Cambridge Business Association
Owning Our Future
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Owning Our Future

The Emerging Ownership Revolution

Marjorie Kelly
Berrett-Koehler, 2012
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Editorial Rating

8

Recommendation

Organizations have different values and viewpoints. Some are “extractive,” which means they drain the maximum financial value out of their coffers at all costs. Ownership strategy specialist Marjorie Kelly contends that the extractive nature of capitalism led to the 2008 recession because “financialized ownership” pushed the economic system beyond its tolerance. Some organizations, in contrast, are “generative” and base their structure on “sustainability, community and sufficiency.” Kelly’s impassioned arguments in favor of a generative, sustaining economy could strike some readers as pie in the sky, though she offers numerous real-life examples of global businesses pioneering fresh approaches to ownership. While never advocating any particular political point of view, getAbstract recommends her informed treatise to those pondering the economic future.

Summary

The Heart of Economic Power is Ownership

The economic meltdown of 2008 was not an accident or an unlucky twist of fate. It resulted from an outdated, flawed economic system that imploded. At the core of the crisis was the issue of ownership, the important but rarely discussed “underlying architecture” of any economy. Much 20th-century debate centered on whether public or private ownership – socialism or capitalism – benefited society more. Neither totally succeeded, and each has failed as an economic system.

Society should move toward “generative” forms of ownership that nurture life, as opposed to “extractive” forms whose sole purpose is to benefit the few at the expense of the many. The extractive model made more sense in the industrial era. In fact, it made the modern age possible, but in the 21st century, it has outlived its utility, as evident in today’s ecological crises, high unemployment, “stagnant wages, staggering differentials in wealth and bloated debt loads.” Society needs new approaches based on “deep change” and devoid of false hopes and magic. Such sustainable economic experiments are already underway worldwide.

The Consequences of Extractive...

About the Author

Marjorie Kelly is a fellow at the Boston-based Tellus Institute and the director of ownership strategy at the consultancy Cutting Edge Capital.

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