Connect: how companies succeed by engaging radically with society

321 Pages·2016·11.755 MB·English

by  Browne, John;Nuttall, Robin;Stadlen, Tommy

4/C PROCESS, SOFT TOUCH MATTE LAMINATION +
INTERACTIVE ILLUSION
BUSINESS
Connect $27.99/$36.50 CAN
“A bold and timely blueprint for the future.”
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR —ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
C
onnect
N C
DE
OR “This fast-paced book lays out the enormous challenges that companies and
ARRY B society face together.” —JERRY BROWN, governor of California
H
Why being radically connected with society is
JOHN BROWNE, chief executive of BP from 1995 to o
“Connect provides a clear understanding of the value of connected leadership. This is beyond not just the right thing to do, it is imperative
2007, is now executive chairman of L1 Energy. He is the
CSR or philanthropy. Companies must play a stronger role as global corporate citizens and do so for a company’s bottom line
author of the memoir Beyond Business, the popular science n
authentically and with a sense of urgency.” —PETER T. GRAUER, chairman, Bloomberg LP
book Seven Elements that Changed the World, and The Glass
Closet, a commentary on LGBT acceptance and inclusion “A beautifully written tour de force spanning ancient China to Silicon Valley. Rich with personal Based on John Browne’s decades of experience as one of
n
in business. examples and global interviews, John Browne makes a powerful and persuasive argument that H O W C O M PA N I E S S U C C E E D the world’s most successful and innovative CEOs, with
CEOs must connect with government and society to build sustainable organizations.” research by McKinsey & Company, Connect is a practical
—DAVID YOFFIE, Harvard Business School e B Y E N G A G I N G R A D I C A L LY manifesto that redefines the role of business in society.
Through insightful analysis and vivid storytelling—
“Intelligent, practical...[o]f immediate value....Only three years from now it will be seen c W I T H S O C I E T Y ranging from ancient China, Andrew Carnegie and the
ANS to have been a real trailblazer.” —SIR MARTIN SORRELL, CEO, WPP Homestead Strike of the late nineteenth century, to oil
M
O
PAUL R “Connect shows why and how business must radically change to thrive in the twenty-first century.” t spills and privacy issues emanating from the technology
ROBIN NUTTALL is a partner with McKinsey & of the twenty-first—Connect explores the recurring rift
—JOHN HENNESSY, president, Stanford University, and board member, Google
Company and leads the firm’s Regulatory and Govern- between business and society and proposes a way in which
ment Affairs Practice. 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
OR
H
AUT “Delivers huge insight into a vital topic that affects everyone.” John its needs part of their company’s business model. The evi-
HE
OF T —TONY HALL, director-general, BBC dence presented in Connect shows that the value of radical
URTESY Browne connection amounts to 30 percent of corporate earnings.
O
C “Stimulating....Offers some timely counselling to leaders who seek to establish some John Browne
The shares of companies that connect outperform those
with
TOMMY STADLEN is a technology entrepreneur and bond of trust and authenticity between the boardroom and the street.”
of competitors by 2 percent every year, amounting to a
ROBIN
a former McKinsey & Company consultant. —JOHN VAN REENEN, London School of Economics
performance boost of 20 percent over a decade.
NUTTALL
and Connect rejects stale ideas about corporate social respon-
JACKET DESIGN BY PETE GARCEAU
JACKET PHOTOGRAPH © ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES $27.99/$36.50 CAN TOMMY sibility disconnected from commercial activity and from

STADLEN with R O B I N N U T TA L L the needs of real people. It identifies four tenets of “con-
nected leadership,” a radical new paradigm that shows how
AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOK

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INTERACTIVE ILLUSION INDICATED ON PAGE 2
‘This bold and timely book helps us redefine the way we think
about business and serves as a compelling blueprint for the future.’
Arianna Huffington, Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post
‘More than ever before, the world, both developed and developing,
is going to need its businesses to survive and prosper. As a start,
the 2,000-year-old history of anti-business sentiment needs first
to be understood and then acted upon. Gaps need to be closed;
gaps not just of perception but of reality. And it will be businesses,
not society, who will need to make the bigger moves. This intel-
ligent, practical book suggests what those moves should be. Of
immediate value, I believe that only three years from now it will
be seen to have been a trail-blazer.’ Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP
‘The mission statements of corporations often include shareholders,
customers and employees, but as Browne shows, a commitment
to society at-large has been largely absent. Rather than transpar-
ency and engagement, businesses have become more closed and
isolated. Connect shows why and how business must radically
change to thrive in the 21st century.’ John Hennessy, President,
Stanford University and Board Member, Google
‘This book redefines three discredited words: Corporate Social
Responsibility. Far too often they exist as a bit of window dressing
or conscience-salving. John Browne wants to put them at the
centre of businesses – both because it’s right and because success
in business is inextricably linked with sustainability. It’s all the
more compelling because of Browne’s own years at the top in
business.’ Alan Rusbridger, Former Editor-in-Chief, the Guardian
‘Connect provides a clear understanding of the value of connected
leadership. This is beyond CSR or philanthropy. Companies must
play a stronger role as global corporate citizens and do so authen-
tically and with a sense of urgency.’ Peter T. Grauer, Chairman,
Bloomberg LP
‘Connect offers a radical and different way of thinking about busi-
ness. Typically of John Browne, he has put together an inspiring
call-to-arms to create the companies society deserves.’ Alastair
Campbell, Writer, Communicator and Strategist
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‘John Browne argues that the relationship between business and
the society it seeks to serve is vital, but the idea of Corporate Social
Responsibility is dead. His interviews with top business leaders
show, however, that a new connected paradigm is possible and it
can be highly profitable. This book delivers huge insight into a
vital topic that affects everyone.’ Tony Hall, Director-General, BBC
‘Browne aims to rehabilitate Corporate Social Responsibility, and
move it from the periphery of a Board’s agenda to the centre.
Through a mixture of careful analysis and compelling anecdote,
he succeeds where others have failed.’ Sir Howard Davies, Chairman,
Royal Bank of Scotland
‘Lord Browne delivers a beautifully written tour de force, span-
ning ancient China to Silicon Valley. Rich with personal examples
and extensive global interviews, he makes the powerful and persua-
sive argument that CEOs must connect with government and
society to build sustainable organisations. A must-read.’ David Yoffie,
Professor, Harvard Business School
‘Every business leader can learn from Connect. John Browne skill-
fully draws on deep historical research, clear insight into the future
and his unique business experience to provide a path to business
success in our turbulent times.’ Senator George J. Mitchell (United
States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, 1995–2001)
‘Big business is vilified, lauded and feared in equal measure. This
stimulating book shows that this predicament is far from new.
John Browne and colleagues analyse the challenges and offer some
timely counselling to leaders who seek to establish some bond
of trust and authenticity between the Boardroom and the Street.’
John Van Reenen, Professor, London School of Economics
‘John Browne, in this fast-paced book, lays out the enormous
challenges that companies and society face together. For many,
business is the antagonist, but Browne shows that corporate enter-
prise is central to the well-being of society. He demonstrates from
his rich experiences how commercial success depends on integrity
and building trust.’ Jerry Brown, Governor of California
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Connect
HOW COMPANIES SUCCEED
BY ENGAGING RADICALLY
WITH SOCIETY
John Browne
with Robin Nuttall
and Tommy Stadlen
New York
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Copyright © 2015 by John Browne and McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Published in 2016 in the United States by PublicAffairs™, a Member of the
Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews. For information, address PublicAffairs, 250
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[email protected].
Typeset in India by Thomson Digital Pvt Ltd, Noida, Delhi
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of
Congress.
LCCN: 2015954472
ISBN 978-1-61039-697-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-61039-698-1 (e-book)
First published in the United Kingdom by WH Allen in 2015.
UK ISBN 9780753556924
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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‘. . . so that more light may enter.’
To Nghi
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Contents
Prologue ix
Part One: The Business of Business 1
1. The Nothing New 3
2. Chocolate Villages 17
3. Meatpackers and Muckrakers 32
4. The Last Nabob 49
5. Silent Spring 66
6. Queen and Servant 93
7. The Reservoir 112
Part Two: The Four Tenets of Connected Leadership 129
8. History Rhymes 131
9. On Purpose 151
10. Professional Era 174
11. The Front Foot 195
Epilogue: People Rising 213
Acknowledgements 249
Picture Credits 251
Notes 256
Index 287
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Prologue
The opera was Jorge Martín’s harrowing Before Night Falls. It was
late May 2010 and I was in Fort Worth, Texas, to see the premiere
of this work by a friend about oppression, AIDS and death. As I
handed my credit card to the hotel reception, I glanced across
the lobby to the bar. Four television screens were tuned to different
networks, each showing the same image: a live feed from the
subsea camera below BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig, capturing the
apparently endless flow of oil into the sea, now in its sixth week.
I was watching the reputation of the company in which I had
worked for forty-one years gushing out of the Macondo well
into the Gulf of Mexico.
For a second I felt relieved no longer to be in charge. Quickly,
though, these images and the scathing commentary made me
angry. How had this happened? BP was going to be torn apart.
The scenes reminded me of the day in 1989 I flew over Prince
William Sound just as the Exxon Valdez was spilling its oil. This
was going to be far bigger and BP appeared helpless in the middle
of a crisis. Anger gave way to sadness as I reflected on the eleven
lives that had been lost and on my own experiences of the horror
of industrial accidents. And I began to realise that even after three
years away from BP, the well-being of its people remained a big
part of my emotional life.
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