More than twenty years of inquiry
GRLI did not appear overnight in 2004. It grew out of an earlier period of questioning, convening, and field-building led especially by EFMD, alongside partners who recognised that business education could no longer remain separate from the wider social and environmental responsibilities of leadership. What emerged was not just a new initiative, but a long-term inquiry into what it means to be globally responsible.
The ground was being prepared
"GRLI did not begin with a solution — it began with a question, and a willingness to convene those ready to explore it together."
The roots of GRLI lie in the early 2000s. In 2002, EFMD undertook survey work to better understand trends and needs around ethics and responsibility in management education, gathering responses from nearly 750 MBA students and alumni representing 46 nationalities. A President's Task Force brought together leaders from business, policy, and academia to examine the implications of global responsibility.
This work helped surface a critical insight: global responsibility was not a new idea, but it had not yet been seriously applied in the institutions and systems shaping leaders. In the wake of corporate scandals and growing unease about the social consequences of business, the need was not for another abstract statement of values — but for coordinated action.
From there, EFMD began reaching out to existing actors in the field to explore joint responses and avoid fragmentation. That bridge-building work led to an agreement with the United Nations Global Compact and, soon after, to an invitation for a diverse group of organisations to embark on a shared learning journey.
The formation of GRLI
In 2004, that invitation became the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative. GRLI was formed by 21 pioneering organisations from business, business education, and leadership development, with support from EFMD and the United Nations Global Compact. From the beginning, it was conceived not as a conventional institution or programme, but as a collaborative learning journey.
This origin matters. GRLI was born from inquiry, partnership, and shared experimentation. The question at its heart was simple but demanding: what does it mean to be globally responsible? Over time, that question became both a challenge to business education and a source of connection across a wider ecosystem.
Key moments in the journey
EFMD begins the groundwork
EFMD launches survey and task force work to better understand the state of ethics, responsibility, and global responsibility in management education — gathering responses from nearly 750 MBA students and alumni across 46 nationalities, and convening a President's Task Force with leaders from business, policy, and academia.
First organised relationship between Business Education and the United Nations
EFMD engages stakeholders across the field and formalises a partnership with the United Nations Global Compact, creating the conditions for a broader multi-actor initiative. The groundwork is laid for a shared learning journey.
GRLI is formed
GRLI is launched as a one-year collaborative learning journey involving 21 pioneering organisations from business, business education, and leadership development, supported by EFMD and the UN Global Compact. Not a programme — an inquiry.
Naming the systemic challenge
The Founding Report of the GRLI is published, articulating a central conclusion: incremental change would not be sufficient. A deep systemic transformation of business and management education was required — moving the field from concept to practice.
Early influence and global convening
GRLI establishes its first Annual General Meetings and international convenings, including gatherings at INSEAD and CEIBS. It begins engaging accreditation and education design as institutional levers for change.
PRME launched with GRLI catalytic support
The GRLI Foundation is formally established in Brussels as a foundation for public benefit. In parallel, GRLI plays a founding role in launching the Principles for Responsible Management Education — one of the most significant global frameworks in the field.
The 50+20 Agenda reaches Rio+20
GRLI helps advance a vision of management education aimed not at being the best in the world, but the best for the world — presented at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
Sulitest is catalysed
GRLI contributes to the emergence of practical tools that help translate sustainability and responsibility into institutional practice, supporting wider adoption across higher education.
AIM2Flourish and RRBM connections deepen
GRLI's role as an incubator and ecosystem connector becomes increasingly visible as aligned initiatives mature and spread across business schools worldwide.
Governance shifts toward co-stewardship
GRLI restructures its governance to reflect a distributed, ecosystem-based model of leadership and stewardship — formalising what had long been true in practice: this work belongs to a network, not to one central actor.
The inquiry continues
GRLI continues to convene, inquire, initiate, and amplify learning across a global network of partners, collaborators, and initiatives. The question that started it all remains both the challenge and the compass.
A catalyst, not a centre
Over two decades, GRLI helped catalyse and accompany a range of initiatives and movements across the field — including PRME, the 50+20 Agenda, Sulitest, AIM2Flourish, and RRBM. GRLI's role was rarely to own or centralise this work. Its contribution was more often to convene, incubate, connect, and help ideas travel.
That pattern remains central to GRLI's identity. It is a small, catalytic foundation and network, focused less on organisational growth than on enabling wider adoption and shared stewardship of global responsibility across institutions and contexts.
In 2020, GRLI restructured its governance toward co-stewardship and distributed leadership, reflecting what had long been true in practice: this work belongs to an ecosystem, not to one central actor.
Diagnose and align
Launch and articulate
Influence and incubate
Catalyse and connect
Enable and distribute
Hold the inquiry
A living history
GRLI's history is not only the story of one foundation. It is also the story of a wider field coming into being: through partnerships, experiments, publications, convenings, and initiatives that have travelled far beyond their original starting points.
GRLI's role has been to help hold the question, connect the actors, and create conditions in which responsibility can take root more deeply in business education and leadership practice.
This history is still unfolding
The inquiry that began in 2002 continues — through the people, organisations, and initiatives that carry it forward.