GSK boss tells corporate leaders: It’s good for business for business to be good

The head of global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline has made a powerful case for businesses to connect more strongly with society and its values and reap the business benefits of doing so.

Speaking at the 2nd annual Pears Business Schools Partnership lecture, Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, warned that trust in the private sector had eroded and corporations had become more de-humanised over the past 20 years.

He called on senior business leaders to take responsibility for setting the tone and leading by example in terms of corporate responsibility.

Sir Andrew was speaking before an audience of more than 300 business leaders, academics and students at Cranfield School of Management, with the speech broadcast live to business schools in Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Brazil and France, and followed up with an extensive Q&A session.

He said that businesses that took corporate responsibility seriously and took the long-term view were likely to be more successful and sustainable. By acting on their values, businesses had a stronger licence to operate, a more authoritative voice on key issues and promoted a longevity that a sole focus on quarterly earnings did not.

Sir Andrew said the UK needed to positively re-balance its economy, growing the private sector with a focus on manufacturing. But if we wanted the next Apple to be British, businesses must engage on the values of the people they were trying to attract.

He ended his speech with a challenge to current business leaders and the potential future leaders he was addressing at Cranfield and beyond: “We must stand in front of the mirror and ask ourselves – what’s the most we can do to make a positive difference, to do better, be responsible, to keep challenging and demanding better?

“One person can make a difference by accepting the responsibility of doing the best they can do, for the business and wider society.”

Speaking after the lecture, Trevor Pears, Executive Chair of the Pears Foundation, said: “It was great to hear a business leader speak so refreshingly and openly about both individual responsibility and the positive role that businesses can and do play in society. This Partnership is about inspiring the next generation of business leaders to make a positive difference both to their businesses and the world. Basically, we want more people like Sir Andrew running businesses!"

Professor David Grayson CBE, Director of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield School of Management, who chaired the lecture, commented: “Andrew Witty gave us a master-class in what it means to be a successful and responsible leader in a world of intense connectivity and enforced transparency. He asked all of us in any position of authority whether in government, management, teaching or family life: ‘What are you going to do with the power you’ve been handed and entrusted?’ He showed us all that we can make a positive difference – and given that, we shouldn’t settle for silver, we should always aim for gold.”

Pamela Hartigan, Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, said: “We need to find a way to clone Sir Andrew. I have no doubt that the students listening to his powerful presentation came away inspired by his visionary leadership and values and spurred to reflect on the ways they can follow his example wherever their life journey takes them. Business leaders like Sir Andrew are proof that we can create companies that are fundamentally innovative, morally compelling and philosophically positive.”

Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean, London Business School, said: “It is inspiring to hear Sir Andrew Witty outline the important role businesses can play in contributing to our society, and emphasise the business benefits of doing so. At London Business School, we have always believed that good corporate responsibility and ethical business go hand-in-hand with successful business practice, and it has long been part of the core curriculum in our MBA programme. The Pears Business Schools Partnership, through the rich case studies it is producing, is helping that aspect of our work even further.”

The Pears Business Schools Partnership is a collaboration between Cranfield School of Management, London Business School, Saïd Business School and Pears Foundation to promote sustainable and responsible business in society by engaging and inspiring the next generation of leaders.

Its aim is to inspire future leaders to make a positive difference through corporate responsibility, social entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, sustainability, core business practice, and individual philanthropy and other innovative models for change.

It is doing that through:

• The development, publication and teaching of illustrative case studies on the positive value businesses and business leaders are contributing to society
• The staging of an annual lecture by a leading business figure who is innovatively using the power of business to make a positive difference

The 3rd annual lecture will be held at Said Business School.

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