1. Entrepreneurship
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On a crusade for ethical capitalism
By Katie Walsh | November 21, 2012
Fred Kofman is on a global tour to promote his views on great business leadership. Photo: Andrew
Vincent Photography
Spain-based consultant and author Fred Kofman likes to compare extraordinary
business leaders to Olympic gold medallists. Except that business leaders aren’t
revered, he says. They are scorned.
Kofman wants to change that: he wants society to admire all legitimate, ethical
business people – that means those who don’t act like the Mafia – and for those
business people to be proud of their achievements.
Without it, he argues, we’re dangerously stifling the potential of capitalism, which has
helped to develop humanity more than any other system. It’s something people
would realise if they studied economic history, Kofman says.
“It’s the most effective promotion of peace and prosperity – and the worst affliction of
our age is that nobody knows this.”
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2. Kofman is a champion of conscious capitalism, a global trend that is injecting ethics
and values into business.
His book, Conscious Business, promotes introspection by leaders, encouraging them
to build human values in organisations and create inspiring workplaces that bring out
the best in staff.
AXA and AMP are among local beneficiaries of his advice; globally, he has worked
with Google and Microsoft. Speaking to The Australian Financial Review after a
Conscious Capitalism Australia breakfast in Sydney, while on a global tour, Kofman
explains his latest efforts to help rid business leaders of shame.
“They’ve been hoodwinked into feeling ashamed for making money,” he says. “I
would like people to feel proud of being powerful . . . and to develop the energy to
learn the hard lessons that are necessary to lead and operate in this environment.”
Ask people who they admire, and Kofman says the names of politicians, doctors,
military heroes and sporting champions come flooding out. If a businessman like
Warren Buffet or Bill Gates is mentioned, it’s because they gave away their money,
not because they made it.
“It’s a social virus, it’s a virus of the mind that makes people disparage capitalism
and the role of entrepreneurs and business people and the advancement of society.”
Changing that perception and making business people proud is the starting point for
Kofman.
“Many believe that it is necessary to sell out to succeed in business, or drop out to
pursue a spiritual life. This is a false polarity,” he says.
Then comes the training. First, to change attitudes – making people accountable for
their actions and shifting from the “victim” attitude that seeks exculpation. Second, to
improve practice by listening to and respecting others.
“If someone disagrees with us, our impulse is to raise our voice, be more forceful
and try to convince the other person. In a situation of conflict everyone gets locked
into pushing, and wants to push harder. But you can’t get the best from people if you
push them down.”
Role plays of tricky conversations help to catch a bad pattern of interrupting the
person speaking.
Not everybody has to go through the training, he says, but the culture of a business
must shift to support the positive behaviours.
“It’s essential that the whole company develops this attitude, that the leader develops
this in the followers,” says Kofman.
For further information on this handout and the consulting
and coaching programs available please contact: Page 2 of 3
Image Group International
Asia Pacific Head Office
T: (+61 3) 9824 0420
E: info@imagegroup.com.au
www.imagegroup.com.au
©2012

3. And only sustained practice will entrench values.
Australian leadership coach and chief executive of Stephenson Mansell Group, Kip
Frame, says that Kofman’s method brings a unique perspective. “A lot of clients
separate leadership from their business strategy,” he says. “Fred integrates them.”
For Kofman, accountability and empowerment are the key to unlocking great
potential – for peaceful business and “beautiful capitalism”. (For a fervent response,
get Kofman talking about the financial crisis. It was, he says, the antithesis of
capitalism: printing money, bailing out banks. It was communism in the financial
system driven by thuggish central banks that will, like the Soviet Union, collapse.)
“Any business person who does business fully deserves my admiration,” he says.
But reaching the level of an extraordinary business leader requires humility,
knowledge, wisdom, passion – it’s hard to learn, and is as difficult as being a gold
medallist, he says.
The principles Kofman espouses are so demanding that he admits he cannot think of
a fully enlightened leader. But he adds if you combined the maniacal passion of
Apple founder Steve Jobs, the compassion of Whole Foods chief executive John
Mackey and the drive of Microsoft’s Bill Gates, you might just get there.
For further information on this handout and the consulting
and coaching programs available please contact: Page 3 of 3
Image Group International
Asia Pacific Head Office
T: (+61 3) 9824 0420
E: info@imagegroup.com.au
www.imagegroup.com.au
©2012