More than 200 business and academic leaders came to Switzerland in June to discuss how to change the widespread anti-globalization attitudes that persist in many countries. Participants at the Zermatt Summit on Humanizing Globalization (June 16-18) heard testimony from CEOs, academics and spiritual leaders from 18 countries about introducing ethics into today’s globalized business environment.

More than 200 business and academic leaders came to Switzerland in June
to discuss how to change the widespread anti-globalization attitudes that persist
in many countries. Participants at the Zermatt Summit on Humanizing Globalization
(June 16-18) heard testimony from CEOs, academics and spiritual leaders from
18 countries about introducing ethics into today’s globalized business environment.

Some participants came all the way from the Cordillera de los Andes to the Swiss alpine resort of Zermatt. The delegation of businessmen from Chile and Argentina boarded a small, mountain cog train –the only way the village can be reached– no cars allowed.
The high mountain pastures, deep gorges and Roman aqueducts they passed were perhaps unfamiliar but the distant snow-capped peaks must have reminded them of the location of their own summit on the same subject, planned for October. The Aconcagua Summit is named after the highest peak in the Americas on the border between Chile and Argentina.

The participants were welcomed to Zermatt by summit organizer Christopher Wasserman, President of Ecophilos, a Swiss foundation whose credo is that respect for people is not incompatible with business success. He said the purpose of the gathering was to change hearts and minds. “Our ambition is to contribute to humanizing practices in a globalized business environment.”
The often violent protests against globalization the world saw in the 1990s may have abated but recent polls show that many still have doubts about globalization which they blame for factory closings, outsourced jobs and unfair trade practices.
For three days, the Zermatt participants discussed leadership and statesmanship, putting ethics back into banking, doing virtuous business, the common good and women as actors of change. The ethical responsibility of CEOs was emphasized under the theme Servant Leadership –those who recognize the radical idea that the real goal of business is to serve the community, not simply generate profits for invisible shareholders.

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by Pamela Taylor