Davos 2012: Personal, corporate and societal responsibility

Today I’m travelling back to New York after a very enlightening and inspiring week in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. This was my fifth year attending the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum as a part of Deloitte’s delegation. As always, I was honored to have the opportunity to be part of the Forum.

Our delegation was completed by some of the Deloitte network’s most senior leaders: Joe Echevarria (CEO of Deloitte LLP in the United States), Yoriko Goto (DTTL Audit and Risk Financial Services Leader based in Japan), Martin Plendl (CEO of Deloitte Germany) and David Sproul (CEO of Deloitte UK).

In particular, one of the highlights of my time this at this year’s Forum was taking part in a panel discussion chaired by London Business School professor Lynda Gratton. We discussed how the art and science of leadership are fundamentally changing in the 21st century. Another highlight was helping lead discussion with other Forum delegates in a brainstorming session on the topic of the role of business in society.

These are subjects I feel strongly about. Earlier this week, Deloitte announced the results of a global survey, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), of business leaders’ attitudes on the purpose, impact, and leadership of business on society.

1. 76% believe the value of a company should be measured by the positive contribution its core business makes to society, as well as by its profits.

2. 73% believe that their core business activities make a positive contribution to society.

We believe there is opportunity for this “societal purpose” to be integrated into a business’ core activities, decisions, and identity. It’s through this embedded purpose, in turn, that businesses can inspire even more positive economic, environmental, and social change.

Alongside the EIU survey, we asked more than 1,000 Deloitte member firm “Millennials” (employees joining eleven Deloitte member firms who were born after 1981) for their views.

3. 52% believe that in the future, business, more than any other area of society, will achieve the greatest impact in solving society’s biggest challenges.

4. 92% believe that the success of a business should be measured by more than just profit, suggesting that a company’s “societal purpose” is a key priority and expectation of the Millennial generation.

It’s clear that CEOs’ voices are being joined by an emerging generation of future business leaders who see personal responsibility, corporate responsibility, and societal responsibility as one continuous line.

In the lead up to this week’s Annual Meeting, I recorded a short video for the World Economic Forum on this topic, and you can view it and other on the Ask a Leader YouTube channel.

Barry Salzberg is the Global CEO, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.