What Matters Now

Big Ideas

Organizational leaders should consider their work in light of five pivotal, overarching concerns: values, innovation, adaptability, passion and ideology.

1. Why Values Matter

Leaders should be stewards who guide and care for the people who work for them, who protect and promote their organizations’ values, and who conserve organizational resources. A steward is loyal, fair, giving, accountable and prudent. As the world’s economy becomes increasingly interwoven, actions in one area affect all others. If your company functions on a global scale, you must hold yourself to a higher ethical standard. Given the speed of word of mouth across the web, acting ethically and making sound decisions are always pragmatic. A firm’s actions are no longer private; they affect the public sphere. Capitalist thinkers from Adam Smith to Ayn Rand have argued that capitalism creates a greater “common good” by leaving individuals free to pursue their self-interest. But that individualism works only within the framework of “ethical principles”: You can’t do anything you want, but you can do anything you want within moral boundaries.

Capitalism and business management...