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This seminar invites an international audience to join a group of PhD students and faculty at Tecnologico de Monterrey’s (Tec) EGADE Business School for an exploration of paradigm change in economics, business, and management. In contrast to the current dominant paradigm, exemplified by Milton Friedman’s profit maximization model, the new paradigm is based on evolutionary science; hence our title “From Friedman to Darwin.”
The seminar will be led by Raj Sisodia, co-founder of the Conscious Capitalism Movement and co-chairman of Tec’s Conscious Enterprise Center, and David Sloan Wilson, president of ProSocial World and leading proponent of the new paradigm. Raj and David have been working together for several years and are excited to share their collaboration with an international audience, in addition to students and faculty at Tec.
Go here for an episode of the Conscious Capitalism podcast titled “The Scientific Foundation for Conscious Capitalism”, which provides a preview of what will be covered in more detail in the seminar.
Enrolling in the seminar is free but requires a commitment to attend the sessions and review material in preparation. The sessions will be conversational and interactive, with ample time for discussion among the participants. Coming to the sessions prepared is essential to get the most out of the conversation. We anticipate that there will be valuable networking opportunities in addition to the learning experience.
We encourage individuals to invite their associates to enroll in the seminar so that they can discuss the material as a small group, in addition to taking part of the larger discussions. Any cooperative endeavor can benefit from learning the material that will be presented.
Overview of the Series
This graduate-level seminar will introduce students and faculty to an evolving paradigm for economics, business, and management. In contrast to the current dominant paradigm, exemplified by Milton Friedman’s profit maximization model, the new paradigm is based on evolutionary science; hence our title “From Friedman to Darwin.”
The evolutionary paradigm is new because the study of evolution has only recently expanded beyond genetic evolution to include other evolutionary processes, such as human cultural evolution and computer evolutionary algorithms (AI). Suddenly, a theory that has already made sense of the biological world can begin to make sense of our socially constructed world, including economic systems that are embedded within political, social, and environmental systems.
The new paradigm identifies two common denominators needed by businesses and all other organizations to function well as collective units: to be well-governed and to be adaptable to change. Each of these requires certain core design principles that are easy to understand and implement but obscured by the current paradigm.
In addition to teaching the core design principles, the course will feature examples of businesses and other organizations that have implemented the principles and perform very well as a result. The PhD students taking the course will develop “evolutionary case reports” of participating business organizations, which will be featured in the final session.
Course Objectives
- To learn about a new paradigm relevant to businesses and all other organizations.
- To compare the new paradigm with the currently dominant paradigm.
- To compare the new paradigm with other schools of thought that constitute a form of “diffuse pluralism.”
- To translate the conceptual framework into pragmatic knowledge for helping organizations become better governed and more adaptable as forces for good.
Competences to be Developed
- Learn and apply core design principles for the governance of organizations.
- Learn and apply core design principles for adapting to change in the directions of valued goals.
- Learn and apply how to construct multi-organization market economies.
- Learn how to research and write evolutionary case reports that provide a single rubric for understanding all organizations.
- Develop working relationships with businesses
Schedule: (Readings and podcasts forthcoming)
From Friedman to Darwin: A New Paradigm forEconomics, Business, and Management
PhD Workshop Led by Raj Sisodia and DavidSloan Wilson
Open to an international online communityof auditors
Schedule
February 23
9:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Mexico Time
Session 1: A Tale of Two Paradigms
This session will provide broad philosophical and historical background to the nature of paradigms, the origin of the neoclassical paradigm that currently dominates the business and management professions, and the emergence of a new paradigm based on Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Required:
1) Conscious Capitalism Podcast: The Scientific Basis for Conscious Capitalism. This podcast took place soon after Raj and David met and provides a lively conversational overview of the subject matter of this seminar, with additional insights provided by Raj’s colleague Timothy Henry.
2) Wilson, D. S., & Snower, D. J. (2024). Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Economics I: The Multilevel Paradigm. Economics, 18(1). This article provides a more formal introduction to the subject matter of the seminar. Dennis is a distinguished world economist who helps to organize the G20 and G7 advisory process as president of his organization Global Solutions Initiative.
Recommended:
3) Ferraro, F., Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2005). Economics Language and Assumptions: How Theories Can Become Self-Fulfilling. Academy of Management Review, 30(1), 8-24. This article introduces the major theme of paradigms—systems of thought that are internally consistent but blind to their own limitations. When one paradigm fails, trying to change it incrementally (“nudging”) won’t work. What is required is another paradigm.
4) Friedman, M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. New York Times Sunday Magazine, September 13, 17. This article had a huge influence on its own and has become an icon of the neoclassical economic paradigm.
5) Updating Darwin and Tocqueville on Self-Interest, Rightly Understood, with Robert Putnam. This podcast with the legendary sociologist Robert Putnam (author of Bowling Alone and The Upswing) traces the roots of the evolutionary paradigm all the way back to Charles Darwin and Alexis d’Tocqueville, two young men who embarked upon separate voyages of discovery in 1831.
6) Curing Economics’ Addiction to Unreal Theories. This review of a recent book titled Ricardo’s Dream and podcast with its author, Nat Dyer, traces the roots of both paradigms back to the origin of the economics profession.
Broad introduction to the workshop.
Introduction to the concept of evolutionary case reports.
Select businesses for writing evolutionary case reports (ECR).
March 9
9:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Mexico Time
Session 2. Core Design Principles for Governance & Adaptability
This session will introduce the two common denominators that all organizations need to function as collective units: To be well-governed and to be adaptable to change. Each requires a set of core design principles that are easy to understand once viewed through the lens of the new paradigm.
Required:
1) Ostrom, E. (2009). A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems. Science, 325(5939), 419-422. The political scientist Elinor Ostrom, along with her husband Vincent and the school of thought that they represent, are foundational for the new paradigm. This article was published during the same year that Lin, as she encouraged everyone to call her, was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics.
2) Wilson, D. S., Ostrom, E., & Cox, M. E. (2013). Generalizing the core design principles for the efficacy of groups. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 90, S21–S32.. David’s collaboration with Lin and her postdoctoral associate Michael Cox showed that her “core design principle (CDP)” approach applies to all cooperative endeavors. Lin passed away in 2013 but David still works with Michael, who chairs the Department of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth University, on the development of a rubric for evolutionary case studies, which the PhD students in this class will be employing.
3) Developing Psychological Flexibility, with Steven C. Hayes. This video conversation introduces another key person and topic area (Process-Based Therapy) that is foundational for the new paradigm. While the CDP approach of Lin addresses the fundamental issue of governance, The PBT approach of Steve addresses the fundamental issue of adaptability—not only for individuals, but also for groups of all sizes.
Recommended:
4) Atkins, P. W. D., Wilson, D. S., & Hayes, S. C. (2019). Prosocial: Using evolutionary science to build productive, equitable, and collaborative groups. New Harbinger. This is a book-length treatment of how the new paradigm can be applied to positive change efforts across all contexts and scales—including, but by no means restricted, to business and management.
5) Ong, C. W., Ciarrochi, J., Hofmann, S. G., Karekla, M., & Hayes, S. C. (2024). Through the extended evolutionary meta-model, and what ACT found there: ACT as a process-based therapy. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 32, 100734. This article provides a deeper dive into Process-Based Therapy.
Learn core principles of governance and adaptability.
March 23
9:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Mexico Time
Session 3: Evidence for the New Paradigm—and Against the Old One
Paradigms, by their nature, organize the perception and processing of information, highlighting some possibilities but making us blind to others. Once the core design principles for governance and adaptability are identified, the evidence for them is all around us. So is evidence for the toxic effects of the old paradigm.
Guest speakers: Michael Pirson and Ayse Yemiscigil (Fordham University) TBC
Required:
1) Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2006, January 1). Evidence-Based Management. Harvard Business Review. This article by two distinguished Stanford University management professors does a marvelous job of showing how business management practices are not evidence-based--and need to be.
2) Wilson, D. S., Philip, M. M., MacDonald, I. F., Atkins, P. W. B., & Kniffin, K. M. (2020). Core design principles for nurturing organization-level selection. Nature Scientific Reports, 10(1), 13989–13989. This survey is one of the first to relate the performance of business groups to implementation of the core design principles.
3) Barry-Wehmiller’s Bold Experiment in Prosocial Cultural Evolution. The US manufacturing firm Barry-Wehmiller (BW) is a star example of Conscious Capitalism, as showcased in the book Everybody Matters by Raj and CEO Bob Chapman. Even more amazing, BW has adopted (a term that they prefer to acquire) over 140 other companies and transformed their cultures as well. This podcast with some of BW’s senior management relates this amazing success story to application of the core principles for governance and adaptability.
Recommended:
4) Wilson, D. S., Styles, R., & Atkins, P. W. B. (2024). Conscious Multilevel Cultural Evolution: Theory, Practice, and Two Case Studies. This View of Life. This article describes two outstanding case studies of sizeable organizations that became both better governed and more adaptable using prosocial methods.
5) Hayes, S.C., Atkins, P.W.B., & Wilson, D.S. (2021). Prosocial: Using an Evolutionary Approach to Modify Cooperation in Small Groups. In Applied Behavior Science in Organizations: Consilience of Historical and Emerging Trends in Organizational Behavior Management. Routledge. Even though Ostrom and her CDPs are seldom cited in the sprawling management literature, it’s easy enough to craft search terms that represent the CDPs. When this Is done, the evidence for the efficacy of the CDPs is overwhelming and hiding in plain sight.
6) Conscious Capitalism, viewed through the Lens of a New Paradigm, with Raj Sisodia and Bob Chapman. This podcast complements the required podcast listed above.
7) The B-Corp Movement, Viewed through the Lens of a New Paradigm. This podcast with Cambridge University business professor Chris Marquis (author of Better Business and The Profiteers) and Phil White (CEO of the B-Corp Grounded.world) shows how the B-Corp movement can be understood from the perspective of the new paradigm, along with the Conscious Capitalism movement and all other prosocial business movements.
Students will learn the evidential basis for and against the new and old paradigms.
April 6
9:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Mexico Time
Session 4: Prosocial Leadership
Leadership is an excellent topic for comparing the two paradigms. The old paradigm encourages a form of leadership that violates the core principles and is incapable of making wise decisions in a complex world. The new paradigm encourages a form of leadership that coordinates group processes and brings out the leader in every member of the organization.
Guest speaker: Mark van Vugt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands) TBC
Required:
1) Van Vugt, M., & von Rueden, C. R. (2020). From genes to minds to cultures: Evolutionary approaches to leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 31(2), 101404. This article introduces a special issue of the journal Leadership Quarterly on leadership from an evolutionary perspective. All the articles in the special issue are relevant to this seminar.
2) Pietraszewski, D. (2020). The evolution of leadership: Leadership and followership as a solution to the problem of creating and executing successful coordination and cooperation enterprises. The Leadership Quarterly, 31(2), 101299. This article stresses the systemic nature of leadership and followership, with individuals as nodes in a process.
3) How Conscious Leadership Transforms Lives and Organizations Through Purpose, with Raj Sisodia. Happiness Squad podcast, Dec 24, 2024. A sample of how Raj interprets leadership from a Conscious Capitalism perspective.
Recommended:
4) Atkins,P.W.B. (2024). Prosocial Leadership: Consciously Evolving Trust and Collaboration through Shared Power. This View of Life. Sept 30, 2024. A sample of how leadership is interpreted in Prosocial trainings.
Students will compare different perspectives on leadership.
Students will compare leadership styles from their evolutionary case reports.
April 20
9:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Mexico Time
Session 5: Prosocial Market Economies
The new paradigm is not anti-competition or anti-market. On the contrary, it encourages competition that is refereed to produce prosocial outcomes, like a sports league. Whereas the old paradigm results in huge wealth and welfare disparities as negative externalities, the new paradigm is inherently equitable and participatory.
Guest speaker: Jan Pfister (University of Turku, Finland) TBC
Required:
1) Pfister, J. A., Otley, D., Ahrens, T., Dambrin, C., Darwin, S., Granlund, M., Jack, S. L., Lassila, E. M., Millo, Y., Peda, P., Sherman, Z., & Wilson, D. S. (2024). Performance management in the prosocial market economy: A new paradigm for economic performance and sustainability. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management. This article takes a giant step toward integrating the new paradigm beyond economics into the management profession, not only at the scale of single organizations but also at the scale of multi-organization cultural ecosystems.
2) Evolution, Complexity, and the Third Way of Entrepreneurship: A Series of Conversations with David Sloan Wilson. This View of Life. This series of conversations shows that all successful positive change efforts converge upon a managed process of cultural evolution with systemic goals in mind.
3) Evolution, Complexity, and the Third Way of Entrepreneurship: A Capstone Conversation with Victor Hwang. This View of Life. Victor Hwang is one of the first to think about entrepreneurship from an evolutionary perspective. He is author of The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley and founder and CEO of Right to Start, a campaign fighting to expand entrepreneurial opportunity for all. In this capstone conversation to the “Third Way” series, we discuss how entrepreneurship is systemic, not individual, and how the most vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems combine two ingredients that seldom go together on their own: diversity and cooperation.
Recommended:
Any of the other conversations in the Third Way Series (accessed on the introductory webpage).
Students will learn how to work at the level of whole economies, not just single organizations.
Students will discuss their progress with the evolutionary case reports.
May 11
9:00 to 11:00 a.m.
Mexico Time
Session 6: Presentation and Analysis of Evolutionary Case Reports.
The final session will be a presentation featuring the student projects. Because the students will follow a common rubric for researching and writing their case reports, their results can be collectively analyzed to document the relevance of the core design principles for businesses that are associated with the EGADE business school.
Looking Back, Looking Ahead