At Nyenrode, we understand stewardship as “feeling responsible for promoting the long-term sustainable interests for people, the environment and society”. This understanding is based on acknowledging the interdependence of organizations with the societal and ecological contexts in which they operate.
Strong organizations thrive because of reciprocal relationship with all stakeholders. Stewardship is relevant in any context because leaders and professionals create positive and negative consequences for others. Stewardship emphasizes the notion of feeling responsible for these consequences and acting upon this sense of responsibility to contribute to a viable future. Therefore, stewardship adds meaning and purpose to one’s working life.
It is the ambition of Nyenrode that our education and research activities contribute to a stewardship mindset for the current and future leaders and professionals who participate in our programs. Therefore, our research and education activities are focused on creating knowledge about the long-term sustainable interests of the involved stakeholders. These interests embrace all valuable aspects of life, including nature, fair institutions, solidarity, good relationships, etcetera. Enacting stewardship requires a mindset of care, commitment, purpose, and integrity to be a force for building a viable future. Therefore, stewardship concerns the moral compass in our LES trinity: it makes the difference between good and ineffective leadership and entrepreneurship by adding a sense of responsibility and care to our activities.
