Don’t just produce a bunch of “yellow-skinned Gordon Gekko’s,” pleaded Ho KwonPing, executive chairman of Banyan Holdings Ltd., as he discussed the ascendency of Asia and pressing need to create an alternative form of capitalism that is rooted in the region’s communitarian spirit. Speaking to nearly 180 management educators attending AACSB’s Asia Regional Conference in Singapore, Mr. Ho argued that our young people don’t have anywhere to look for guidance. They can’t find it in the individualism of Anglo-American capitalism, in the state approaches of Europe, or in the “Davos man” that has come to symbolize globalization. And “95% of entrepreneurs in China are not worth emulating,” according to Mr. Ho. Our youth must get thought leadership from our universities and business schools.
When asked about ethics education, Mr. Ho argued that universities and business schools must think about the whole environment, not just the courses. We can’t teach effectively about ethics in the classroom while the rest of the environment encourages bad behavior. He believes that university educators mistakenly think their students are adults and have already established values, when they are really quite impressionable. He also believes that the influence of faculty extends well beyond the classroom, and that professors have the power to change the “ethos” of business through research, executive education, consulting, and outreach activities.
About the overall value of business education, Mr. Ho was pragmatic and attributed much of his success to luck. He used a surfing metaphor to explain that we can learn to identify which wave to catch, as well as how to get on and ride that wave. But we can’t do anything if the wave never comes—or if it comes in the form of a tsunami.