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Author Talk: Tomorrow's capitalist is socially conscious

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Author Talk: Tomorrow's capitalist is socially conscious

Fortune Media’s Alan Murray says stakeholder capitalism is here to stay

McKinsey,

5 min read
4 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Profitable companies pay attention to social purpose.

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Editorial Rating

8

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Recommendation

Over the past decade, business leaders have increasingly emphasized their companies’ social impact. As Fortune Media CEO Alan Murray tells McKinsey podcast host Raju Narisetti, the “stakeholder capitalism” movement evolved as business leaders recognized that they have to make sure their companies have a positive impact on society. Focusing on short-term profits at the expense of the environment, social well-being, your stakeholders, and your employees is easy, but short-sighted. If you want your company to thrive for decades, Murray urges you to consider its impact on your workforce, stakeholders, society, and the environment.

Summary

Today’s CEOs focus on employee well-being and social and environmental concerns as well as profit.

Since about 2013 or so, business leaders have become increasingly conscious about leading their companies to achieve social goals that align with the values of their investors, employees, and customers — all while earning a profit. Even the way CEOs speak about their businesses has changed. Now, they tend to modify the word “capitalism” and to cite “conscious capitalism,” “compassionate capitalism,” or “inclusive capitalism.”

Chief executives can easily mistreat employees and damage the environment and society to maximize short-term revenues. The damage such CEOs do to their organization and to the greater good might not be so obvious in the short run. Even bad-actor CEOs want their companies to thrive for decades, but, if your corporation contributes massively to climate change, for example, it’s helping to create a world in which it cannot thrive – or even exist – 100 years from now.

Companies that fail to adopt...

About the Speakers

CEO of Fortune Media Alan Murray wrote Tomorrow’s Capitalist: My Search for the Soul of Business. Raju Narisetti leads McKinsey Global Publishing.

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