10 Things You Should Know about Stakeholder Capitalism
Business & Economics Podcasts
In 2019, the Business Roundtable announced that the purpose of business was no longer to maximize profits for shareholders. The new purpose of business would be to maximize value for stakeholders. While the announcement was applauded by many, charges of hypocrisy quickly followed as the practices of many Business Roundtable member companies suddenly seemed to contradict the new more egalitarian purpose they had proclaimed. A year later, if anything is becoming clear, it is that what the world is coming to know as “stakeholder capitalism”, lacks a clear definition against which to assess the performance of a firm, or even an economy. This lack of definition is not the result of a lack of attempts. For years a wide variety of thought leaders and pioneering practitioners have been refining models and frameworks to define a new paradigm for business. But none has broken into the mainstream. In response to this situation, a team comprised of members from a variety of organizations working within the “business as a force for good” movement attempted to create a common definition of the end-state they were all working to achieve. Their work resulted in a brand-agnostic framework, endorsed by all, that identified six essential competencies of a business in the new paradigm. In 10 binge-able episodes, this podcast will introduce, illustrate and popularize an ambitious and actionable definition for stakeholder capitalism. Producers/Hosts Amanda Kathryn Roman is a life-long convener and builder of infrastructure to scale a wide variety of movements you’ve heard of, and some you have not. Most recently she was the Chief Innovation Office for Conscious Capitalism where she joined the frenzy of activity happening all around the world to catalyze an expanded paradigm of capitalism. In 2018, she and Nathan Havey co-founded the year-long, comprehensive certification program for consultants of Conscious Capitalism Nathan Havey has been a leader of, participant-in content provider for, and strategic consultant to many of the major entities in the “business as a force for good movement”. A host and storyteller by training and passion, he has produced powerful live storytelling experiences in more than a dozen US cities and he wrote and directed the upcoming feature documentary Beyond Zero, and has been learning and refining a library. Nathan and Amanda believe that each of the stories in this mini-series should be legend in business circles, and yet they are continually shocked to meet people, including some of the celebrity-status thought leaders and pioneering practitioners in their circles are unaware that these stories exist. That must change.
Location:
United States
Description:
In 2019, the Business Roundtable announced that the purpose of business was no longer to maximize profits for shareholders. The new purpose of business would be to maximize value for stakeholders. While the announcement was applauded by many, charges of hypocrisy quickly followed as the practices of many Business Roundtable member companies suddenly seemed to contradict the new more egalitarian purpose they had proclaimed. A year later, if anything is becoming clear, it is that what the world is coming to know as “stakeholder capitalism”, lacks a clear definition against which to assess the performance of a firm, or even an economy. This lack of definition is not the result of a lack of attempts. For years a wide variety of thought leaders and pioneering practitioners have been refining models and frameworks to define a new paradigm for business. But none has broken into the mainstream. In response to this situation, a team comprised of members from a variety of organizations working within the “business as a force for good” movement attempted to create a common definition of the end-state they were all working to achieve. Their work resulted in a brand-agnostic framework, endorsed by all, that identified six essential competencies of a business in the new paradigm. In 10 binge-able episodes, this podcast will introduce, illustrate and popularize an ambitious and actionable definition for stakeholder capitalism. Producers/Hosts Amanda Kathryn Roman is a life-long convener and builder of infrastructure to scale a wide variety of movements you’ve heard of, and some you have not. Most recently she was the Chief Innovation Office for Conscious Capitalism where she joined the frenzy of activity happening all around the world to catalyze an expanded paradigm of capitalism. In 2018, she and Nathan Havey co-founded the year-long, comprehensive certification program for consultants of Conscious Capitalism Nathan Havey has been a leader of, participant-in content provider for, and strategic consultant to many of the major entities in the “business as a force for good movement”. A host and storyteller by training and passion, he has produced powerful live storytelling experiences in more than a dozen US cities and he wrote and directed the upcoming feature documentary Beyond Zero, and has been learning and refining a library. Nathan and Amanda believe that each of the stories in this mini-series should be legend in business circles, and yet they are continually shocked to meet people, including some of the celebrity-status thought leaders and pioneering practitioners in their circles are unaware that these stories exist. That must change.
Language:
English
Episodes
BIGGBY COFFEE
11/14/2020
Originally released on November 15, 2020, Episode 10 tells the story of the first six years of BIGGBY COFFEE’s transition toward Stakeholder Capitalism. Starting with a chance encounter around a fire pit on an island in the middle of Lake Michigan, to a vision that aims to change workplace culture in America, the BIGGBY journey is an excellent example of the difficulty and the distinction that accompany the work of integrating the 10 things you should know about stakeholder capitalism.
Episode 10 is the final episode in the series, and the 10th thing you should know about stakeholder capitalism is that all it takes to start the process of transformation is a few good stories.
If you’d like to help your company to begin or advance the work to transition to stakeholder capitalism, please share this podcast with your colleagues and if you’d like to do more, join Nathan, Amanda, the people who were profiled in this podcast series and many more like them in the Intrapreneur Accelerator.
https://vimeo.com/469013008
Here is a Ted Talk Bob and Mike did last year that will help you hear more about BIGGBY’s purpose:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72HFGoY0Rrc
If you liked the music we featured in this episode, you can get more at:
ØHNØKH△N
Young Oceans
Steven Gutheinz
Jo Blankenburg
Mr. Moo
Duration:00:32:32
The State of the Movement
11/7/2020
Originally released on November 8, 2020, Episode 9 departs from the format of the other episodes in the series to discuss the state of the movement for stakeholder capitalism, and the systems that will need to be addressed to accelerate progress. Jay Jakub from Episode 1, Raj Sisodia from Episode 2 and Bob Chapman from Episode 5 return to share their perspectives.
Episode 9 is also a reveal of sorts in which Amanda and Nathan pull back the curtain on the structure of the podcast, revealing a comprehensive and ambitious definition for Stakeholder Capitalism.
LET’S EMBED THE PODCAST UP HERE THIS TIME
The collaboration between many of the leading entities in this broad movement is called Imperative 21: https://www.imperative21.co/about-the-network/ and at the time of publishing, their members include:
B Lab (certifier of B Corporations): https://bcorporation.net/
The B Team: https://bteam.org/
Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP): https://cecp.co/
Common Future: https://www.commonfuture.co/
Conscious Capitalism Inc: https://www.consciouscapitalism.org/
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN): https://thegiin.org/
JUST Capital: https://justcapital.com/
Participant Media: https://participant.com/
More information on the Stakeholder Score can be found at www.stakeholderscore.com
If you liked the music in this episode you can find more at:
Generdyn
Mr. Moo
Nina Grae
Duration:00:24:38
Cafe Momentum
10/31/2020
Originally released on November 1, 2020, Episode 8 shares the story of Cafe Momentum, one of the finest restaurants in Dallas that happens to be operated through a groundbreaking internship program for young people who have been recently released from juvenile detention.
While technically a non-profit, this company has produced a $40 million dollar on a $4 million dollar investment, and it has done so by boldly seeking to solve a worthy problem.
This story builds on episodes 6 and 7 to show the dramatic impact even a small business can make when it embraces the power of stakeholder capitalism.
More information on Cafe Momentum, including reservations and mail-order products can be found at www.cafemomentum.org,
If you liked the music in this episode you can find more at:
Generdyn
Mr. Moo
Duration:00:28:36
TRU Colors
10/25/2020
Originally released on October 25, 2020, Episode 7 shares the story of TRU Colors Brewery in Wilmington, NC, a business co-founded by the leaders of rival gangs in the area with the help of a serial entrepreneur named George Taylor. The rules of TRU Colors are pretty straight forward, Make a liveable wage for your job, do your work at a very high level, and use your influence as a gang leader to stop gun violence in your organization. To make that work, Tru Colors has built a special culture, and the storyteller in this episode is the architect of that culture, Khalilah Olokunola, or as she is known at TRU Colors, “KO”.
This story shows us that, when basic needs are met, and a supportive culture has been built, even society’s most stereotyped members can thrive in the workplace. That is the 7th thing you should know about stakeholder capitalism.
Keem Grady produced a mini documentary telling this story and you can see that here.
This story also has great lessons for the impact investing community.
If all goes well this Spring, beer will be rolling off the TRU Colors line come April 1 and you’ll be able to find it in a store near you shortly thereafter. To say in the loop, consider subscribing to the TRU Colors mailing list here (scroll all the way down).
If you liked the music in this episode you can find more at:
Ruslan
Chris Valentine
Emily Brimlow
Duration:00:26:44
Televerde
10/17/2020
Originally released on October 18, 2020, Episode 6 of 10 Things You Should Know About Stakeholder Capitalism tells the story of Christin Swansinger, one of an estimated 17 million Americans that has been sent to prison. Christin got out and like ⅔ of people who are released from prison, she reoffended and was sent back in.
That’s when Christin met Televerde, a call center that operates inside of several prisons in the U.S. that provide excellent service to their customers while helping inmates to establish a foundation that will set them up for success after their release.
In 2019, the Conscious Capitalism Annual Conference came to Phoenix and Amanda and Nathan collaborated on a mainstage presentation that would use the power of storytelling to help the audience understand Televerde, and through it, one of the most harmful systems of descrimination that is hiding in plain sight in the vast majority of companies: The Box.
Here are the stories in the order they were told on stage that night. Each one received a standing ovation.
https://youtu.be/mfeFqF1Ft98
https://youtu.be/2lgwqnYScHI
https://youtu.be/yCQypiV4B9o
https://youtu.be/quSp1D70rx0
https://youtu.be/oGYWA7Z9wHQ
This is just one example of the ways in which businesses are complicit in systemic discrimination, and of the opportunity and the power businesses have to counter, and even dismantle those same systems.
If you liked the music we featured in this episode, you can find more of that here:
Mr. Moo
ØHNØKH△N
Young Oceans
Duration:00:20:49
Barry Wehmiller
10/10/2020
Originally released on October 11, 2020, Episode 5 tells the story of Barry Wehmiller which, during the long tenure of CEO Bob Chapman, has grown into a $3 Billion global enterprise. For the last couple of decades, Chapman and his team have been focused on creating a culture of trust and caring that aims to help people discover their gifts, develop their gifts, and be appreciated for doing so.
The 5th thing you should know about stakeholder capitalism is that corporate culture can be a tremendous positive force to foster human development and wellbeing. And that when companies make that the goal of their workplace, major performance advantages accrue. Barry Whemiller has employed this strategy to complete more than 110 acquisitions worldwide, nearly all of them profitable.
There is much more to the story in a book called Everybody Matters and a short documentary film by the same title.
Barry Wehmillers Corporate training programs can be found at Chapman and Co.
The Methodology used in the corporate training is available to non-profits, government offices, and other community focused organisations through Our Community Listens.
Bob Chapman has a lot of additional free resources at Truly Human Leadership.
If you like the tunes in the episode you can listen to more music by the artists we featured.
ØHNØKH△N
Chad Lawson
Longlake
Airplanes
Duration:00:22:15
Interface
10/3/2020
Originally released on October 4, 2020, Episode 4 tells the story of Interface from 1994 through 2019, a period during which the petroleum-dependent company would innovate circles around its competitors reducing its carbon footprint 96% and building a new operating model designed to go beyond minimizing environmental harm to actually maximizing environmental benefit, pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and locking it away in its materials and products.
This story is powerful and has inspired many other game-changing business leaders to do business in a way that rejects trade-off decisions that contribute to environmental degradation and climate change. That’s why Nathan made a movie about it. Its called Beyond Zero, and you can check out the trailer below and learn more at BeyondZeroFilm.com
If you like the tunes in the episode you can listen to more music by the artists we featured.
Generdyn
Analog Heart
Young Oceans
David A Molina
Chris Coleman
Live Footage
Duration:00:27:07
Bags Fly Free
9/26/2020
Originally released on September 27, 2020, Episode 3 features Marianne Malina, President of GSD&M telling the story of the fateful 2009 board meeting where Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelley chose to reject the tradeoff choice that led every other major air carrier to begin charging for the 1st and 2nd checked bag. What was pilloried by analysts at the time as an inexplicable rejection of much-needed cash, proved to be the smartest bet in the industry by the end of the year. It wasn’t just luck either. There is a method to Southwest’s “madness” and that is the 3rd thing you should know about stakeholder capitalism.
The key is deliberately endeavoring to create value for each of your company’s stakeholders and then rejecting the framing that leads to what appears to be a tradeoff choice between stakeholders. Do that well, and you’ll find opportunity after opportunity for innovation. The tool we mentioned in the episode that can help companies learn to do this is a simple framework developed by Tim Kelley and Nathan Havey that helps a management team to self-assess how they are doing with stakeholder engagement.
This story is more than a decade old, but Southwest is still at it in many ways.
You can listen to more music by the artists we featured in the episode here.
ØHNØKH△N
Generdyn
Analog Heart
Mr. Moo
Duration:00:18:05
The Firms of Endearment
9/19/2020
Originally released on September 20, 2020, Episode 2 features the story of Raj Sisodia’s journey of writing the book Firms of Endearment. The research for the book uncovered the startling discovery that stakeholder capitalism management practices resulted in a 14 to 1 performance advantage over a 15-year time period.
Since the publication of Firms of Endearment Raj has co-authored a series of excellent books that help business leaders to go deeper into these game-changing ideas:
Conscious Capitalism
Everybody Matters (You’ll be hearing more about this in Episode 4)
Shakti Leadership
The Conscious Capitalism Field Guide
The Healing Organization
You can listen to more music by the artists we featured in the episode here.
Mr. Moo
Steven Gutheinz
Duration:00:19:32
Stakeholder Capitalism and The Economics of Mutuality
9/13/2020
Originally released on September 13, 2020, the 50th anniversary of Milton Friedman’s NYTimes Magazine article, Episode 1 of 10 Things You Should Know About Stakeholder Capitalism introduces the series and its hosts, Amanda Kathryn Roman and Nathan Havey and features Jay Jakub discussing the story behind the Economics of Mutuality.
Amanda met Jay after a mutual friend introduced them simply because he thought they would hit it off. They did, and soon Amanda was helping Jay to share his incredible journey with CEO’s all around the country.
If your company is interested in learning more about how to implement these ideas in your business, have a look at the brand new Economics of Mutuality consulting arm.
You can listen to more music by the artists we featured in the episode here.
OHNOKHAN
Mr. Moo
Jo Blankenberg
Duration:00:23:33