At Davos this week there has been a lot of talk about Philanthrocapitalism – a mouthful of a word which basically refers to the good companies can do whilst still turning a profit. Bill Gates has led the way in this by setting up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This year he has increased the annual giving to 10% to a massive $3.8billion.

Business leaders could certainly do with improving their image – according to the 2009 Edelman Annual Trust Barometer only 17% of those surveyed said they trust information from a company’s CEO. Trust in business has been sliding since the collapse of Enron. Back in 2004 when I researched and co-wrote ‘A Question of Trust’ it felt like we were at crisis point then. It is now much worse. And I don’t see leaders’ behaviour changing very much. We all appreciate honesty and transparency and get very cross when leaders don’t come clean and take personal responsibility. I liked the suggestion that Matthew Bishop made in his recent blog post:

… I made a modest proposal at Davos: that the chief executives of the world’s 500 biggest firms demonstrate their contrition for their role in the crisis, and their commitment to help society recover, by each giving $2m (or, better still, one year’s base salary) to a new fund to support social entrepreneurs. This sort of billion-dollar collective sacrificial leadership could transform public attitudes towards business and business-thinking, and get the age of philanthrocapitalism off to a great start.

I can’t see it happening but the fact that there is more and more call for CEOs to take more accountability has to be good. Great leaders have values and they live them out. Bill Gate’s foundation is an obvious example of values in action. When I first graduated I looked up to my bosses and expected them to have values and integrity. Young people today still have the same expectations but sadly, and understandably, they are more cynical about those running businesses. This global economic crisis, is in some ways an opportunity for business leaders to show they care and to demonstrate excellent leadership. They need to go back to the basics of good human relationships – honesty, trust and integrity. And, as Matthew says, a bit of sacrificial leadership right now wouldn’t go amiss.

Sally

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