Centennial Speaker Series: R. Edward Freeman on The Power of And: Responsible Business Without Trade-Offs

Join us for a lunchtime webinar program with author R. Edward Freeman on his latest book, The Power of And: Responsible Business Without Trade-Offs.

The idea that businesses are only concerned with their bottom line no longer holds true in the 21st century, especially when companies around the world are giving up traditional distinctions in order to succeed. Yet, our expectations for businesses remain under the sway of an outdated worldview that emphasizes profits for shareholders above all else.

The Power of And offers a new narrative about the nature of business, revealing the focus on responsibility and ethics that unites today’s most influential ideas and companies. In the book, R. Edward Freeman, Kirsten E. Martin, and Bidhan L. Parmar detail an emerging business model built on five key concepts: prioritizing purpose as well as profits; creating value for stakeholders as well as shareholders; seeing business as embedded in society as well as markets; recognizing people’s full humanity as well as their economic interests; and integrating business and ethics into a more holistic model. Drawing on examples across companies, industries, and countries, they show that these values support persevering in hard times and prospering over the long term. Real-world success stories disprove the conventional wisdom that there are unavoidable trade-offs between acting ethically and succeeding financially. The Power of And presents a conceptual revolution about what it means for a business to be responsible, providing a new story for us to tell in order to help all kinds of companies thrive.

Agenda
12 p.m.: Welcome Remarks: Donna Rapaccioli, dean of the Gabelli School of Business

12:05 p.m.: Speaker Introduction: David Cowen, president/CEO of the Museum of American Finance

12:08 p.m.: Discussion: Ed Freeman

12:45 p.m.: Audience Q&A

1:00 p.m.: Closing Remarks: David Cowen

About the Speaker
Freeman is the University Professor and Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. He is the author of the widely influential book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach (2010, originally published in 1984), and has worked with executives and companies around the world.

This event is co-sponsored with the Museum of American Finance and CFA Society New York.