Executive Director of the Mexican Business Council discusses the importance of business in advancing the state and the Mexican people’s wellbeing
Taking part in the recent Salzburg Global Seminar session The Corporate Balancing Act: How Can Directors Manage Conflicting Pressures? Rodrigo Gallegos shared his worries for the future of his country: “We’ve seen up-and-coming countries, like Brazil and Venezuela and Argentina, that have fallen back because of the huge risks that political systems and rule of law systems are holding in these countries that has led to their current situations, and it’s a reality that could also happen in Mexico.”
Gallegos heads the Mexican Business Council – a group of Mexican Fortune-50 companies trying to affect change in Mexico through collaborating in the pursuit of common goals. He’s seen Brazil, Venezuela and more succumb to failures that could have been avoided by the government. As head of the Business Council, his job is to coordinate companies and help them work together to protect their own and the state’s interests, which often overlap.
“Many global firms do good citizenship because their boards, shareholders and owners want to do it; in Mexico firms need to do it – if we don’t change things, the government won’t change anything,” he explains. In Mexico, the business community has been “building stronger civil society organizations and helping civil society organize best.”
Gallegos sees the business sector as being in a prime position to affect change: “Businesses have a lot of power. They control a lot of economic power and employ a lot of people. But this power isn’t being used.” He believes that by coordinating the businesses in Mexico, he can harness this economic and social power.
This doesn’t come without challenges. “It’s always difficult to coordinate people, but even more so if they’re 50 of the most important businessmen and women in the world,” he adds. As the first permanent head of the Mexican Business Council he will provide constant and stable guidance, which is necessary to tackle the deep issues that Mexico has.
But what gives the private sector the right to try to reform the political and social systems of a state? Gallegos believes it’s the need for justice at all levels of society. “It doesn’t matter where you come from – whether you’re the richest or at the base level – we all need access to transparent and fair justice and a system that provides it.” According to Gallego, the private sector in Mexico is uniquely able to pursue this goal.
Gallegos calls this coordination in the business sector “altruism out of necessity.” It’s clear that the line between private and public has become blurred in Mexico. The primary function of business remains profit, but the profit of a company is inextricably tied to the health of the state, and the health of the state to the wellbeing of the people.
Perhaps if Venezuelan, Brazilian or Argentinian business had adopted the same strategy that Gallegos is now pushing in Mexico, their current situation may be different. Whether or not these countries can recover remains to be seen, but Gallegos is determined that this model of the business sector providing where the government isn’t able works for the private sector, the state and the people of Mexico.
Rodrigo Gallegos was a participant of the Salzburg Global Seminar session The Corporate Balancing Act: How Can Directors Manage Conflicting Pressures? More information on the session is available here: www.salzburgglobal.org/go/567