Experts say transparency is crucial
28 October 2002
Mohammed Al Abbar, director general of Dubai’s Economic Department chaired the day one debate on new world leadership at the Dubai Strategy Forum (October 28-30 2002) with trust being mooted by experts as the key ingredient.
Al Abbar was joined by James O’Toole, a research professor at the Marshall School of Business' Center for Effective Organizations, at the University of Southern California and from industry, Shell’s president, Jeroen van der Veer.
The trio highlighted transparency as crucial, following the trend of recent years for mega mergers and acquisitions marred by the overnight disappearance of pension funds and a round of corporate scandals.
Collaboration, customer-centric strategies and innovation are also considered key ingredients.
O’Toole is adamant that leadership style needs a major shake-up : “Three realities of recent business have demanded a rapid change in the make up of successful leadership.
“Leaders must acknowledge that recession, 9/11 and shady corporate bankruptcies, such as Enron, have changed the way in which leadership is viewed, least not by leaders themselves.”
He stressed that trust in leadership is crucial : “However, trust is also one of the most elusive and fragile aspects of leadership. “Leaders can’t do trust. Trust is the outcome of an accumulation of actions and behaviours. It takes time to accrue. It takes time to be effective,” he said.
van der Veer agrees that corporations are expected to behave in a responsible manner in business, social and environmental dealings.
“Today, society at large expects business to behave in a responsible way,” he said.
It was suggested that both internal and external audiences, in their role as employees or customers, give a global brand name the ‘licence to operate and the licence to grow’.
Another observation from van der Veer suggested that society is a key influencer on business strategy and leadership : “Markets determine how companies form and as markets are not isolated from society, the views of society and the demands of society (on business) should not be taken lightly.”
On participation, the meeting has attracted the attention of leading brands as Organising Partners, helping to steer the Forum in achieving its goals.
These are: the rapidly emerging global media hub, Dubai Media City; leading upstream and downstream operator in the oil and gas sector, ENOC; the UAE’s national airline, Emirates; the GCC’s leading English newspaper, Gulf News; Dubai’s national bank, National Bank of Dubai, and the international firm of auditors and business advisors, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In addition, activity sponsors include Booz Allen Hamilton, General Motors, Mashreq Bank, Oracle, Jumeirah Beach Residence and Visa.
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© Press Release 2002
