Category: News

Here is the February edition of Pegasus.

In this issue are the proceedings of our valuation round tables in Sydney, Amsterdam and San Francisco.

As always, enjoy!

Last fall brought us some very good news: the vision of our Principles for Business was unexpectedly fully affirmed by statements from the Business Roundtable on August 19 and by Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum on December 2. Further, we also received affirmation of the importance of moral capitalism from French President Emmanuel Macron.

Now, with leading organizations providing validation of our work, we need to press ahead with greater efforts in 2020 to provide more thought leadership for global business. Your financial support is needed. You can support our work in confidence that it is making a very constructive difference.

As our advocacy of a moral capitalism now reflects a tipping point in conventional thinking, we have opportunities to help companies with training of their managers and employees, to guide investors and the accounting profession in consideration of valuation methodologies which take proper account of stakeholders and the intangible capitals now so necessary for firm success in the marketplace and to convene more round tables around the world. We need support for our publication on Amazon of unique books, important intellectual contributions written by our friends and those who we admire which may not attract conventional publishers.

We would be very grateful for your consideration of a beginning-of-year contribution to our work.

To donate, please visit our homepage – www.cauxroundtable.org – and click on the yellow “donate” button.

If you rather give by check or wire transfer, please let us know.

Recent statements by the Business Roundtable and World Economic Forum have set a new course for business enterprise: engage with all shareholders to seek long-term capital appreciation. This, as I have noted before, ratifies the vision of the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism (CRT).

Boards of directors must now determine for their companies just how to engage with all shareholders, attending to their material interests and making profits for owners. The more comprehensive business model requires boards to step up to wider and more strategic responsibilities. Boards are the custodians of enterprise value and the culture that will create or destroy value through its provisions for risk management of stakeholder relationships.

The Competent Boards Certificate Program available online is the only one I know which provides insightful and comprehensive orientation for board members – old, new and prospective – relevant to this new world of strategic stakeholder engagement.

I have been a speaker on a previous program and found my colleagues well-informed and attuned to the CRT approach to modern global capitalism. I also value the international scope of the program – available all over the world, building up a common understanding of responsible business leadership at the board level.

The interactive program covers 12 strategic topics of focus, including climate, ESG, supply chain, diversity and responsible use of data and cybersecurity, covered during 12 bi-weekly, 1.5 hour online interactive sessions.

Program participants will learn from over 70 global leaders, including our friend Paul Polman, Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce, as well as global peers. Participants will also receive engaging preparation materials, questions to bring to your organization and board recommended readings and case studies.

As a privilege to the CRT network, Competent Boards offers you a 10% discount (a $449.50 value) off the full price, should you register for the next program. When you register, please use code Caux2020 for the interactive online program.

To learn more about the program and register, please click here.

Here’s the January issue of Pegasus.

This edition is our 2019 Year in Review (annual report).

Last year was a tipping point for stakeholder-based capitalism, which we have been advocating since our founding in 1986.

Here is the December edition of Pegasus.

I apologize it’s a little late, but it’s not lacking for quality.

In this issue is the proceedings of our 2019 Global Dialogue.

The January edition will be available at the end of the month and include our 2019 Year in Review (annual report).

We apologize Pegasus for November  is late, but it’s not lacking for quality.

Included in this issue is a piece on the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles by our editor, Rich Broderick. The rest of the edition is about the 25th anniversary of our Principles for Business, which were celebrated on November 22.

The December issue will be sent out mid-month and include the proceedings of our 2019 Global Dialogue, while January will be sent out at the end of the month.

Get it here!

I wanted to share with you a letter we received from the Business Roundtable in Washington, D.C. congratulating us on the 25th anniversary of our Principles for Business.

We were most humbled by this paragraph:

“For 33 years, the Caux Round Table has been a leading voice for moral capitalism. The 25th anniversary of Principles for Business is an important milestone in the history of ethical business practice. The Caux Round Table has made American business better. We celebrate your success and look forward to continued moral leadership from your organization.”

We greatly appreciate their support.

On Friday, November 22, the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism (CRT) celebrated the 25th anniversary of our Principles for Business.

The Principles foreshadowed the rapidly growing awareness of the need for corporations, both public and private, to adopt – and initiate – goals to create a sustainable operation. The Principles and our call for a “moral capitalism” also helped shape the U.N.’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. They have been cited as a model by a growing number of business leaders and politicians, such as the Business Roundtable and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The 25th anniversary was celebrated with a luncheon that featured a number of presenters, including Douglas M. Baker, Jr., CEO of Ecolab, and Paul Polman, Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce and former CEO of Unilever.

To highlight the history of Minnesota leadership, we produced a short film for the event titled “The Minnesota Legacy.” The process that led to the founding of the Principles was initiated in Minnesota by Minnesota business leaders.

“The Minnesota Legacy” can be seen here.

To view photos from the event, please visit our Twitter page.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the publication of the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism’s (CRT) Principles of Business, a groundbreaking compilation of rules that can be used to create a sustainable economic system guided by ethical values – what we call “moral capitalism.”

In the years since their publication, there has been a growing and increasingly urgent interest in how to promote sustainable business practices that will ensure a more equitable and fair economy. The U.N. drew upon our principles in composing its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In more recent years, the call for a moral capitalism that puts the needs of a company’s full range of shareholders, including employees, the local community and the environment itself at the center of corporate responsibility, while public figures like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., have also adopted not just the principles, but moral capitalism.

Headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, the CRT has chapters in several countries in Europe, Central America and the Far East. In addition to holding round table discussions, we also conduct annual global dialogues that bring together business executives, academics and activists from around the world. We also hold workshops and created Arcturus, a comprehensive way for businesses to measure and record their sustainable practices.

Despite all the effort and work, ours is neither a large nor heavily endowed organization. All of our work is supported by donations from private sources.

Would you please consider helping our efforts with a donation of whatever amount you can give for this year’s Give to the Max Day? You can donate to the CRT here.

Any amount you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the October edition of Pegasus.

In this issue, we include a piece on Thorstein Veblen and his theory of conspicuous consumption, an article by me on thymos, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn’s “A World Split Apart” speech and Centesimus Annus by Pope John Paull II.

I would be most interested in your thoughts and feedback.