From19-22 October 2012 Laszlo Zsolnai participated in the Seventh TransAtlantic Business Ethics Conference organized by NHH Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen, Norway. He gave a lecture entitled Materialistic versus Non-materialistic Management. He stressed that psychologists have discovered the serious side-effects of having a materialistic value orientation. American psychologist Tim Kasser demonstrated that the more people prioritize materialistic goals, the lower their personal well-being and more likely it is that they will engage in manipulative, competitive, and ecologically degrading behaviors.
Zsolnai suggested that the new values of post-materialistic management should be defined as frugality, deep ecology, trust, reciprocity, responsibility for future generations, and authenticity. Within this framework profit and growth are no longer considered to be the ultimate aims but rather elements of a wider set of values. In a similar way cost-benefit calculations are no longer the essence of management but are part of a broader concept of wisdom in leadership.