Companies and society benefit when leaders keep both their personal values and the values of the company as a whole in mind, according to a committee of Cornell University faculty, administrators, and alumni.
The 7th annual SC Johnson School of Management Faculty Panel was held March 8 at Warren Hall in conjunction with Cornell University's “Freedom of Expression” theme year. Ravi Kambur, T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, created the event in 2018 to showcase the school's thought leadership on current social and policy issues. Raised.
Cornell University's Statement of Core Values marks the start of this year's dialogue, which began with opening remarks from President Martha E. Pollack and concluded with remarks from Andrew Karolyi, Charles Field Knight Dean of S.C. Johnson University. It became a point.
Amy Roe Chasen, a 1991 Dyson graduate and vice president and research director at Baron Capital, says her team looks at competitive advantages, averages, when deciding whether to buy stocks. He said that he is looking for sustainable growth that will exceed his expectations, as well as strong leadership from the company. They found that CEOs and managers with clear values tend to care about their employees, focus on the long term, and better manage investors' capital.
“When I meet with management, I ask them questions about their business,” Lowe Chasen said. “But we also want to understand what motivates them as leaders and what their values are.”
Beta Mannix, the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Management at the Samuel Curtis Johnson School of Management, said that because many people spend so much of their lives at work, their personal values and the values of their employers are different. He said that consensus is important. But she found that many Executive MBA students struggled to articulate their values. It's not because they don't have values, it's because they've never intentionally reflected on their values.
In one study, Mannix surveyed 1,000 people working at a global health organization to understand whether identifying core values influences variables such as self-confidence, personal agency, and influence within the company. Data were collected from women.
“What we've found is that once you understand your values, you can go beyond your comfort zone and take courageous actions you might not have considered taking otherwise,” she says. I did. “In that sense, self-awareness is a valuable asset.”
Simone Tan, the Peter and Cornell University Associate Professor of Management and Organizations, says that organizations that are perceived to be moral are less likely to be held accountable by the general public and less likely to have sympathy. Because they are more likely to feel the same way, they are better able to weather hardships such as ethics scandals and economic recessions. She is a graduate of the Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Management.
Tan's research showed that leaders can improve public perceptions of an organization's morality by humanizing it. For example, promoting the CEO as the face of the organization rather than just using a logo or spokesperson. Encourage employee emotional expression. Showing an organization's individuality humanizes the organization and highlights its morality.
When thinking about environmental stewardship, social responsibility, corporate governance (collectively known as ESG), and values-based leadership, Jinghua Zhao, David J. Nolan Dean of the Dyson School, says: We discussed the importance of recognizing the bottom line. Ms. Zhao's current research focuses on whether her third-party ESG evaluations result in changes in a company's chemical emissions.
“When assessing values-based leadership, we need to assess its impact not only on the long-term profitability of the company, but also on the well-being of society,” he said, adding that it is important to assess the impact it has on the long-term profitability of the company, as well as on the well-being of society. , added that other stakeholders are increasingly making their demands. Companies should pay more attention to social welfare.
Alison Fromm is a writer at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.
