This two-day (September 15-16) digital conference focused on how companies can combine economic growth, sustainability, and responsibility in the context (and the future aftermath) of the coronavirus pandemic. The program comprised renowned business practitioners and scholars, and covered a wide array of topics, such as entrepreneurial responsibility, startup-corporate collaborations, high-tech and positioning, sustainability as a new social “license to operate,” and more. 

The panel discussion on the state of the art of responsible leadership research – with leadership scholars Ed Freeman (The Darden School, University of Virginia), Oliver Laasch (Alliance Manchester Business School) and Christof Miska (Vienna University of Economics and Business, STaR Fellow) – dug deeper into how responsible leadership could and should leverage the current crisis to navigate the sustainability transition. The discussion involved both managerial implications and critical reflection upon the ongoing scholarly discourse in terms of mindset shifts and skill development, short-term trade-offs versus long-term thinking, and new incentive systems, among other aspects.