After 50 years of “new work” and countless restructurings, agile transformations and yoga classes, we appear to be stuck in a hellish swamp of good intentions: better work remains squarely out of sight…

Our organizations are still more often suffering machines than wellsprings of well-being; mental health in the workplace, according to an ILO survey, has decreased almost everywhere in the world, and correlated physical illnesses like heart attacks are on the rise. In the UK, 74% of the working population profess to be stressed out. Jeff Pfeffer, the American management professor, sums it up: bad jobs are destroying our lives. In the US, “the paycheck” is already the fifth leading cause of death.

And even on the inside, it seems, we are slowly withering away. In vain, we continue to yearn for more meaning at work… A recent study found that over 70% of respondents lack deeper significance in their daily work activities. The majority of jobs continues to offer limited opportunities for creativity or personal growth. In addition, more than 50% of people believe that our businesses still pay little attention to the real problems of our planet.

Building on these considerations and combining virtue ethics with positive psychology, neurobiology, and evolutionary theory, we define "good" work as a social process that combines personal growth, the development of capabilities and friendships, and a profound sense of significance through recognized contribution to a shared and greater good. In essence, good work involves the vocational pursuit of personal excellence and the gradual becoming of the best people we are meant to be.

But its not just about cultivating each organisational "component", but also about the connection between them. Truly virtuous organizations need to nurture a moral environment that combines care, integrity and compassion with a genuine commitment toward mutual elevation for the greater good. They need to enable a holistic development of individuals and communities.

In order to do so, we must continue to evolve organizational design, striking a progressive balance between local affordances within micro-organizations, individual growth, and the need to foster shared learning and a coherent external value proposition. And that’s difficult. In our research, we can clearly see that with growing scale corporations turn instrumentalist. To counter this, we must overlay the existing financial governance with disciplines for collective reflection and participation, essentially creating a living organizational constitution. The ultimate goal is to first connect people, structures and culture, thus nurturing organisational wisdom, identity and character, and then to enable a reflective equilibrium that continually actualises the potential of the organisation to create social flourishing.

What's It All About?
The "Hunt for Good Organizations" is a groundbreaking initiative sponsored by Duke University, US, and the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. This unique course promises a transformative journey, empowering students to redefine their perception of organizations and leadership, and examine their own role in shaping a better world. Over the course, student teams will embark on a quest to identify and interview exemplary companies that are transforming their business and operating models in the spirit of goodness. Their mission: to uncover what sets these organizations apart and create insightful case studies that capture "the difference that really makes the difference". Through the elaboration of these case studies, we aim to empower our students to make more informed choices and actions in their own future careers.

Why Is This Important?
The "Hunt for Good Organizations" is more than an academic pursuit; it's a movement. We are dedicated to identifying and celebrating organizations that are actively contributing to a positive societal and environmental impact. Our students will delve deep into these organizations, uncovering and promoting the remarkable ways in which they enable the greater good. But we're not stopping there. Our plan is to share these case studies and best practices with a global audience to stimulate collective learning. Furthermore, we aim to develop robust measurement instruments that can objectively recognize and evaluate good organizations worldwide, facilitating qualification and continuous improvement against the highest ethical standards.

Making a Global Impact
In a world grappling with pressing issues like climate change, inequality, and social injustice, the role of organizations and leadership has never been more crucial. Therefore, our mid-term objectives are ambitious. We aspire to establish an alternative economic narrative that champions an economy for the greater good, with "Good Organizations" leading the way. We believe that by acknowledging and promoting organizations that are actively embodying positive change, we will not inspire others to follow but also set new benchmarks for businesses as forces for good, driving a systemic shift in leadership and business education. By engaging with this initiative, future employees and investors can make informed choices, supporting organizations that align with their values and avoiding those that fall short. Simultaneously, we want to attract a wider academic and public audience to our change initiative, generating vibrant interest and potential future collaboration.

Example Criteria for Good Organisations

Good organizations prioritize the common good, fostering a culture of integrity, fairness, empathy, and compassion. They emphasize community and character development, facilitate personal development through lifelong learning, while promoting a just and transparent compensation system. These organizations embody a holistic approach that balances the needs of employees, stakeholders, and society, based on clear ethical principles and a deep belief in the spirit of humanity. By embracing the essence of goodness, they not only create better workplaces but also contribute to a more humane and sustainable future.

• Commitment to the Common Good: Good organizations prioritize a purpose beyond profit, actively contributing to the common good and caring for the environment and society. Good organizations prioritize the well-being of society and the environment over mere profitability. They act honestly, take care of their surroundings, and go beyond traditional stakeholder utility, demonstrating a core commitment to the common good.
• Community and Solidarity: Good organizations foster a sense of unity in diversity, emphasizing quality relationships between members. They actively support teamwork and promote virtues such as empathy, compassion, helpfulness, and trust.
  
• Cultivation of Character: These organizations emphasize mutual character development among their members, nurturing qualities like integrity, fairness, empathy, tolerance and cvility. They promote personal growth and virtues as central aspects of their culture.
• Mutual Growth and Learning: These organizations encourage continuous triple-loop learning, self-reflection, and critical thinking. They emphasize regular "breathing spaces" and collective reflection, cultivating a deep collective consciousness and a sharp moral compass. They also encourage lifelong learning, promote intelectual virtues such as critical thinking, curiosity and justice. They offer support for individuals to realize their full potential, going beyond standard learning practices.
  
• Ethical Principles in Company DNA: Good organizations fundamentally implant ethical principles in their company culture and all organisational institutions, like routines, measures and processes.
  
• Transparent and Wisdom-Based Decision-making: They promote transparency and trust within the organization, encouraging open dialogues and civic participation. Decision-making is often decentralized, allowing employees autonomy while aligning with the common objective, based on individual and collective wisdom.

 Share your suggestions with us at info@leadershipsociety.world and let's inspire a world of organizations for good!

Your Suggestions So Far

• P4Q and Panefisa in Bilbao
• Morning Star, Patagonia, Valve, Handelsbanken
• Vaude, Weleda, MyMuesli, Alnatura, Ökofrost, Mindera, Latro Kimya, Ten23Health and Niaga=
• Jaipur Rugs, Ian Martin Group, Teach for All, 10Pines
• Viisi, Haluk Can Hurs Latro
• Enel, Roche, Orsted, New York Times, Refinitiv, spun out of Thomson Reuters
• Victorinox, Merck, Grohe, elobau, BKK ProVita, Schneider Electronic

• Lighting the Spark: Unleashing your best “leader self” by further developing practical wisdom and leadership virtues.
• Crafting Hot Spots: Energizing your team to develop individually and together. Finding the strongest levers for excellence and starting to experiment. And then bringing that energy to your team’s task.
• Creating Ripples: Building on the learnings and practices to connect with teams and stakeholders across the organisation. Spreading the stories and sharing your passion.

Success Measures & KPIs

• Balanced measures for responsible business (financial, non financial)
• Sustainable flourishing of stakeholders, society, planet

• Ethical stories and language
• Virtuous role models/awards
• Development-as-honour

• Selection for empathy and relationship skills, character, virtues, play and energy, community role modelling
• Structures and coordination
• Bottom-up/top-down balancing of all teams
• Flexible job, role and team structures, information transparency to support local decision making 
• Move towards self-management, cross-functional and customer-centric working teams, stakeholder service

• Shared team incentives, 20x max average pay, living salary
• Profit participation schemes
• Performance management separate from pay.
• Excellence through subsidiarity and continuous development
• Systematic upskilling of managers and HR
• Norms for virtuous, civil and respectful engagement, solidarity, trust, diversity

• Budget and policies to enable community building
• Flexible transparent co-budgeting - not monolithic 

Community and Development

• Technology Platforms to enable communication, exchange, organisational journeys, assistance in routine work, budget pooling, work and resource pooling, project market places
• Established routines to request help and “huddles” across teams
• Time-budget: 10% reflection time, sabbatical week, stakeholder days, no-meeting Fridays, recovery time
• Investment budget for development work, lifelong learning, individual/peer coaching, mentoring, academic learning etc
• Cross-company development: systematic knowledge sharing, global talent/career management, professional practice model & communities, practice-to-practice audits, ethical trainings, internal coaches and supervisory groups 

• Purpose and business ethics enshrined in articles of incorporation (adjustment to legal form as required)
• Ownership: stakeholder engagement, diversity, democracy
• Quality of governing bodies: composition, diversity, character, random selection (sortition)
• Board independence, independent chair/facilitator
• Success measures reflecting external and internal good
• Agenda: extensive view on economic, environmental, community (employee, supplier, customer) and social/societal issues
• Ethical deliberation procedures with wide consultation mechanisms, invitation for dissent and reflection (e.g. Advocatus diaboli, spiritual deliberation procedures etc)
• Ethical executive compensation