We are often told that to get on is to get ahead, to compete. But what if it wasn't confrontation that powers success in business and in life, but co-operation - sometimes co-operating to compete? This is a story in part about co-operatives, those values based businesses that are structured around participatory ownership rather than the rights of investors, but it is also a story of every business and every participant in the economy. We will argue that what underpins productive co-operation are values - often strongly held and the deepest motivators for individual and group action that we have.
The lecture will point to practical ways to bring values to life, and some of the recent success stories and disaster stories of business life when it comes to organising around values. If we can organise around values then we don't just change behaviours in business, we start to reclaim and reimagine the economy as centred around people rather than short term gain. This is the power and potential of co-operation.
Confirmed Speaker
Ed Mayo - Secretary General of Cooperatives in UK