Spirit in Business - Inspiring Leaders

Leaders who inspire us

Kofi Annan, Secretary General, United Nations

"To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there".

Bill George, Former Chairman and CEO, Medtronic Inc.

"Innovations from the Heart. In the 21st century great companies will figure out how to tap into people's hearts - their passion and their desires to make a difference through their work. Those companies that link these passions to the generation of innovative ideas will have the capacity to sustain their growth for decades".

Dame Anita Roddick, OBE, Founder, The Body Shop

"As long as we can put some idealism and reverence back on the global agenda, understanding that corporations and institutions have to be a force for positive change, then there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Over the past decade, while many businesses have pursued what I call "business as usual", I have been part of a different, smaller business movement... We want a new paradigm, a whole new framework for making business a force for positive social change. It must not only avoid hideous evil - it must actively do good. I am not interested in business as usual. It is business as unusual that excites me".

Narayan Murthi Founder and CEO of Infosys
(paying himself 50,000 US$ per year)

He urges compassionate capitalism, with an ethical and genuine appeal: "I wanted to come back to India and conduct an experiment in creating wealth legally and ethically, and creating jobs, because I thought that was the best way of eliminating poverty. That's how Infosys was born."

Barbara Waugh , Worldwide Personnel Manager, Hewlett Packard Labs.

""Where better to wage my battle than in one of the most powerful agents for change on the planet -- a giant company in a world where companies, even more than nations, shape the future? And where are we more likely to win the battle than in this company, which has kept a balance between profit and decency, and which has had such an enormous influence on other companies?".

Oscar Motomura, founder and CEO of the Amana-Key Group

"The top priority in business - as corporations become the most powerful institution on the planet - seems to be the re-education of leaders. How can we effectively help competitive, short-term-results- oriented business executives to transform their mindset, challenge their assumptions about the purpose of the corporations they lead, challenge their own purpose in life, raise their consciousness? How can we help them to develop a statesman/woman view of the world thus enabling them to position their companies - not in the "market" - but within society as a whole?".

Herman Wijffels, Chairman of the Dutch Social and Economic Council ex CEO of the Rabobank.

" I think a business derives its legitimacy from what it contributes to society. So only by making acontribution to the functioning of society is it in a position to make a profit." Read the full interview...

Marilyn Carlson Nelson, President & CEO, Carlson Companies.

"Real leadership is not about prestige, power or status. It’s about responsibility. Integrated leadership is being responsible to all stakeholders – customers, employees, distributors, suppliers, communities and the environment – and not just to shareholders. It is making clear what I, as a leader, am willing to give. It’s about personal responsibility and personal engagement".

Klaus Schwab, Founder & Chairman, World Economic Forum

"The three dimensions of leadership are Mind, Heart and Soul, as follows:

Mind connotes the professionalism necessary to master expertise and lead a field, as well as the measure of respect merited by and accorded to consummate professionals. Great leaders command such respect.

Heart connotes the passionate engagement with cause, duty and service, as well as the emotion of love awakened in a following, which is attracted to and energized by intensity of passion. Great leaders engender such love.

Soul connotes the commitment to a mission and the values necessary to fulfil it, as well as the trust earned through navigating by a moral compass (as opposed to an expedient radar screen). Great leaders inspire such fidelity".

William J Clinton, Former President of the USA.

"My most important wish is that the global business community could adopt a shared vision for the next 10 to 20 years about what you want the world to look like, and then go about trying to create it in ways that actually enhance your business, but do so in other people as well.I think the factor about globalization that tends to be under-appreciated is, it will only work if we understand it genuinely means interdependence. It means interdependence, which means that none of us who are fortunate can any longer help ourselves unless we are prepared to help our neighbors. And we need a more unifying, more inclusive vision. Once you know where you're going, it's a lot easier to decide what steps to take to get there. If you don't know where you're going, you can work like crazy and you would be walking in the wrong direction".