Ethics & Entrepreneurship in Upstate:

Developing Responsible Leaders

for the 21st Century

April 20, 2006

 Keynote address by

Colgate University President Rebecca S. Chopp

and Morrisville State College President Raymond W. Cross

followed by comments from three distinguished panelists

and questions from the audience

Full news release

Panelists:

Jack H. Webb, president and chief executive officer of Alliance Bank North America. Previously, he was with Chase Manhattan Bank for 26 years. When Mr. Webb left Chase in 2000 to look for new challenges, he emphasized that he was "committed to finding those challenges in Central New York." Mr. Webb also shows his commitment to the region through his active involvement in not-for-profit organizations in the area including Syracuse Stage, the Metropolitan Development Association, and the Health Alliance of Central New York.

J. Richard “Dick” Munro―a Colgate alumnus from 1957―is former Chairman and CEO of Time Inc. and Time Warner. His experience also includes service on the boards of Exxon Mobil, IBM, Kellogg and Genentech. During his tenure at Time Warner, Mr. Munro engineered the creation of one of the world's largest media and communications companies when he purchased Warner Communications in 1990 and was co-creator of HBO.  Born in Syracuse, Mr. Munro has strong family roots in upstate New York.  His community service confirms his commitment to education and health.  He was a trustee of Colgate and has also served on the boards of Hamilton College, St. Lawrence University, The University of Richmond and Teacher’s College at Columbia University and numerous other leadership roles. Now retired from business, Dick is active in his Naples, Florida and Clayton, New York communities including serving as a teacher in the Naples Head Start program. 

Catherine Bertini is professor of practice in public administration at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. She is also former under-secretary general for management at the United Nations and former executive director of the UN World Food Program, the largest humanitarian agency in the world. Under Professor Bertini’s leadership, global food aid rose from 22 percent in 1993 to 36 percent in 1998. In 1996, the London Times Magazine named Ms. Bertini―a Central New York native―one of the World’s Most Powerful Women. The American Public Welfare Association recognized Bertini as one who "epitomizes the very best in public service."  In 2004, Professor Bertini received an honorary degree from Colgate.

This forum was the result of a partnership formed with other upstate colleges and universities, including Morrisville State College, Syracuse University, LeMoyne College, Clarkson University, and St. Lawrence University, to further explore how we can benefit our region both culturally and economically. This partnership coincides with the Essential New York Initiative released by the Metropolitan Develoment Association which calls for regional colleges and universities to be primarily a source for economic development through faculty-generated research. It also asks institutes of higher education to take more of a leadership role in attracting creative young people to the region and retaining them. These institutions came together to assemble a series of presidential meetings that addressed issue they face as their respective communities grow. The theme they chose for this year's meetings was Ethics and Entrepreneurship.  

The first symposium in this series was the Presidential Forum on Ethics and Entrepreneurship held at Le Moyne College in October, and featured the Rev. J. Brian Hehir of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Boston and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard speaking about ethical concerns. The symposium also included remarks from Mary Cotter, president of Time Warner Cable and chairwoman of LeMoyne's board of trustees, and George Burman, former dean of Syracuse University's School of Management. Cornelius "Neil" Murphy, Jr., president of the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry, then led an open forum on the subject.

St. Lawrence University and Clarkson University held a symposium entitled Seizing the Initiative: Applying North Country Symposium Ideas in St. Lawrence County Projects. This symposium, the fourth in their series, convenes stakeholders in northern New York to explore and enhance the region's economic, environmental, and educational vitality. The symposium included presentations by St. Lawrence University president Dr. Daniel Sullivan and Coordinator for Community Development Shannon Brown, and Clarkson University president Dr. Anthony Collins and Director of Clarkson Ethics Initiative Dr. William Vitek.

Keynote Address:

President Chopp began by saying that she and President Cross have discussed the topic of ethics, entrepreneurship and education repeatedly. Both Colgate and Morrisville State have a passion for these things, and though the schools address them in very different ways, the fundamental understanding of them is the same. Education is about building the future; about intertwining entrepreneurship, risk taking, passion, the ability to have confidence and move ahead, and the ability to build an organization. The keynote address took the form of a question and answer session.

President Chopp: What’s your vision of entrepreneurship for your institution? 

President Cross: It is sometimes challenging to be entrepreneurial in a state environment.  You can find ways if you are creative, persistent and willing to be a risk taker, whether you want to be an entrepreneur or you want to work for someone else.

President Chopp: We have to grow entrepreneurs in upstate New York, rather than import them. How are you doing that in Morrisville?

President Cross: I have been involved in a number of economic development initiatives, especially with those that try to attract manufacturing businesses. The reality is that you generally see growth around universities, where you see new ideas translated from concepts into reality. The key is to connect students who are willing to locate in our communities here with things like venture capital and technical assistance. I have said that we need to scrap our efforts to attract outside businesses here, and let's invest in our students and our graduates and existing businesses to help them grow. We can do that, if we are willing. Five years ago, over 40% of our students said in a survey that they wanted to own their own business. As we try to attract business and economic development to our area, our two institutions should be major players in making that happen.

President Chopp: We recognize that the vast majority of our students tend to leave the area after graduation, though we love it when students decide to stay. As a liberal arts college, we are attempting to teach fundamental skills and values in our classes and outside our classes that they can take with them.   It is about finding their passion and following it. 

President Cross: How do you do that?

President Chopp: It's a combination of faculty that push our students to find a passion. It's also the community, and what we have as a residential college. At every moment, there's an emphasis of following your passion, either in athletics or a club. It's also about gaining self confidence, which is another fundamental skill necessary to become an entrepreneur.

Also, in recent years, we have really been trying to grown ourselves as an institution. It's one thing to expect your students to do it, but it's also important to model it as well. Our partnership with the local Hamilton community is our way of taking risks, having confidence, and creating a valuable partnership. You really have to live it out.

President Cross: We are also attempting to define how the college and the community intersect. We're trying to start our own businesses to engage our students in that area, so they can get their feet wet at someone else's expense in order to understand how business works. You're doing that on a different scale in this community. Can you talk about how you are doing that?

President Chopp: In a community, it's about joining together and using some of Colgate's resources. The partnership, which was formed before I got here, was the coming together of the college, the town, and the county. Our alums contributed a great deal to the partnership as well, and enabled us to move our bookstore and other things downtown, which represented financial risks.

President Cross: But you made a concerted effort to connect with the community.

President Chopp: Yes. We didn't want to just be up on the hill. It was driven by a practical issue-- when students drove into Hamilton, they saw that it was a town without many retail shops. Now, the parents of these same students comment on how charming the village is. So, there was some self-interest, but it wasn't limited to that. We do have to throw ethics in there. You have to teach ethics early on in education, though students really have to discover their own ethical code: who they are as a person. It's about ethics of choice: how do you make choices? It's also about ethics of community: to whom are you loyal? To whom are you responsible? Students will learn these things from one another and from faculty by being immersed in this context. How do you do it?

President Cross: Young people who have the opportunity to discuss these moral and ethical issues and have the opportunity to simulate exercises are more likely to make wiser decisions in life. I don't believe it's possible to be successful in business without a foundation that's ethically rooted between you and whomever is your customer. That business relationship has to be ethical and has to be rooted in trust, and if you lose that, you lose everything.

President Chopp: That's a philosophy of education from two schools that share very common values.

Panelists:

In the following panel discussion, Jack Webb talked about corporate philanthropy and commitment to community.  Historically, businesses were more central to communities and had a greater responsibility in enhancing life in the community.  Alliance Bank is the only one headquartered in NY.  How you bridge this with community responsibility?  Public corporations have more emphasis on a bottom line than a privately held corporation.   Alliance is small and has a greater sense of entrepreneurship both in the company and in the community.  It is an important responsibility for any one at any level to take the chance to give back to their community.

Dick Munro discussed the need to balance responsibility with the bottom line and responsibilities to shareholders.  These shouldn’t be mutually exclusive – companies need to be careful not worship at the altar of the shareholder.  The most important aspects of a company should be first the employees, than customers, suppliers and finally the shareholders. 

In past decades, ethics and integrity were just part of the job.  These discussions didn’t happen – they were just a given.

When Catherine Bertini started at the World Food Program she thought that her CNY values were unique.  She found out this was not so.  The importance of  honesty, integrity and commitment to something bigger was important with all the people she encountered.   They could meld these similar values together to work toward a common goal.  They knew that food aid was only the first step to fixing the problems in the regions in which they worked.  This required entrepreneurial thinking on many levels.  They used their broad goals to guide and motivate them.   Overall she thinks it is important to set an example as a leader, be open and transparent in what you do and do the right thing.

Questions from the audience:

Why don’t people put more trust in providence/God?

Bertini – People work with that in the back of their minds.  There are always going to be good guys and bad guys.  You just need to go ahead and do your work and do the good work.

Chopp – Being connected to something greater than us both grounds us and checks us.  It can play some importance in building integrity.

What has changed in terms of ethics since Dick Munro’s time in a leadership position?

Munro – There was a huge increase in greed in the 1980’s.  It continues to be a virus in corporate America.  There is something wrong with this.  There is a greater pressure on executives to meet the bottom line.

Webb – There has been a softening of responsibility at the board level.  It has become more of a fraternity/sorority.   There is less accountability.  At the top level, corporate boards have become lax in their responsibilities to employees and shareholders.

Do business ethics also include the pursuit of social justice?

Munro – There is not enough oversight in public companies to do accomplish this.  Private companies could have a better long term strategy to do this.

Webb– I talked with Vinnie Byrne (of Byrne Dairy) about the differences between private and publicly held companies.  He said “you can invest in the future and not drive the bottom line. “  (In relation to privately held companies.)

How do you make this area more appealing to graduates of local colleges and universities?

Cross – Provide a climate for grads to do business.  Improve public education.  Identify and make available venture capital and technical assistance.

JW – Create internship programs that link with universities.  It’s a good bet to capture some grads.

What insights do you have in improving k- 12 schools in the region?

Chopp – We need to continue improving sciences to keep up with growth in those areas. 

Cross – Make teaching more exciting and interesting to people who will be good at it. Get the best and the brightest.

How do you balance risk taking with good judgement?

Chopp – We try and get students to learn that at Colgate.  It is a relatively safe environment to take risks and a good place to learn these things about yourself.

Cross – Nothing takes the place of learning through failure.  Do it while you are young.

Webb – Use tools that are available in the community.  Talk to business owners to learn from their experience.

Munro – If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, join a big organization for a while to see what it is like.  Hone your skills and use it as a training ground.

Bertini – You can take risks that can’t damage your career. Figure out your own tolerance for risk. 

What do you say to those who claim that ethics might interfere with entrepreneurship?

Webb – Without ethics you will have  a short trip into entrepreneurship.  A company that lacks basic ethics won’t last.

Munro – An ethical lapse will only come back to bit you.  Good will rule out in the end.

Cross – Making money is a  goal, not a motivator.  Meeting a need in an ethical fashion is crucial.

What are companies’ responsibilities to employees?

Bertini– Be open with your employees about your purpose.  Ask for their collaboration and cooperation.  Ask for suggestions, get employees involved and understanding why they are doing what they do.   Provide training basic support, benefits and security.

Webb –Provide a clear understanding of what the company wants to accomplish.

Munro – You are only as good as those who surround you.  Build success from your employees.