One on One with McKinsey's Lenny Mendonca

The long-term success of a business depends, in part, on how it adapts to changes in society—and the long-term success of societies depends upon the ability of businesses to be competitive, create jobs, and play constructive roles in their communities. But this "contract" between business and society is rapidly evolving, says Lenny Mendonca, Director with McKinsey & Company. "It's long been true that business has both a near-term and longer-term interest in ensuring that a broader society in which they operate is functioning well and creates the kind of environment for future success," he says. Still, it's even more urgent given the state that we're in today. Mendonca will dive deeper into this topic in his keynote presentation "The Changing Nature of Business in Society—and Its Implications for the Profession" at the Consulting Summit Nov. 9 at the Union League Club in New York. Mendonca sat down with Consulting One-on-One to discuss the increasing expectation for businesses to play a greater role in helping shape solutions.

Consulting: What is the current state of the relationship between the public and private sectors?

Mendonca: I think it's even more urgent now for businesses to take a more active role than it has over the last couple of decades. This has happened before at certain moments in history. For example, coming out of World War II, many of the institutions in the world needed to be re-invented and there was a large gap in the capacity of various countries around the world to do that. Business stepped up in a large way and helped encourage the development of the Marshall Plan and the development of a large amount of civic and civil infrastructure around the country and around the world. Today, when we have deeply troubled economic and institutional challenges, it really is in business' best interest to step in and solve those problems. It was a business group—the Committee for Economic Development—that really drove the policy and action and the political support for the Marshall Plan and they, and others, are trying to help encourage that engagement again today.