Hippocratic Oath for Green Business Leaders - Beyond Ghettoized MBA Curriculums
To prepare bright eyed, bushy tailed young managers and indeed, young enterpreneurs eco or not, for the challenges that the business world has laid out for them, dramatic shifts in their education and training - as well as a new Hippocratic Oath will be necessary, say Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria of Harvard’s Business School.
Bryan Gallagher already brought up the need to seriously shake up the undergraduate silos system to keep up with business reality and demand for corporate environmental and social responsibility (CESR) leaders.
Khurana and Nohria want it to happen at the MBA level.
They vie for business school CESR embedded — not ghettoized from the rest of the curriculum — courses that go beyond the old school market logic that dominates so many MBA curriculums. They also support the need to get rid of the misleading idea that management is to practice slavish devotion to the needs of its shareholders.
“Management, in other words, will have to become more like the learned professions of medicine and law. Professions such as these are, at least in theory, characterized by an orientation to serving society–and they have something the profession of management does not have–a normative code or oath that encourages leaders to consider the broader implications of their actions.”
Yes, this sounds like the “been there, done that” of corporate codes of ethics at many organizations but no: Khurana and Nohria are calling for a global golden rule law that is as unassailable as a doctor’s oath is to a patient.
No it won’t be easy and executives will drag their feet until of course, some element of fear hits home.
“Perhaps the frightening and complex issue of climate change will serve as a wake up call for managers and business educators, spurring them to create their own code of conduct,” suggest Khurana and Nohria.
Olga, thank you for a well researched and interesting post. I can see from your background that you have extensive knowledge and experience in sustainable businesses. Your expertise comes across in this post regarding the possibility of a green Hippocratic Oath for business managers. My initial reaction was that this is a great move on the parts of business professionals to force others in their industry to be held socially responsible for the actions of their company. It is smart to incorporate these ideas in the MBA curriculum of young up and comers. I am sure that it is much more difficult to convince an older manager to change his ways than someone who has yet to enter the real business world. I agree with you that CESR practices have to be embedded into the courses rather than taught as a separate subject entirely in order to be effective. But the more I think about it, the more I feel that this may be an idealized proposition that will face strong opposition and probable failure. There is a reason why the Hippocratic Oath only exists in medicine and law and that is because these professions are centered on the general welfare of the people. In marketing, the focus is on profits and economy. Do social issues and economic issues have to exist on two different planes? Not in my opinion. However I am sure that many in the business world do view it in that manner. Even if young MBA professionals entered the industry with great plans and ideas for sustainable company practices, it is unlikely they will be able to enforce them as the “rookies” at their jobs. So long as older generation managers are reluctant to make any real green changes to their business, it will be nearly impossible for this new educational program to succeed. The issue with many companies is that they view things in a short term manner rather than long term. What may be good for the environment and planet overall may not necessarily be what is going to provide the greatest amount of profits right now. I am not a business major and cannot say that I understand the ins and outs of this profession, and perhaps I have become too jaded about the possibility for socially responsible companies. Do you believe this is something that will really work? I noticed that you also have some Public Relations background working for Edelman. Do you think that because many companies have found ways around being truly sustainable (i.e. through greenwashing techniques) there will not really be a need to honestly change one’s business practices? If you can successfully market and promote yourself as being greener than you really are than why bother making the effort to do any more? I am in no way advocating this. I would welcome a change to create more socially responsible corporations and companies. I just have doubts as to the effectiveness a Hippocratic Oath would have in the business world. I am interested to hear your own thoughts on this.
I’m afraid i agree with KC. I’m a professional environmentalist and fully endorse the idea of ethical business, but this is a nonsense propostion.
A doctor’s raison d’etre is to protect life and health, whereas a business manager’s is to make money.
Asking a business manager to put the planet before profit does kind of miss the point of why companies exist.
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