A political education for business [The Bank Channel] [The Banktastic FI Feed]

From McKinsey Quarterly:

"A political education for business: An interview with the head of the Council on Foreign Relations

Government, many executives are quick to assert, would benefit if it were run more like a business. But can business learn anything from the way government manages a wide variety of stakeholders in a globalizing world? A great deal, thinks Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Today, as global companies joust on the international playing field, Haass sees increasing similarities between the management challenges facing business and government.

Business now constantly finds itself addressing new social and political demands. Social activists and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are taking a place, alongside governments, as de facto regulators of business. The savviest executives, says Haass, are those who understand the nuances of government and how to balance the concerns of broad, highly varied political and social constituencies.

A veteran foreign-policy expert, Haass, 56, is no stranger to the business world. To discuss some of the global issues and ideas Haass considers "ripe," he recently met in the council's New York headquarters with Drew Erdmann, a consultant in McKinsey's Chicago office; Roger Kline, a director in New York; and Lenny Mendonca, a director in San Francisco."

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