Essential Questions for a New Era of Risk and Responsibility
In 2025, business leaders face historic levels of uncertainty, disruption, and changing norms. Geopolitical tensions and a shifting legal landscape have reshaped the global economy and realigned both international cooperation and political expectations of U.S. corporations. The Aspen Institute was created for just such a moment, to use dialogue to help leaders adapt—and lead—through profound global change.
Seventy-five years ago, the Aspen Institute convened leaders from across society to envision a culture of collaboration that could prevent another global conflict. This global spirit of cooperation led to virtuous partnerships like NATO and the European Union, reduced global poverty, and turned bitter rivals like Japan and the United States into close allies.
By the 1990s, leading thinkers argued that this same ideal of universal cooperation, extended through globalization and free markets, would bring prosperity for all.
Yet for all its successes, the post-war consensus had shortcomings. In recent decades, a “winner take all” paradigm and shareholder primacy have gained salience. Corporations and investors took advantage of the frictionless global system, prioritizing private gain at the expense of the workforce and public goods. While globalization reduced poverty worldwide, it dramatically improved the economic standing of the global upper class while constraining middle class mobility, particularly in wealthy countries. These economic changes have, in turn, fueled autocratic movements and disillusionment among working people.
The Aspen Institute Business & Society Summit shares many of the same values and objectives as that first convening in Aspen 75 years ago. At the Summit this July, business executives, long-term investors, and those who study and advise business leaders will grapple with the implications of America’s new political orientation on business values and priorities. Here are just some of the questions we’ll discuss:
- How should business leaders interpret established precedent when so many of their long-standing assumptions are being tested?
- How will leaders balance the pursuit of competitive advantage with the need to collaborate in ways that serve the broader public good?
Growing economic inequality erodes trust in business and intensifies skepticism toward capitalism itself. Rising costs and a culture of grievance threaten to undermine relationships between companies and governments, customers, and employees. Businesses face competing demands for innovation and affordability in an increasingly volatile environment. Executives are being asked to confront backlash under heightened legal scrutiny, and to reconsider the culture of their firms in the face of these headwinds. During this Summit, leaders will come together to consider complex questions, including:
- Why should business leaders foster economic mobility, combat inequality, and restore public trust in capitalism?
- How can businesses navigate the ongoing demand for legacy sectors like fossil fuels with new sources of energy and innovation?
- What will it take to build AI-enabled enterprises that champion both innovation and worker well-being?
Ensuring that prosperity is broadly shared, and that businesses are responsibly managed, is both a moral question and a practical choice for companies that aim to sustain their long-term relevance and legitimacy. Just as they did 75 years ago, we look forward to business leaders leaning into hard questions, building new frameworks for cooperation, and redefining the value business can deliver to benefit the whole of society.
This blog post was originally published on LinkedIn.