3 ways to lead for the common good

In 2013 at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, the Global Agenda Council on Values held a series of discussions which initiated a year-long dialogue about the need for a new “social covenant” between citizens, governments, and businesses. This covenant commits individuals and society to promote and maintain the dignity of the human person, to pursue the common good, and to embrace stewardship.

The presence of rampant inequality, youth unemployment, austerity, retrenchment, constraints, mal-distribution and growing conflicts over resources and a moral agenda to overcome extreme poverty raises deep questions about our values. The New Social Covenant calls for a global discussion about how we will address the many difficult challenges and choices the world is now facing.

The introduction to the covenant produced by Global Agenda Council on Values reads:

“The choices made about each issue are determined by the values we hold—the values applied by government, business, civil society, and individuals. Those choices need to be self-conscious—not based on the inertia of accumulated interests. This is not merely a philosophical enterprise; it is an urgent matter that requires moral courage. The stakes are high.”

While the social covenant acknowledges the great diversity of global values, there are three which express a consensus across cultures and religions, and which constitute shared human aspirations. They are:

1)      The dignity of the human person

2)      The importance of the common good which transcends individual interests

3)      The need for stewardship of the planet and posterity

The dignity of the human person

To support the dignity of the human person, we must ask ourselves difficult questions. How do we, as decision makers, treat the people our institutions impact, directly or indirectly, as human beings and not as mere commodities? How can our supply chains become value chains? To begin to answer these questions, here are a few goals we could pursue:

• Education systems which are open to all and which foster equality of opportunity
• A goal of providing enough ‘good’ jobs. This requires a much greater focus on ‘good’ jobs for non-graduates; strong technical education opportunities; apprentice schemes, a pro‐active tax and incentive system and 21^st century industrial strategy
• Fair rewards for hard work and contributions to society
• A commitment to reduce inequality and to keep income and rewards within ‘fair’ bands at the top and bottom of the scale
• Strengthening the reality of both opportunity and social mobility
• The promotion of human well-being, happiness, flourishing and equality of freedom to live a valued life

The common good

Is our primary metric our isolated bubble, our executive team, our shareholders’ quarterly profit and loss statements? Corporations, governments, and institutions of all kinds are given their charter with the hope that they will seek the common good. But what happens when the invisible hand of the market lets go of the common good? How do we restore the common good and even make that part of our bottom line? Here are a few goals we should work towards:

• Agreement on basic, universal ethical values
• Agreement on the need for these values need to be reflected in the legislation adopted and regulations promulgated by individual countries, and in the international economic agreements that define countries’ duties to each other
• Moving from a shareholder model of companies and a client model of other vital institutions (like schools and universities) to a stakeholder model
• Financial sectors that are widely perceived to be stable, socially useful and accountable

Stewardship

How does the ethic of stewardship, care for both our planet and our posterity, compare to the short-termism of market fundamentalism? What if we moved closer toward a value of indigenous people: judging success by how our decisions impact the seventh generation out? To answer these questions, we should commit to the following:

• Stewardship of the environment and a commitment to preserve natural capital for the benefit of future generations
• Converting an economy of endless growth to an economy of sustainability
• Adapting new measurement systems to measure progress at both national and company levels
• Engaging the next generation in designing new models and practices

As we continue the dialogue around the New Social Covenant that began in 2013, I want to call for bold action and encourage our better instincts. What we most need is leadership on behalf of values where it matters most, where it is most difficult and where it can have the greatest impact. All our prophets have said that the moral measure of a society — is not its GDP, military firepower, or the success of its popular culture — but, rather, how it treats the poorest and most vulnerable. So let us pursue this New Social Covenant with courage and hope, that we may truly improve the state of the world for all humankind.

Author: Jim Wallis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sojourners, USA Vice-Chair for the Global Agenda Council on Values.

Image: Migrants yell slogans as they hold up flags from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, during a march in Mexico City April 23, 2014. Hundreds of migrants from Central America are marching through Mexico to denounce abuses against them and demand respect to their human dignity, local media reported. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo