Author Talk: Tomorrow's capitalist is socially conscious

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...