Business Education 2025: What's in store by Thomas Sattelberger
13 EFMD Global Focus | Volume 05 | Issue 03 2011
Embracing diversity
Nurturing volunteer confederations
How best to manage economic, institutional, cultural and individual differences in a world in which migration, demographics, changing value systems, globalisation and digitisation enforce and accelerate diversity?
In a world in which non-material talent entrepreneurs, not material lenders of capital, will have the power, knowledge and therefore talent and knowledge communities will become the scarce resource.
– diverse staff and cross-cultural teams
We are in the middle of the shift from Enterprise 1.0 to Enterprise 2.0.
– diverse and diversity-demanding investors – multinational markets and diverse customers
Behind this paradigm shift lies more than just the utilisation of social media.
Enterprises will become more and more networked, competition become more and more temporary. They will develop network cultures and increasingly a freelance ethos, the former core becoming a simple knot in Embracing diversity does not mean– as in the old-fashioned view – just being tolerant the network. This will enhance co-creation and open towards diversity and inclusion. It via employees, freelancers and customers, means utilising differences and variety to gain utilising open innovation and open sourcing. new perspectives on old problems, as a The creation of a deeper purpose for breeding ground for innovation and creativity investors becomes increasingly important – Many of different life/work- styles and life conceptions: from net-citizenship to homogeneity-seeking followers
In 2025 diversity will have reached a level we can only imagine today. But we know that the trends are irreversible and that it will influence all aspects of our society, companies and individual lives.
In 2025 diversity will have reached a level we can only imagine today. But we know that the trends are irreversible and that it will influence all aspects of our society, companies and individual lives
in times when the number of sustainable investors increases significantly. Volunteer confederations of employees, customers and investors will all be working together towards a common cause. For example, volunteer communities like the Red Cross or Médecins Sans Frontières have their members engaged –they are actors for the greater good. To the contrary, companies without a deeper cause will not attract purposeful human beings, only mercenaries. Corporations will need to enable a volunteer culture.
Leading oneself This is the pre-requisite for creating shared value, embracing diversity and nurturing volunteer confederations while giving meaning and purpose. This truth is thousands of years old. Managers will have to answer some fundamental questions: Who am I? What aims, values, beliefs and principles do I need to live up to? My self-consciousness – am I able to fill a vacuum with authenticity? My selfcriticism – am I able to grow?