“The values conversation is the future of the business conversation.”

The old social contract between citizens and public institutions is broken. Growing inequality, corruption and a global financial crisis have eroded public trust in governments and business, while shared notions about fairness, mutual benefits and communal values have disappeared. 

The Global Agenda Council on Values believes a new social covenant between citizens, businesses and governments needs to be designed. At its core would be certain universal principles: human dignity, the primacy of the common good and stewardship of the planet. Such a covenant would aim at the promotion of human flourishing, happiness and wellbeing as social goals. We want to affirm the movement from a shareholder model to a stakeholder model of business.

We have political leaders, NGO leaders, human rights campaigners and CEOs in the conversation already. We’re aiming for nothing short of a global movement to renew values in crucial decisions and policymaking.  

“At its heart, corruption is a misuse of power and a form of theft.”

There’s really no value system I know of where theft is acceptable, and corruption is in fact a very expensive, dangerous, corrosive form of theft. From a values perspective, anti-corruption is the notion that it is unacceptable to steal from your fellow citizens through the misuse of your office, the misuse of your authority or the misuse of your position. From a corporate standpoint, we will not be able to invest and create growth in those places in the world where corruption endangers our investments.  

The mission of the Global Agenda Council on Anti-Corruption & Transparency is to unify the various anti-corruption activities around the world to create a common agenda and turn words into action. The main focus has been to promote and implement the B20 recommendations on anti-corruption. We’ve been very encouraged to see the recent adoption of a recommendation for operationalising a Collective Action Hub, where business, government and civil society will work together on anti-corruption initiatives in the public and private spheres.

“Nowadays we have the universal conviction that organisations should be guided by values. But sometimes there’s a mismatch between real practices and values.”

Many of our global institutions were designed for the world of the mid-20th century and are not as effective today in delivering global public goods. We need new institutional arrangements that match the real division of power, the interconnectedness and complexity of the new economics of the world.

The Global Agenda Council on Institutional Governance Systems is analysing values in international institutions – in particular transparency, accountability and how organisations select leaders. We are diagnosing the state of elements such as legitimacy and meaning, and asking whether institutions are truly reflective of their membership. Do they have clearly specified missions, reflected in a set of values and by-laws? How are the institutions held accountable and are they transparent about their rules and the results of their operations? 

These elements are key to governance, and quite simply, governance will have an impact on performance.