Publications

Laszlo Zsolnai was keynote speaker in the Creating Sustainable Organizations: Ethics, Economics and Well-Being conference at the Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba in September 25-26, 2014 in Winnipeg, Canada. One of his lecture was about „Trajectories of Transition toward Ecological Sustainability” while his other lecture was about „Economic Rationality versus Socio-Ecological Reason”. Creating Sustainable Organizations – The Importance of Wellbeing Creating Sustainable Organizations

Laszlo Zsolnai presented his paper „Human Reason in the Age of Economic Unreason” at the International Workshop on “Teleology and Reason in Economic and Social Affairs” at the Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, June 30 – July 1, 2014. The paper analyses the rationality assumptions of mainstream economics and shows that they are empirically misleading and normatively inadequate. It argues that the world ruled by self-interest based rationality of economic actors leads to ’unreason’ from… Read More »Human Reason in the Age of Economic Unreason

Laszlo Zsolnai gave a faculty lecture on Trajectories of Transition toward Ecological Sustainability at ESC Rennes School of Business on April 24, 2014. He argued that competitiveness oriented business practices are incompatible with ecological sustainability and human well-being because they do not know ecological limits and ethical principles. Community-based economic activities aiming at sufficiency and frugality are more promising for creating a sustainable world. Trajectories of Transition toward Ecological Sustainability

Laszlo Zsolnai was lecturing at the “Should we get rid of CSR?” international seminar at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management on February 18, 2014. He argued that the opportunistic use of ethics is counter-productive for business because It is perceived as cheating by the stakeholders who will react accordingly. Ethics brings material benefits for companies if and only if it is not used to produce material gains. If we want to get closer to… Read More »From CSR to Collaborative Enterprise

On November 27, 2013 Laszlo Zsolnai gave a faculty lecture at the Institute of Environmental Sciences of Corvinus University of Budapest on the perverse effects ofecessive executive compensation. He argued that one-dimensional economic incentives may destroy existential, social, and ecological values that influence the manager’s commitment to ensure responsible business conduct, and have negative spillover effects that may reduce the manager’s performance. How Economic Incentives Destroy Values

Initiated by Laszlo Zsolnai the Von Hügel Institute of the St. Edmund College, University of Cambridge organized an international workshop on „The Economic and Financial Crisis and the Human Person” on June 8-9, 2013 in Cambridge. Participants from Cambridge, Oxford, Leuven explored the current problematic from a humanistic s The Economic and Financial Crisis and the Human Person The Failure of Materialistic Management

On April 23, 2013 Laszlo Zsolnai gave a faculty presentation on Responsible Leadership and Reasonable Action at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Virginia, USA. In his presentation entitled “Responsible Leadership and Reasonable Action” he argued that business leadership should pass the test of ecology, future generations and society. It means that responsible leadership seeks holistic value creation, i.e. achieving the goals of organizations or communities in ecological, future respecting and pro-social ways… Read More »Responsible Leadership and Reasonable Action

Laszlo Zsolnai was lecturing on  Ecological Sustainability and Collaborative Business at the Business Beyond Tomorrow conference organized by the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University in Montreal on Marh 15, 2013.  A related video was produced with him on the importance of changing the self-interest doctrine of our time. Ecological Sustainability and Collaborative Business

Laszlo Zsolnai gave a presentation on Materialistic versus Non-materialistic Management in the TransAtlantic Business Ethics Conference in October 19-20, 2012 at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in Bergen, Norway. He argued that the materialistic management model cannot produce true well-being for people but actually undermines it. By advocating economic action on the basis of money-making and justifying its success by generating profit the materialistic model encourages irresponsible behavior of economic actors toward others, contributes… Read More »Materialistic versus Non-materialistic Management

Laszlo Zsolnai gave a presentation on “Spirituality and Business – Implications for Sustainability” in the faculty workshop of the Institute of Management, Vienna University of Economics on October 9, 2012. He argued that achieving sustainability actors should consider the whole persons and the whole systems, give priority to intrinsic motivation, orient themselves toward the common good, and measure success in multi-dimensional, holistic way. Zsolnai also empahisized that materialistic value orientation destroys material values, including nature.… Read More »Spirituality and Business – Implications for Sustainability