The Six New Rules of Business

The rules of business are changing dramatically. The Aspen Institute's Judy Samuelson describes the profound shifts in attitudes and mindsets that are redefining our notions of what constitutes business success.Dynamic forces are conspiring to clarify the new rules of real value creation--and to put the old rules to rest. Internet-powered transparency, more powerful worker voice, the decline in importance of capital, and the complexity of global supply chains in the face of planetary limits all define the new landscape. As executive director of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, Judy Samuelson has a unique vantage point from which to engage business decision makers and identify the forces that are moving the needle in both boardrooms and business classrooms. Samuelson lays out how hard-to-measure intangibles like reputation, trust, and loyalty are imposing new ways to assess risk and opportunity in investment and asset management. She argues that "maximizing shareholder value" has never been the sole objective of effective businesses while observing that shareholder theory and the practices that keep it in place continue to lose power in both business and the public square. In our globalized era, she demonstrates how expectations of corporations are set far beyond the company gates--and why employees are both the best allies of the business and the new accountability mechanism, more so than consumers or investors. Samuelson's new rules offer a powerful guide to how businesses are changing today--and what is needed to succeed in tomorrow's economic and social landscape.

The rules of business are changing dramatically. The Aspen Institute's Judy Samuelson describes the profound shifts in attitudes and mindsets that are redefining our notions of what constitutes business success. Decades of teaching and reinforcing shareholder return as the single objective function of a well-run business has resulted in corporations focused entirely on quarterly profits and rewarding short-term-oriented investors. This has been at the expense of employees, long-term vision, and stewardship of natural resources. But we are now starting to see social forces and public expectations giving shape to a new kind of business ethic, as reflected in the Business Roundtable's 2019 Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation. Judy Samuelson, vice president at the Aspen Institute, lays out six new rules that can help a business free itself from the tyranny of shareholder primacy and become an active force for solving the world's problems: Reputation, trust, loyalty, and other intangibles drive real business value Businesses serve many objectives beyond shareholder value Corporate responsibilities extend far outside the business gates Employees are allies, not expenses Culture is king and talent rules Co-create with your competitors to win These new rules create real value and have the staying power to reverse decades of value-destroying decisions in business.