News and Cluster Activities
- Set of "Grab the Bull by Its Horns"
EBBF Member ‘Grabs the Bull by Its Horns’ on Primetime Television
Submitted by Kimmo Vesajoki
Kimmo Vesajoki recently appeared on fellow EBBF member Aram Aflatuni’s prime-time talk show and brought his values-based insights to bear on the business dilemma treated on the show. The popular Monday night program, “Härkää Sarvista”, or "Grab the Bull by the Horns", with a viewership of over 200,000, begins with a problem, and then has a panel of experts try to solve it using consultation and cooperation. The topic under discussion was centered on a real moral dilemma in a company, and Kimmo, who had been in a similar situation, was invited to share his views on the topic. Here is what happened, in Kimmo’s words:
The Monday after the EBBF Annual Seminar is the best time for action, I thought when I was approached by my fellow EBBF member Aram Aflatuni in the beginning of September. He was looking for people to take part in his prime time talk show “Härkää Sarvista”, which translates in English “Bull by the Horns”. The topic for the episode was work ethics, or to be more accurate, the lack of ethics. Aram had chosen to address the issue of bad management and harassment of work that has escalated to a national economic problem that manifests itself in lower productivity and higher health care costs. The case was build around a harassed manager from a small Finnish IT-firm, who was a part of the company’s management team and at crossroads in her professional life. Her options were either to leave the company, to stay put and challenge the management or to sue the CEO because of harassment. I had firsthand knowledge of a similar situation when I left a same kind of an IT-firm because of bad management and lack of ethics.
Earlier I had spent the Mondays after EBBF events forcing myself to stop day dreaming and get back to earth from the spheres of inspiration I had reached during the weekend. This time I decided to seize the opportunity for action and skip the search for motivation to carry on daily work. So I accepted Aram’s request to represent EBBF in this talk show and to act as one of the mentors, whose purpose is to help to find solutions for the problem at hand. The show is recorded live and reaches some 20% of the Finnish population watching television on every Monday, so you could say that I was pretty nervous to find myself on the set under the spotlight that Monday. Regardless of that, I enjoyed the opportunity to take part in the program and judging by the feedback, I was able to do my part well. After the show, I was contacted by several people for advice. One of them was a CEO that wanted to discuss values based leadership with me and who decided to take concrete steps after our discussion in order to make values the guidelines for their daily operations. I also had lunch with Aram and his boss to discuss the role of business ethics and values based leadership in the new paradigm of work.
In addition to taking in all the information that I could at the EBBF Annual Conference, I prepared for the show by reading all EBBF publications I could get my hands on. This helped me to reflect on the values and experience of EBBF in the show. Here are some excerpts from my comments:
- “Man has not been created for work but work has been made for man. Companies that understand and know how to utilize this will have the best people working for them.”
- “Traditional mechanistic management practices don’t bring desired results in the modern knowledge based economy, what is needed today is values based leadership.”
- “Work must have a purpose beyond profit. The real motivation for work is created from service to humanity the size of the paycheck is secondary.”
- “Companies are fighting for talented people and the war for talent is won by companies that can offer meaningful work and are capable of communicating the purpose of the work to employees in all levels of the organization.”
- “We should always try to create change in our daily work but also realize that there will be limits to what can be archived. We should be constructive and raise issues from personal opinions to principal level.”
- “If we can’t remedy the situation we can still set an example by leaving the company. This will also be good for our own health because it is easy to be burned out under bad management.”
- “We shouldn’t be afraid to get fired because of our values. If we compromise our values we will lose our integrity and lose track of ourselves, who were are and what are we about.”
- “Trustworthiness is the key component of a good work environment. Employees need to be able to trust the people they are working for and feel that they can develop personally in their work.”
To build the business case for good management practices, I also used Rüdiger’s example on how removing certain managers affected the amount of sick leaves in his company.
This Fall brought many wonderful surprises and opportunities with it that have fed my interest in values based leadership. I’m now pondering whether I should set up a consultancy practice for spirituality in business…
- George Starcher (left) in this image with the Managing Director of Danone, Ramin Khabirpour
George Starcher opens doors to the European Union's Director General for Enterprise
George Starcher met over a business lunch at INSEAD's business school Tom Dodd, Director General for Enterprise at the European Union.
The conversation moved on the importance of introducing more innovation to and from the younger players in the European Union. The interest of DG Enterprise was such that EBBF was invited to visit Tom Dodd and sure enough George Starcher not only met with Tom but also introduced him to AIESEC and Jade two long young professionals and values-based student organizations that EBBF has enjoyed a fruitful long term relationship with.
The topic of the conversation was about educatng for entrepreneurship - an excellent meeting that saw Mr. Dodd "taking five pages of notes and supporting our idea that these organizations of student entrepreneurs need to collaborate to a greater degree."
Daniel Schaubacher also organized a number of events making the most of the opportunity of George visiting Brussels "Daniel Schaubacher did a really superb job in organizing my two day visit here in Brussels." says George.
On Wednesday Daniel and his wife Myriam organized a luncheon with Emanuel (AIESEC), the President and a member of the Int'l Board of JADE, a representative from the Junior Chamber Int'l. Then the meeting with Tom Dodd and then a very interesting group of 25 for the evening programme which Daniel organized but it was at Dale Emerson's house - standing room only. Emmanuel Gavert from AIESEC spoke well, and I followed up, following by a great discussion.
Then George visited the CSREurope circus which was also beautifully organized, 650 participants, 90 CSR related projects, and 16 "learning laboratories"... a very active event. The majority of the projects were on the social actions, relatively few on the environment and climate change.
EBBF at CSR Europe's panels and tools for CSR implementation
Submitted by Marc Avanzo
Marguerite Lacoste and I have attended the Laboratory meeting organised by CSR Europe on "Panels and tools of implementation"
This took place at Deloitte in Paris.
The leading company on CSR panels is Suez
-The program started with a presentation from deloitte (I can send you a copy of their report on CSR and dialogue with stakeholders
-then Utopies/Accountability presented the result of their study on "the emerging role of stakeholder panels incorporate governance, reporting and assurance".
(I can also send you a copy of it )
-the last big presentations were Suez with their "water panels"
-and Enel with their online customer survey on their CSR commitments.
the attending companies/NGOs were :
Dow, Care, Axa, Areva, Nestlé, Air France, Suez, Total, Comité 21, ORSE
From all that has been said, here are the sallient points I'll take out
-The origin of dialogue between stakeholders are shared values first!, then crisis.
- the depth of dialogue is not really big:business models are very scarcely willingly questionned.
-Wether Companies see their dialogues with NGOs as only consultative, NGOs would like to be considered by companies as equals.
- amongst stakeholders, consumers are sometimes not taken into account. (and sometimes unions as well)
-companies see in panels the opportunitu to see future risks coming, manage their image, better their transparency, tackle crisis.
-the importance of the right state of mind and "consultation" in the baha'i sense was often underlined. There is room here for training for preparing to panel part taking.
-many dialogues are made impossible because some parties like NGOs adopt extreme and critical positions and declare they won't change anyway. So too critical and non constructive state of mind make dialogue just impossible.
-Sometimes, mediators are needed to make panels fruitful
- a panel is a way to force stakeholders, directors to take RSE in consideration, and to get connected to reality
-informal exchanges are actually the most important thing.
EBBF Italy presents at 6th Executives Club dinner
- EBBF member Beppe Robiati (right) talking with conference participant
si è tenuta ieri la 6ª Executives Net-Growing Dinner sul tema della «Responsabilità Sociale di Impresa», di cui ci ha parlato l’Ing. Giuseppe Robiati, ospite della serata.
Il nostro ospite ci ha offerto una panoramica sulle possibilità che si aprono alle aziende che, come la sua, scelgono di sostituire i valori della Responsabilità Sociale di Impresa alla vecchia visione economica dell’azienda interessata solo al profitto.
Ambiente, dipendenti, fornitori, società civile, azionisti:
questi i temi che Giuseppe Robiati ha illustrato, condividendo con il pubblico esempi che attingevano direttamente alla sua esperienza di uomo e di imprenditore costantemente proiettato ad ascoltare, comprendere e crescere.
University of Urbino invites EBBF to explore "emerging markets"
Submitted by EBBF Italy National Representative - Sandra Luschi
- Sandra Luschi at the centre of this photo taken at a previous MBA presentation event
Giovedi 13 dicembre pomeriggio si è svolta all'Università degli studi di Urbino la conferenza organizzata da AIESEC "Mercati Emergenti nell'Est Europa", con la partecipazione di 3 docenti, Unicredit ed Ebbf.
Moderatore Francesca, Presidente Aiesec, già conosciuta a Mestre al Meeting nazionale e reduce da un esperienza personale presso il distretto di Timisoara in Romania, famoso per la folta presenza di aziende italiane.
Ha iniziato un docente di Scienze della Formazione, con una introduzione-riflessione sul libero mercato e sull'importanza che la politica ne stemperi le estreme conseguenze (gran discorso molto articolato e con spunti e citazioni di filosofi ed economisti).
E' quindi venuto il turno di EBBF e siccome l'uomo di Unicredit, che doveva parlare dopo, non è potuto arrivare, mi hanno consentito di usare il suo spazio, così ho parlato per un'ora, collegandomi a molti degli spunti offerti dal primo docente.
Dopo aver illustrato cosa è EBBF, ho offerto la visione EBBF esplorando i temi dello svilluppo, ruolo e responsabilità delle imprese, crescita sostenibile ed importanza delle nuove generazioni di economisti, manager ed imprenditori, ma anche promuovendo i principi dell'unità del genere umano e dell'unità nella diversità per spingere oltre la ricerca in tutti i campi all'insegna della interdisciplinarietà.
Soprattutto i ragazzi hanno recepito forza e chiarezza logica, da cui hanno tratto incoraggiamento ad agire ed innovare le realtà esistenti, mettendo al centro il fattore umano, in modo da offrire il proprio contributo per edificare una società più giusta.
La responsabile Aiesec di Ancona, che era presente, mi ha contattato per andare a Marzo all'Università di Ancona a parlare di imprenditorialità.
Con la responsabile PR di Aiesec Urbino, Chiara, abbiamo fatto amicizia in modo più approfondito e la sera mi ha scritto un sms speciale: "la tua passione è travolgente e tutti ne sono rimasti colpiti".
In effetti, anch'io mi sentivo travolta dal vento che spira dal nome della Bellezza Benedetta.
Prima di lasciarvi un ulteriore aggiornamento: il 16 gennaio EBBF interverrà a Roma al Master SAFE sul tema della responsabilità sociale delle imprese collegato all'energia rinnovabile.
EBBF Italy at AIESEC National Event
Submitted by Sandra Luschi
Ho partecipato per EBBF al Congresso Nazionale AIESEC a Lignano Sabbiadoro (UD), dove si sono incontrati tutti i 23 Comitati Locali Italiani.
In questa occasione, come ogni anno, i ragazzi approfondiscono le tematiche che poi dovranno sviluppare a livello locale tramite l'organizzazione di eventi vari. Per approfondire i temi vengono invitati soggetti esterni al mondo universitario, che poi saranno chiamati a partecipare anche agli eventi locali. I temi per quest'anno continuano ad essere:
- imprenditoria,
- energia rinnovabile,
- mercati emergenti.
Sono stati invitati 3 partner esterni:
- EBBF,
- Planet Life Economy Foundation,
- SABAF.
All'inizio è stato affidato a Ricotti, fondatore di Planet Life Economy Foundation, un manager amico di Beppe, un intervento introduttivo sul collegamento delle 3 tematiche.
Poi i circa 120 studenti presenti si sono divisi in 4 workshop di un'ora e mezza, uno dei quali era sul tema mercati emergenti ed affidato a EBBF. La raccomandazione che avevo avuto era che fosse interattivo.
Il feedback è stato molto positivo, sia perchè è stato apprezzato il metodo partecipativo, sia per i contenuti, che univano il concetto di sviluppo, la CSR, la globalizzazione e l'approccio di lungo periodo ai mercati emergenti.
Ho rafforzato l'amicizia con Federica ed altri e ho fatto nuove amicizie con naturalezza si riescono a sviluppare relazioni belle e profonde.
Come sempre fra i piú calorosi i ragazzi del Comitato Napoli Federico II con molte foto scattate insieme.
Un ultimo racconto riguarda la chiacchierata al tavolo del Comitato Nazionale. Avevo davanti Ricotti. L'anno scorso avevamo parlato della Fede e del senso della spiritualità in Ebbf. Alla fine gli avevo lasciato una preghiera. Durante la cena lui ha ripreso l'argomento, ed è stato bello essere affiancata dai ragazzi di Aiesec nel rispondere dal punto di vista bahai alle sue domande: cosa è la preghiera? cosa è la spiritualità? chi è Gesù? cosa significa Rivelazione? la spiritualità è accessibile agli atei?
Finnish advising and ACCESSing
National ACCESS conference of AIESEC Finland held in Oulu 2-4th of November 2007
Submitted by Kimmo Vesajoki
I participated to the conference on Saturday the 3rd of November as a representative of EBBF. I gave a workshop on ethical sales to AIESECers from Finland, Estonia and Germany. The workshop was very well received and two people came to thank me personally afterwards about it. I gave an introduction of some 10 minutes about EBBF in the beginning of the workshop. The focus was then put on finding the purpose beyond profit for people engaged in sales of traineeships and sponsorships for AIESEC.
The workshop helped these people to connect the primary purpose of AIESEC (world peace and fulfillment of humankind’s potential) to their daily work, thus creating higher motivation to contact potential clients and increasing the volume of contacts. After this the meaning of AIESEC values in guiding the daily work and connecting the purpose to it was explained and focus was put on the quality and direction of the sales process. The importance of values like trustworthiness in successful sales was emphasized and some best sales practices explained.
The people participating to the workshop included national AIESEC officers from Finland and Germany, of whom I would like to mention is Mr. Moritz Wuestrich, who is responsible for external relations at AIESEC in Germany and would like to start collaborating more closely with EBBF in Germany. Good connections have been made to the Finnish AIESEC officers, who already asked me to continue mentoring their sales people and we will arrange another meeting in the near future. Especially Ms. Helena Rebane (she’s from Estonia but is working at the Finnish AIESEC HQ) is becoming a close friend as we have now met 3 times in a short period of time.
