Brought up in India and educated in the U.S., Subi long appreciated the enormous power of business. Still, he observed a worrying “paradox of abundance.” Despite great prosperity society was being overwhelmed by climate stress, wealth concentration, trade-related precarity, declining fertility, runaway technology, and mental health concerns.
The modern economy was successful in terms of producing wealth but less so in terms of well-being. It mastered efficiency but came short on equity. It boasted size but neglected sustainability. In other words, business delivered performance but neglected progress.
Subi concluded back in 2007 (before the global financial crises) that the very paradigm of business needed to evolve. And it is this concern that has kept him preoccupied since. He believes business and business leaders must better integrate performance and progress. By progress, Subi refers to fairness, well-being, and sustainability.
Business research and education have an incredibly important role to play in this evolution, he insists. Research and teaching are deeply connected. Ideas developed in academic work are brought into classrooms and business conversations. For ideas to matter, they must connect with people and practice.
In 2013 Subi initiated the Society for Progress with eminent philosophers and social scientists. They have worked together for over a decade and published 3 scholarly volumes on the topic of integration. Integration demands not just decisions but (moral) choices. It’s not about power but about the exercise of power.
In terms of education, Subi believes it must deepen not only the competence of our students and executives, but also their (moral) character. “Character is about caring, commitment, and courage.” This belief shaped his new MBA courses IPP Integrating Performance & Progress, and C2C Choosing to Care & Caring to Choose. He teaches these courses with a moral philosopher and a moral psychologist. “The gap between knowing and doing isn’t knowledge, it’s choosing. And caring is a choice.”
In 2024 such work at INSEAD attracted Suzano a Brazil-based leader in pulp and paper to sponsor the INSEAD Progress Initiative. This initiative aims for knowledge development and “disseminaction” on integrating profit people and planet.
“To the donors and partners who support faculty research: thank you. Your belief in long-term thinking and human potential allows us to explore questions that matter, and to teach in ways that resonate.”
Professor Subi offers something rare: intellectual depth, moral breadth, and a deep belief that progress comes from each of us choosing to care.
