,” said Stith. “We live in a multipolar universe where there are different countries and different sectors that impact significantly on the ebb and flow of everything that goes on.”
Looking Toward Tomorrow
The forum closed with a luncheon honoring the Tomorrow25: notable young leaders chosen in an international competition that Bentley sponsors each year. The group comprises high school juniors who demonstrate initiative, citizenship, intelligence, technological savvy, cultural awareness, social responsibility, and a dedication to making positive things happen in their schools, communities and the broader society.
The luncheon keynote speaker was Michael Brown, co-founder and CEO of youth service corps City Year. “You are the walking, talking ripples of hope, and together you are a mighty current,” he told the group. “The world is truly going to be in good hands when it’s in yours.”
Brown called for establishing a year of service as “the very centerpiece of American democracy in the 21st century. I have learned, time and again, that young people have an almost limitless power to connect, to engage, and to inspire.”