GOOD CAPITALISM or ... Goodbye World

A few years ago I began to see the writing on the wall, so I started this project.

A little background... after Covid hit I had gotten laid off and was looking for the opposite of what I had just spent the last few years doing: working in the land of private equity. 

What's a fresh change from PE? ESG: Environmental, Social, Governance.

The recruiter said I was the unicorn she had been looking for: someone who had basic knowledge about sustainability, cared about the planet, and yet could talk the PE finance world verbiage. 

My expertise though was not on the data side, it was talking to c-suite finance guys and exploring with them why they might care about green house gasses, supply-chain labor policies, and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives. 

A change had perked up their interest in ESG, institutional investors were much more likely to hand over their millions to partners who can explain their labor policies, keep their employee retention rates high, and keep them away from the bad press about their carbon footprints. Not to mention if they wanted to do global deals they needed to start working on tracking and making transparent sustainability disclosures that the European Union require. 

What I was perplexed about and then understood quickly is why the principles of ESG are controversial at all? Politics. Also, profits and PR for those who want to milk the idea of do-gooding. But mostly politics!

Which is ridiculous because ESG is a risk mitigation strategy and it's not about the blue or red teams, it's all about the green! The planet and profits go together. Ask the insurance companies who now have to pay out for the blue state CA's wildfires as they recover from the red states' hurricanes. 

Anyway, the project started because I wanted an easy way to tell my friends, family and skeptics what ESG is really about.  

[ READ AFTER YOU FINISHED SLIDEDOC ABOVE ]

What prompted me to take a week off work and finish this project up was the urgency you read about: AI 

And I want to share a little story that makes this so darn surreal...

When I finished up the project I did what we'll all be doing soon, checked it with ChatGPT (shhh don't tell Gemini-- I don't want either to know everything about me 😜). Here is what it started with:

Good Capitalism 2025 project is a powerful, bold, and compelling call to reframe ESG through the lens of urgency, humanity, and systemic risk. You've successfully distilled complex ideas into an engaging, almost conversational style, which is a major strength.

Nice, right?!  

Well then in a moment of meta perfection, this is the #1 thing it told me I needed to improve on: 

It wanted me to point out more emphatically the THREAT IT IS!! 

I mean ....

                  

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What can YOU do? 

If you get it, I would love your help to spread Good Capitalism far and wide. Please share everywhere and often and if you know any of the following folks please get it to them or let me know best way to reach them. And add in the comments if there are people you think I should know about. 

Al Gore, Amandeep Singh Gill, Anand Giridharadas, Arianna Huffington, Brian Moynihan, Cheryl Dorsey, Chris Anderson, Dan Pink, Demis Hassabis, Eric Schmidt, Gary Vaynerchuk, Hamdi Ulukaya, Ian Bremmer, Indra Nooyi, Jamie Dimon, Jeffrey Sachs, Kara Swisher, Larry Fink, Marc Benioff, Mariana Mazzucato, Mark Cuban, Meredith Kopit Levien, Michael Lewis, Mitt Romney, Paul Polman, Reid Hoffman Richard Branson, Ronald Cohen, Rose Marcario, Rutger Bregman, Sam Altman, Samantha Power, Sasha Luccioni, Scott Galloway, Seth Godin, Steven Bartlett, Tim Ferris, Timnit Gebru, Tristan Harris 

Thanks for your time... and be careful out there! 🤗 💚

PE, ESG & ME: Who are the GOOD Guys?

 

It was supposed to be a great lovestory but that tail is for another day...

today, I want to talk about what happened once the love imploded. It was the Fall of 2017 and I had moved back to Illinois to rebuild my life after a failed relationship. I was in desperate need of a job so my bff Vickie got me an interview with a private equity association. I had no background or even knowledge of how PE worked but I needed the gig so off I went. 

Yada, yada, yada... and I am now working in the industry that killed Geoffrey. Ok, that's a bit dramatic but let's just say as I'm trying to research the industry the hot newsstory at the time was how PE loaded up Toys R' Us with debt, took their profits and then left the longtime employees without a lick of severance after some had decades worth of dedication to the company.

It made me feel icky. Is it how business sometimes goes? Yes, of course!

But is it the best way to conduct business? Best of Capitalism? Best of us? NO! Not even close. 

Want to be clear here, of course not all PE folks are money hungry jerks. No some save businesses from the edge of failure and help them streamline their companies and keep them alive and thriving. 

I learned a lot about PE and the world of finance in the few short years that I worked for the association but when I got laid off during Covid I swore I would never work for an industry I didn't respect again. Fast forward to when I am on a Zoom with a recruiter telling me about a company that is looking for someone with PE experience to take a job at an ESG (environmental, social, governance) consulting firm. Think: carbon footprint, child-labor/anti-corruption policies, fair labor practices, diversity in leadership.

I was so excited! Here was a chance to be part of the solution not just pout about the problem. 

Decades ago economist Milton Friedman popularized in an essay the shareholder theory: 

The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.

But we were now in the age beyond simple corporate responsibility to a more broad look at how investors want their money to show up in the world. In a time of unprecedented transparency and if you do something bad it will be found out and splashed across the social media landscapes within hours. It's now not a nice thing to have good PR, but it can cost billions and even kill a company if something goes viral. 

What could be bad about having well run, non-polluting, equitable and good companies? Well... where there's a dollar of profit to be squeezed or a vote to be fought over there will be a group taking shots at it.

ESG is a framework to evaluate if a company was well run, responsible with risk in the way they are manufacturing their products, treating their employees and suppliers, and running their boards but turned into where we now have politicians using it as the latest wedge issue to divided us. So ripe to rip us apart we now have both the Texas and Florida governors passing bills that make it illegal for their states investments to even consider ESG factors. Trump has issued an executive order to identify and stop any enforcement of ESG initiatives. 

I believe non-profits and NGOs are truly fantastic, but the only real change that happens is in the world of business. It's how most the people make their livings and it's the construct we have to work within. So what can be done?

Get back to basics... and call it what it is: Good Capitalism

Good Capitalism is a lens to look at how a company is run and I've created a one sheet that spells it out without fancy consultant speak and simple concepts (coming next). 

This space is where I am going to write about how our country and hopefully the world can put aside politics of division and get back to focusing on integrity, fairness, honor, and decency. Well run companies are not just a necessity to keep our economy going but it's the only way to keep a level playing field for shareholders to invest wisely and industries to stay healthy for the long run.  

If we pollute our environment we are killing off our customers; if we drive prices of suppliers so low they compromise on safety and quality; if we are unethical this new generation of young folks are going to not work with us; and finally if we don't come together to agree on basic business ethics and practices we all- shareholders, employees and society- will suffer for it. 

So here are my ideas and thoughts on how to keep Capitalism: healthy, strong and thriving. I hope you'll join the conversation and let me know your thoughts on what you think will make it Good as well.