Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire summary

Business gets a bad rap. And as we learned in the previous blink, it can often be well deserved. There are just too many companies in the world that neglect their responsibility to the environment, their employees, and the wider community.

However, not all businesses are driven purely by short-term interests. Some have been changing the world for the better.

We’ve already learned how shareholders can exert too much influence on the way businesses work. As companies strain every muscle to meet investors’ demands, they tend to think only in the short-term. That means, they often neglect pressing issues, like climate change and poverty.

However, there are things that can be done to improve business-investor relations. Things that will allow businesses to focus on what matters, rather than be limited to short-term demands. 

If you’ve ever been the only person arguing for a point of view, you know how hard it can be. Even if it’s just being outnumbered at the family dinner table, it’s tough when you’re alone. But, when you’ve built consensus, nothing can stop you.

The same is true in the business world. When businesses seek to make progressive change alone, they’re often ineffective. But when they work together, great progress can be made.

If you’re a tea drinker, then it’s likely that you’ve come across some of the brands owned by the multinational company, Unilever. Perhaps you enjoy Lipton, PG Tips? After all, tea drinking is serious business – it’s the second most popular drink on Earth after water!

As popular as it is, producing tea can be damaging to the environment and local communities. This was a fact that hadn’t escaped Unilever, even after it acquired these big tea brands. It wanted its business model to be both sustainable and fair, so something had to be done.

It was 2015. And inside a hotel ballroom in Jacksonville, Florida, the CEO of a health insurance company had just announced that he would be paying a minimum wage of $16 per hour. The room erupted in cheers and applause.

That CEO was Mark Bertolini, the head of Aetna. Why exactly was he being so generous? Well, firstly, he thought it was the right thing to do in a country where inequality was soaring. Secondly, he wanted to instill a sense of shared purpose in his employees, a kind of company mission. He wanted to make sure that they’d be happy to sign up for that mission in the long-term.

We don’t usually associate businesses with the fight against oppression. Aren’t businesses the bad guys? Well no, not always. In actual fact, some businesses have been powerful allies in the fight against the oppression of minorities.

The American multinational AT&T, for instance, adopted an anti-discrimination policy way back in 1975. It was the first major American corporation to do so. Then, in 1984, the technology giant IBM included sexual orientation within its global anti-discrimination policy. Both businesses were way ahead of their time.

Picture the scene, years from now. A series of superstorms crash into the American Atlantic coast. A drought causes millions of Africans to migrate northwards into Europe. And spurred into action by these events, the world finally tackles climate change.

In this scenario, credit would probably only go to a few visible figures – the president or prime minister who introduced a policy for change, or the leading campaigners of the time. But the fight against climate change would have been a long one. And it would’ve involved many, many people, some known to history, but countless others forgotten.