What does it take to cause something big about a community to change — something that no one individually has much power over, even something as big as a prevailing mindset? We know what it takes: a social movement. And social movements aren’t only the domain of community organizers and college students. Business people can set them in motion, too, as we are seeing right now.
Socially Responsible Business Can Only Succeed If It Becomes a Movement
Is it possible for a social movement to achieve a different capitalism, with a human face? No one has all the levers to change organizations and society over night. But collectively we have all we need to do this over time. As Harvard’s Clay Christensen has noted, management thinking lacks common language and foundational theories; it badly needs a durable base for researchers and practice to build on and progress forward. This can be the major contribution of universities, along with a broad commitment to teaching management as a liberal art — a way of thinking outlined by Peter Drucker. The core tension for management hasn’t changed since Drucker wrote his first books: to establish a systematic approach for achieving collective performance in organizations without killing the entrepreneurial, creative and community-creating human center. In recent years the balance between the two poles has increasingly tilted towards the technocratic and financial-logic-driven side.