On Saturday Jan 23, two thousand global leaders wrapped up the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland with a whole new slant to its raison d’etre.

The theme was The Fourth Industrial Revolution – the coming era of automation and smart technology – and what business can do to help meet the big challenges ahead. The primary focus was the need for business executives to put purpose at the core of the definition of business itself.

As Unilever CEO Paul Polman put it, “Investing in the common good, investing in the long term, is a better investment than just your short-term self-interest.”

In today’s business climate, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics, renewable energy, genetic engineering and other sciences are profoundly reshaping manufacturing, agriculture, medicine, and weaponry. Business leaders everywhere are trying to keep pace with this exponential growth of digital technologies.



The Challenge

Business leaders need to consider how these digital technological breakthroughs are going to impact not just their companies, but our communities, the planet and society as a whole. Yes, these phenomenal innovations can generate economic growth, but not without serious societal impacts as well. Skilled workers will be replaced by machine intelligence and robots. The infinite possibilities of artificial intelligence and genetic engineering run the risk of outsmarting their creators.

In essence, we are entering uncharted territory – a fertile wetland where governments, business leaders, the scientific community, and citizens need to collaborate in determining how cutting-edge technologies can improve the human condition and minimize the risks.

As Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, states in his new book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution,

“Unless public- and private-sector leaders assure citizens that they are executing credible strategies to improve people’s’ lives, social unrest, mass migration, and violent extremism could intensify, thus creating risks for countries at all stages of development.”

One business leader who is fully invested in this humanitarian business model, is Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce. In his words:

“At my company, Salesforce, we baked philanthropy into our business model from day one, leveraging one percent of our technology, people, and resources to help nonprofits around the world achieve their missions. So far, we’ve provided more than $100 million in grants, our employees have logged more than 1.1 million volunteer hours and we’ve given products to more than 27,000 organizations. Following our example, more than 550 companies have signed up for Pledge 1%, committing one percent of their equity, product, and employee time to their communities.”

As the World Economic Forum attests: Chasing short-term profits at the expense of social responsibility can no longer be the business model of the future.

Promoting a thriving and sustainable world necessitates our governments and business leaders directing the wave of exponential technology innovation toward the common good. As Nobel Peace Prize winner, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”

Cover photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images