Why being radically connected with society is not just the right thing
to do, it is an imperative for a company's bottom line.
Based on John Browne's decades of experience as one of the world's most
successful and innovative CEOs, with research by McKinsey & Company,
Connect is a practical manifesto that redefines the role of business
in society.
Through insightful analysis and vivid storytelling -- ranging from
ancient China, Andrew Carnegie and the Homestead Strike of the late
nineteenth century, to oil spills and privacy issues emanating from the
technology of the twenty-first -- Connect explores the recurring rift
between business and society and proposes a way in which companies can
prosper by connecting with the world around them.
There is an enormous prize for leaders who engage creatively and
constructively with society, and who make its needs part of their
company's business model. The evidence presented in Connect shows that
the value of radical connection amounts to 30 percent of corporate
earnings. The shares of companies that connect outperform those of
competitors by 2 percent every year, amounting to a performance boost of
20 percent over a decade.
Connect rejects stale ideas about corporate social responsibility
disconnected from commercial activity and from the needs of real people.
It identifies four tenets of connected leadership, a radical new
paradigm that shows how companies and executives can thrive by close
engagement with society.
