A landmark discussion on the major problems the world is facing and the profound changes ahead for business
As the School marks its 25th anniversary, Marya Besharov and Thyra Lee hosted Emeritus Professor and former Dean, Colin Mayer CBE, and Chair of the Board at Oxford Saïd, Paul Polman.
The discussion addressed the mounting global crises the world is facing: the pandemic, the environmental crisis, systemic racism, ongoing economic inequality, and more.
Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, focused on food production, taking a step back from our current accepted farming practices to argue that we are getting it wrong:
‘We have the audacity to waste 30 to 40 per cent of the food, as if it’s nothing, and on the other side we’re creating the biggest epidemic the world has ever seen with diabetes 2, where we have two and a half billion people overweight or obese.’
Colin Mayer pointed to where things have gone wrong and a growing divide between capitalism and democracy. He identified a shift, as we recognise the traditional economic view, of people as simply greedy, is false. As Mayer puts it:
‘We thrive from working together, living together, from respecting each other, from promoting that notion of community. So the individualism that underpins economics has been very unfortunate in terms of undermining that sense of community and society and that is what we're beginning to recognise we have to recreate.’
He added: ‘It's particularly important in relation to the sorts of political challenges that the economic model is posing for us.’
Polman concluded that all the challenges we face can be solved through leadership, purpose and then trust, so that people can move forwards to set the right agendas for themselves.
The well attended hybrid event also celebrated Mayer’s retirement from the School and his seminal book 'Prosperity: Better Business Makes the Greater Good' and Polman’s widely acclaimed new book, 'Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take.'
Watch the event and visit our thought leadership platform Oxford Answers to find out more about Business: the next 25 years.