21st Century Investing summary

Close your eyes for a minute and try to imagine your average investor. What kind of person do you see?

Forget about the superficial stuff like the investor’s appearance. Instead, ask yourself whether the person you’re imagining has a strong social conscience. Is this average investor altruistic and civic-minded? Are they caring and committed to changing the world for the better?

Unfortunately, the answer is probably no. If the investor you imagined was self-interested, greedy, and just looking to make a quick buck, then you’re not alone. For too long, many investors have matched that caricature – and that’s where system-level investing comes in.

The key message here is: System-level investing strengthens the social, financial, and environmental systems that society depends on.

Too many investors have short-sighted and purely self-serving goals. They invest to maximize their returns – and, if they manage a fund, their clients’ returns.

These investors comply with the law, sure. But as far as they’re concerned, that’s where their obligations to the wider world end. System-level investors, on the other hand, take a different view. Instead of focusing on short-term financial gains, they invest in ways that strengthen the systems that make human life sustainable and fair. 

If this sounds a lot like sustainable investment to you, that makes sense. System-level investing and sustainable investing do overlap – both have explicit environmental and social concerns, and both suggest that making a quick profit shouldn’t always be the most important thing.

But system-level investors go further. They’re not necessarily fund managers or high-powered Chief Financial Officers; a dabbling hobby investor can be a system-level investor too. But what sets them apart is that they’re more active, targeted, and relentless than sustainability investors – they don't just buy shares in renewable energy companies and stop there. 

System-level investors campaign for new public policies to make companies get in line. They advocate for progressive industry standards. And they collaborate with like-minded investors, coming together to make change. In short, they aim at systemic solutions. 

Short-term gains that come at the expense of vital systems like health care, consumer safety, and climate stability are no gains at all. In fact, they’re serious losses. System-level investors realize this, so they invest in ways that make our fundamental systems stronger and more resilient. We’ll take a look at how they do that in the next blink.