Synopsis:
Maurizio Zollo will reprise his recent inaugural lecture. The currently dominant form of business enterprise is one of the core sources of the multiple (tightly interconnected) crises plaguing the world today.  Whether the focus is on environmental damages, including climate change, or the growth of inequity in the distribution of income, well-being and opportunities to flourish within and across countries, the role played by enterprises at the source of such maladies appears dominant.  Let alone the dissolution of the moral fibre within the business sector itself, and the consequent disruption of trust in its capacity, as well as the motivation, to contribute to the balanced development of the quality of life on the planet.

On the other hand, there is no question that many companies, of all sizes, are seriously committed to innovate, experiment and learn to conduct business in radically different ways.  In ways that are centred on the creation of (economic and human) value for a plurality of stakeholders: customers, employees, suppliers and local communities, in addition to investors.  The real challenge, and at the same time the exceptional opportunity, facing the world today lies in expanding, improving and diffusing these innovations and experimentations across sectors and countries, building infrastructures dedicated to sharing such experiences and accelerating the speed of learning and transformational change in the private sector across the world.

Bio:
Maurizio Zollo is Professor of Strategy and Sustainability, Head of the Business School’s Department of Management and Scientific Director of the Leonardo Centre.

Maurizio’s research looks at how business organisations learn to grow and adapt to environmental turbulence, and how managers use strategic growth initiatives and organisational change, innovation and learning processes to guide this evolution. He focuses on the management of complex strategic initiatives, from M&A and partnerships to sustainability-oriented innovation and organisational change efforts.  Maurizio directs two research programmes: GOLDEN (Global Organizational Learning and Development Network) for Impact and a programme on the neuroscience of innovation and sustainability decisions. Both programmes engage corporations in design and execution of field experiments focused on innovation- or sustainability-oriented organisational change challenges.