Presentations

Gift Giving in Business

On June 26, 2023 gave a presentation on Gift Giving in Business at the Management & Gift workshop of The Economy of Francesco program. He focused on two questions: (1) What should a leader be like and what decisions does the leader take to make a company generative? and (2) What is the spirituality that enables dialogue between poverty and management? Zsolnai’s presentation emphasized that a business leader should be genuinely altruistic, i.e. giving without… Read More »Gift Giving in Business

Art and Ecological Regeneration

Laszlo Zsolnai gave a keynote lecture on ” Art and Ecological Regeneration” at the Photography MA graduation of MOME on May 16, 2023. He argued against the market metaphysics that dominates business and economics as well as almost all spheres of social life today. He suggested to follow the idea of “beautiful act” by Immanuel Kant which requires doing gentle, careful ways of living and acting. Acknowledging the intrinsic value of things and measuring success… Read More »Art and Ecological Regeneration

Beyond Materialism & Reductionism

Laszlo Zsolnai gave a keynote presentation entitled “Beyond Materialism and Reductionism“ in The Awakened Campus Global Initiative Conference in November 29-30, 2022 at Columbia University. Zsolnai argued that today’s mainstream social practices and the professions are based on strong materialist and reductionist assumptions. He showed that spiritually informed social practices can lead to better and more satisfying results than materialist and reductionist models of current mainstream practices. Zsolnai called for whole person education, that is,… Read More »Beyond Materialism & Reductionism

Slow Life – Slow Business

The Ludwig Museum in Budapest and the Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University of Budapest organized an online international workshop on “Slow Life – Slow Business” on March 18, 2022 15.00 – 17.30 (CET). It was part of the TRANS-GENERATIVES 2030 program of UNESCO Chair in Art and Science of Sustainable Development Goals at ICN Business School, Nancy. The workshop is based on and develop further the “SLOW LIFE. Radical Practices of the Everyday” exhibition… Read More »Slow Life – Slow Business

Lecturing On Frugal Consumption in Los Angeles

On November 19, 2021, Laszlo Zsolnai gave a lecture on “Spiritual Humanism – The Case for Frugal Consumption” in the “Corporate Social Responsibility and Good Governance” course of the Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo, Los Angeles. In his lecture Zsolnai discussed the problems of the dominating overconsumption patterns of Western societies, namely welfare malaises, global inequality, and ecological overshot. He argued for frugal consumption that can be characterized as (i) mindful (as it serves… Read More »Lecturing On Frugal Consumption in Los Angeles

The Business of Happiness and Wellbeing

Laszlo Zsolnai gave a lecture in the “Happiness Talk Series” of Rekhi Centre for The Science of Happiness at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur on October 30, 2021. He introduced the Western (Aristotelian) and the Eastern (Buddhist) conceptions of happiness and discussed the contemporary approaches to wellbeing. He argued that the purpose of the firm should be redefined. Instead of maximizing profit, firms should maximize the wellbeing of all the stakeholders. He presented cases… Read More »The Business of Happiness and Wellbeing

Business Responsibility for Future Generations

Laszlo Zsolnai gave a keynote presentation on Business Responsibility for Future Generations in the „New Economy, Old Traditions: Caring Entrepreneurship” international conference in September 4-6, 2017 in Tel Aviv University, Israel.He was arguing that future generations should be considered as a primodial stakeholder of business. This obligation should be reflected in the goals, priorities, policies, and impact assesment practices of business organizations. Improving the position of future generations enhances the future of the present generations… Read More »Business Responsibility for Future Generations

Economic Actors and the Ultimate Goal of the Economy

Laszlo Zsolnai gave a presentation on „Economic Actors and the Ultimate Goal of the Economy” at the Las Casas Institute, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford on July 7-8, 2017. He argued that mainstream economics employs a rather simplified picture of economic systems. Economic actors are grouped into three categories, namely individuals/households, firms, and the state. Among these actors only monetized transactions are considered. The ultimate goal of the economy is defined as maximization of individual… Read More »Economic Actors and the Ultimate Goal of the Economy

Science and Ethics

Laszlo Zsolnai was lecturing on Science and Ethics on June 23, 2017 in Budapest at Karoli Gaspar University. He argued that today’s science is captured by big business and commercial interests often distort the search for the truth. Cases of distortions are (i) presenting something which is untrue, (ii) rejecting something which is true, (iii) wrongly defining research problems, and (iv) developing biased research agendas. Solutions include independent, concerned and reflective scholarship open to spiritual… Read More »Science and Ethics

Business Ethics for the Anthropocene

On May 29, 2017 Laszlo Zsolnai was lecturing on business ethics in the Athropocene at the Technical University of Munich. His main propositions were as follows: (1) The currently unsustainable state of the Earth is largely due to the activities of business, so reconsidering the role of business in society and nature is unavoidable. (2) Without transforming business into a progressive social institution, which respects nature, future generations and the common good of society there… Read More »Business Ethics for the Anthropocene