"If we are not ashamed to
think it, we should not be ashamed to say it"
Cicero
Dear Alumni,
Sometimes we fiddle with the following question: should we, as
Alumni, publicly express our opinions on "softer" and often more
controversial issues such as for example business ethics,
sustainability, civil rights or government social policy.
The answer is: YES WE SHOULD!
It is our individual moral responsibility to take the stand on
things we believe are important and defend our ideas in a world
that we believe could benefit from them. Nothing can or
should shield us from our responsibility as a citizen. To the
contrary, being a Solvay Alumni compels us to voice our
opinion. The education we have received comes with an
obligation: contribute back to the community by sharing ideas and
opinions. What is the point of educating people if they just
shut up?
Let's not be shy or ashamed of our opinions, let's put them in
the open, let's share them and hope it will contribute to
transforming the world into a better place.
Our Alumni organization and the Schools have taken a few
initiatives to both to help voice their opinion and contribute to
the public debate, but also expose you and the students to the
challenges that we are facing in this increasingly complex
world.
We would like to give you an overview of what has been done by
the Alumni and the Schools in these matters. We hope you will
be able to benefit from this in order to become a better-informed
and more active citizen.
Big conferences
Every two years, Solvay Alumni organizes a high level conference
on a hot business topic and/or a society-related issue
2012: Flexibility and the future of work in Europe
2010: Crisis 2007-20XX - what have we learned?
2008: Leadership to win
2006: Multiculturality & Business in global groups
Solvay in the Press
Faculty and famous Alumni regularly express their opinion on key
issues in the press. You can follow them hereunder:
http://www.solvay.edu/solvay-in-the-press
Business Voice Series
Throughout the year, the school organises a serie of seminars
and workshops with high-profile guest speakers. Entirely open to
our participants and alumni these seminars constitute a great way
to keep track of the latest development in the business world.
Participants interact and learn from professionals in a large range
of topics. Past seminars have covered Change Management, Effective
Networking, Presentation Skills, Effective Business Writing, What
it takes to be an Entrepreneur and many more.
http://www.solvay.edu/calendar/events/all/business-voice-series
Executive Programme en "Management et
Philosophie"
This Executive Education program helps us challenge our
viewpoints and our management practices in order to make better
decisions. It uses new tools and concepts to better
understand the professional world but also develop a personal
approach to problems and approach it with a new angle.
http://www.solvay.edu/executive-programme-management-philosophies
LeaderSchool
This programme empowers leaders to break through new habits of
leadership, explore new possibilities and evolve new ideas that
over time will transform their organisations and themselves as
innovators in these evolving times. Its approach will combine
expertise from academics and soft skills from practioners. This new
vision will bring latest analysis from the experts with the accute
feedback from the field. It is also the first complete offer
from the three business schools of the Wallonia Brussels
Federation.
http://www.leaderschool.be/
The Oath Project
The Alumni are moving forward on a (non compulsory) oath to be
take by the students
http://www.theoathproject.org/
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A few external links to websites that should help you
enlarge you view of the world and the way we, as business leaders,
can transform it:
TED
The TED conferences bring together the world's most fascinating
thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their
lives. TED.com makes the best talks and performances from TED
and partners available to the world, for free, offering free
knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers,
and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each
other.
www.ted.com
Bruegel
Bruegel is a European think tank working in the field of
international economics. Established in 2005, Bruegel is
independent and non-doctrinal. It seeks to contribute to European
and global economic policy-making through open, fact-based and
policy-relevant research, analysis and debate.
http://www.bruegel.org/
Itinera Institute
Our mission: To show, to defend and to build roads for policy
reform towards sustained economic growth and social protection, for
Belgium and its regions.
http://www.itinerainstitute.org/
