"Business and society have a symbiotic relationship…”

Who said it? "Business and society have a symbiotic relationship: The long-term viability of the corporation depends upon its responsibility to the society of which it is a part. And the well-being of society depends upon profitable and responsible business enterprises."

The Business Roundtable, 1981

Four decades ago, America's most powerful CEOs articulated something that feels remarkably prescient today. This wasn't a modern reinvention of stakeholder capitalism, it was a clear-eyed recognition that business success and social wellbeing are fundamentally interconnected.

What strikes me most is the word symbiotic, a relationship where both parties benefit, and neither can thrive without the other. Not charity. Not CSR as an afterthought. But genuine interdependence.

The context makes this even more fascinating. In 1981, these leaders were responding to mounting social pressures and economic uncertainty. They understood that businesses operating in isolation from societal needs were ultimately unsustainable. Yet somehow, through the following decades of shareholder primacy thinking, this wisdom was largely forgotten.

Ironically, it wasn't until 2019 that the same Business Roundtable formally redefined the purpose of a corporation to include all stakeholders, not just shareholders. Same organisation, nearly four decades later, essentially rediscovering their own insight.

Which raises a question: If this wisdom was so clearly articulated in 1981, why did it take decades to regain traction in business thinking? What does this tell us about how economic ideologies can eclipse practical wisdom?

Perhaps the real transformation isn't in discovering new truths about business purpose, but in remembering old ones.