查尔斯王子在伦敦商学院英语演讲稿
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am fully aware that you have been locked in here since 9.30 or something and I suspect that you have been talked to furiously all that time. The last thing you want is another lecture when most of you are probably used to giving lectures rather than having to listen to them.
But if I may say so, I am so delighted to see so many leading figures from the business schoolcommunity here today and also to hear you briefly discuss such an important topic. Needlessto say, I really am immensely grateful to all of you for taking the time to join this meeting –even if at the end of the day, it is only out of curiosity!
In particular, I would like to thank Sir Andrew Likierman, who was involved in my Accountingfor Sustainability Project at its inception, and of course, the London Business School for kindlyhosting us all, particularly in its anniversary year. And I also wanted to say ‘many happy returnsof the day'.
I understand that 50 years ago, the London Business School was established based on thenotion that management needed to be professionalized in the same way as law andaccountancy, in order to improve Britain's economic performance. And with over 150,000students passing through its doors since then, it is clear that the London Business School andother business schools have played an important role in shaping global economic success.
Anniversaries are a time not just to look back, but also, perhaps to look ahead and considerwhat the future may bring. It is therefore perhaps fitting that we are here in LBS's 50thanniversary year as we look ahead towards what the next 50 years will bring, and the kind ofknowledge, understanding and skills that leaders are likely to need in order to anticipate andrespond effectively to the challenges ahead.
In 50 years' time, our children and grandchildren will be facing a radically different world. Thewarning signs are already here for all to see. Whilst we live in a time of great wealth andopportunity for many, it is also a time dogged by increasing turbulence and a ratherterrifying combination of risks – persistent poverty and a population of seven billion that isstill rising unsustainably fast; the depletion and over-consumption of finite natural resources;and the very real and accumulating risk of catastrophic climate change.
The recent 2014 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes clear thatthe ‘severe' – as they put it – ‘pervasive and irreversible consequences' of climate change, ifleft unchecked, could be beyond our capacity to rectify. Those consequences include more ofwhat we are already seeing in the form of extreme weather events that damage ourinfrastructure and disruptive weather patterns that undermine our ability to feed a growingpopulation.
Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I know only too well that there are siren voices on all sides tellingus that this is all total rubbish, dreamt up by half-baked environmentalists bent on destroyingcapitalism as we know it, but it must surely be the case that, in the future, successfulorganizations will actually be those which, according to best risk-management practice, haveredefined their business models to try and adapt to this very different world. It seems clear tome that those who find ways to use natural resources in a sustainable, and “circular” way, withnothing going to waste, will find themselves uncovering new sources of innovation, reducingtheir risks and increasing their competitive advantage. Even more, success will be defined bythose who have shown real leadership in helping us to change trajectory and avoid the worstoutcomes that, at present, seem so likely.
And funnily enough, thinking about the circular economy, I was looking at just one or twoexamples from companies that have started to move in this direction. One of which is RoyalDutch State Mines, and I met the CEO a few of years ago called Feike Sijbesma, a remarkableman, that I think Polly introduced me to. And it is an intriguing example that he wascourageous and robust enough to move his company out of a profitable fossil fuel basedpetrochemical business into biotechnology and life science and animal nutrition products.
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