I spent some time in New York today with Matthew Bishop, Chief U.S. editor of The Economist. Bishop overseas the U.S. bureau of The Economist serves as business editor for the magazine, and he’s a thought leader who bridges philanthropy and capitalism. (See his excellent book Phlanthrocapitalism for up close stories and analysis of how people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Brangelina are making the world a better place).
Bishop graciously invited me to suggest questions that should be posed to CEOs who will be convened by The Economist in March for a conference on Corporate Citizenship. Matthew said, “Give me your top 5 questions you’d like asked to a group of CEO’s regarding how they should engage globally.” I threw out the following ideas:
1. What do mutually beneficial/reciprocal relationships with emerging markets look like?
2. How should the stereotypes of our country/industry/company inform the way we operate globally?
3. What’s the CQ of our company as a whole? What’s the CQ of our sr. and mid-level managers and of other key players? Do we have the cultural intelligence to adapt our strategy/marketing/negotiations etc. and still remain true to our brand? (You know I couldn’t resist questions on this but obviously I wouldn’t be giving so much of my life to researching and consulting on CQ if I didn’t see it as a top 5 kind of issue to be explored).
4. China and India: To what degree do we understand the history and culture of these rising tigers?
5. What kind of collaborative/innovative partnerships do we need to pursue with NGO’s, government, and other businesses?
I couldn’t stop at 5. I continued with—What role should corporations play in arbitrating human rights? What does a good corporate citizen look like globally? What self-regulations should we put in place for how we operate internationally?
What would you add to the list?