Business School Annual Lecture 2011
Experts declare pride, passion and love as vital to deal with
local, national and global change
Businesses, civic leaders and citizens
must connect with their humanity to foster a culture of caring if
they are to deal effectively with financial, social and political
change according to City of York Council CEO, Kersten England and
corporate philosopher Professor Roger Steare.
Speaking at the York St John Business School
Annual Lecture, their clear message to the 85 local business
leaders, public service providers, academics and students was that
a new ethical mindset is required to handle the fallout from the
global economic downturn, climate change and growing social
inequality.
In her presentation entitled ‘Pride and
Passion – local government in its element’, Kersten England
explained why she is passionate about protecting and encouraging
participation in local democracy which she believes is crucial to
empowering the people of York, unlocking talent and the pursuit of
prosperity.
“Civic leaders across the country face a
number of challenges including budget deficit reduction, how to
deliver the Big Society agenda and voter apathy,” said Kersten
England. “But ask the question ‘what kind of place do we want
York to be?’ and that puts a different perspective on local
democracy. That’s why we have to be proud and passionate
about civic leadership, encourage citizens who have a stake in our
city to participate and support good governance.”
Building on the ‘caring’ theme in the second
lecture was Professor Roger Steare with his presentation ‘The Power
of Love in Business’. Roger, who advises major businesses and
public sector bodies including HSBC, BP and the FSA (Financial
Services Authority), believes that society as a whole would benefit
greatly if boardrooms were filled with corporate leaders who
brought their humanity into the workplace.
“Love and business are words that do not often
get connected,” said Roger. “But although love is deep rooted
in human nature, all too often it is absent from the business world
where utility and ‘getting things done’ is the order of the
day.”
According to Roger, if we do not bring our
whole ‘self’ to work – including our empathy – we lack integrity
and objectives such as hitting sales targets are therefore only
achieved at the expense of the values we normally stand for outside
the workplace. Institutions had been built on the assumptions
that logic and reason comes before emotion and, therefore,
expressing our feelings in the workplace is inappropriate.
However, his ongoing research highlights that showing we
really care adds value to our business proposition.
The Annual Lecture was introduced by Jackie
Mathers, dean of York St John Business School.
Jackie said, “With their refreshing approach
to leadership and management, it was a real privilege to have
Kersten and Roger present for us at our Annual Lecture, which marks
the third anniversary of the Business School. Both
presentations were extremely very thought-provoking and I hope
everyone attending will have taken away some ‘food for thought’
that they otherwise wouldn’t have considered.”
For details of future York St John Business
School events call 01904 876915 or email business.school@yorksj.ac.uk.