September-EDITON #1
As most of you will know, Católica-Lisbon School of Business & Economics has recently launched, under the leadership of Dean Filipe Santos, the Center for Responsible Business & Leadership (CRB), with the main purpose of contributing to place Sustainability and Responsible Leadership at the core of “the way corporations and their leaders do things in our planet”.
I have the privilege of having been appointed Executive Director for the Center and in that capacity we will use this channel to communicate with you on a weekly basis, trying to convey the key developments in this area where so much is happening. Responsible Business (in its holistic approach that includes not only Environment but Social and Governance key issues) is clearly becoming an essential part of Corporate strategies as nothing less than a source of competitive advantage (or disadvantage).
The idea of this communication tool is to send you a "Have a great and impactful week"e-mail, every Sunday afternoon. Why Sunday? Experience tells me that most of you (if not all...) will have your minds already on Monday and you may want to take some of these issues with you to the office. The message will be deliberately short, aiming to raise awareness of trends and key developments in these fields.
This first message is obviously devoted to “introducing” the Center.
1. Our Vision
CRB aims to become, in its core activities, an academic reference in Europe.
2. Our Mission
Through research, teaching and consulting, our mission is to prepare students and executives to fully understand the concept of “Responsible Business (RB) and its impact on corporate strategies.
3. Our Values
We value a sustainable world (Planet, People, Profit)We value companies who exist to create value for themselves and for the society.We value companies acting as Responsible Business (RB), which we define as businesses able to address the concerns of all relevant stakeholders, putting Sustainability (in its holistic sense) at the center of their strategies, as a source of competitive advantage. These are companies where environmental, social, economic and ethical concerns become “the way we do things around here”, creating value for them and the society.We value Responsible Leadership (RL), which we define as the leadership driving the agenda of Responsible Businesses, leaders who focus their souls and minds on value creation, both for the company and the society, and which core skills include values, vision, innovation, trust and leading from the heart.We believe that corporations able to act as RB, integrating all its dimensions into their strategies and culture, will be the leading companies of the future.
4. Our scope of action will include activities such as:Shaping the content of RB modules on university degrees. Defining RB and RL programmes for Executive Education (both intra Company and Open Courses). We had already our first edition of the “Responsible Business” Open Course (next edition in February/March 2020).
Consulting on RB and RL for corporations. Research with impact on subjects like:
1) how corporations could be transformed into Responsible Businesses, integrating its core components into their business strategies and operations and
2) what Responsible Leadership really implies. We are honoured to have as co-founding sponsors BP Portugal and Efacec, two leading companies operating in Portugal with a strong worldwide presence. The Center will certainly benefit from their knowledge and experience in the Sustainability area.
More details on the Center can be found in a recent interview to the LinktoLeaders platform.
We are very keen to hear your views and reactions to any message. Please do not hesitate to do so, it is key to us to “feel the pulse” around these issues (replies to nmc@ucp.pt).
Nuno Moreira da Cruz
Center for Responsible Business and Leadership at Católica-Lisbon School of Business & Economics
Executive Director
Affiliate Professor
