Some of the big questions in the world are “why are we here” and “why are we doing this”? One of the professors from my MBA has a book that mirrors his course getting students to think through the big questions of life and how they relate to stakeholder business.
Thinking About The Ultimate Questions
Andy Wicks course is detailed in the book which gives him a chance to sahre the course with every reader. It encourages thinking about what business is for. I took Andy’s course more than twenty years ago, so before this specific course, but he was always keen to try and get us to think beyond the basic functions of business.
The concern with MBAs is often that they have skills to do stuff but they often have less focus on the why would you do stuff. This is a pretty dangerous combination. Yes, you can close down the factory and make a tiny bit more money in the short-term but, really, should you?
Why Are We Doing This?
Andy encourages everyone in business to think through, why are we doing this. He was a stakeholder theorist. This means holding the position that firms should be there to make the world better, or else what is the point of it all?
Stakeholder thinking is about being better, both as firms and as people. But that isn’t everything about it. Stakeholder thinking is simply better business.
Gaining customers creates connections between people and businesses and so it is, obviously, a social activity. If people don’t like your business it is much harder to be a commercially successful business. If people, be it customers, employees, governmental officials, want to support this makes business so much easier.
People want functionality and efficiency, yet they also want to be linked to stories, values and kinds of meaning that become part of making and consuming a product. Great brands understand this and actively cultivate it, and when done well, this can foster and incredibly devoted set of stakeholders that sustain the brand and generate new sources of value.
Wicks, 2025, page 68
Meaning Matters
Andy wrote the book while he was dying. He was still relatively young which adds a poignancy to his work. He was a great teacher, supportive of me personally, and a very approachable bloke. I remember watching soccer together over my flat.
His key point is worth bearing in mind. It is always helpful to think about the big questions. Business should make the world better, it should be a positive for the people it touches. Andy did a great job of encouraging new managers towards that goal.
For more on stakeholder business see Measuring Performance In Multi-Stakeholder Firms, Stakeholder Management As A Threat, and
Benefiting Owners And Much More
Read: Andrew C. Wicks, (2025), Ultimate Questions: A Stakeholder Guide To The Business Of Your Life, Darden Business Publishing
