783: Changing Course: Reimagining and Innovating in Business in a Human- and Eco-Centric Future (13827)

This proposed panel symposium raises the question of how the purposes and social-ecological behaviors of firms - and indeed whole economies - may need to change (or, in the words of the call for papers, innovate) if humanity is to build a future that decenters business and economics and re-centers humans in the natural world. The time is now. After all, we appear to be heading toward a polycrisis, an intersecting, entangled set of existential crises that pose global systemic risks (Henig and Knight, 2023; Homer-Dixon et al., 2021). This polycrisis is the legacy of a past that, in both conscious and unconscious ways, leaves us on the precipice of unimaginable loss (Ord, 2020). While the future is not ours to wholly design, we do have an opportunity to shape its evolutionary contours. We need to have a conversation about how we as business scholars might change the path of history, one that leaves us so vulnerable to crisis and even the possibility of human extinction. Do we need to reconsider the purpose, responsibility and accountability of business to society and to nature at this moment of crisis? We think the answer to that question is “Yes.” And so, we hope to convene a symposium in Chicago that both considers the need for paradigmatic change and the nature of that change itself. The following scholars have agreed to participate in this symposium, if accepted: Sandra Waddock will describe the symposium, define the context of polycrisis, explore the implications of three cultural myths in fostering that crisis, and issue a call for catalyzing transformative and innovative action. James P. Walsh will examine accountability in a world of responsibility management, exploring the motivation for the symposium and a need for innovation in business paradigms. Phil Mirvis will address the evolution of purpose over the past 20 years, along with the issues that have arisen for companies in designing purposes. Chris Laszlo will present the science of prospection, in which the acts of reimagining and innovating in business can be seen as calling forth solutions to polycrisis, rather than as exercises in extending knowledge about the past or present. Wren Montgomery will examine whether corporate sustainability promises that do not align with and impact science-based targets and planetary boundaries are “not credible” or “future washing”, and are simply new forms of greenwash.