For my second and final post on Vivek Ramaswamy’s Woke Inc. I want to discuss his view of stakeholder management. Especially, the idea of stakeholder management as a threat (specifically to democracy). Stakeholder Management And Woke As I mentioned in a prior post part of the challenge with definitions is that people aren’t clear what…
Category: Sustainability
Environmental Impact Equation
Ray Anderson is a bit of a legend in sustainable business circles. He was from Georgia and even played American football for Georgia Tech to which he later bequeathed a Center in Sustainable Business. Today I’ll look at his book — Mid-Course Correction, and highlight the way he saw the role of technology in an…
Competitive Advantage And Social Purpose
How should firms approach competing using their commitment to social and environmental purpose? This was the challenge tackled by Omar Rodríguez-Vilá and Sundar Bharadwaj in their 2017 article published in the Harvard Business Review. (Sundar is a colleague of mine at the University of Georgia). The approach they outline seeks to show a clear way…
The Environmental Impacts Of Foods
There are many things that can impact a person’s, and a community’s, impact upon the environment. Some things we might be able to stop doing. That is not the case with eating food. We have a large number of people on the planet and we all have to eat. As such, an important question is…
GMOs Forget The Science
Scientists including biologists, medical doctors, and geneticists have many wonderful qualities. Yet, if the public policy response to Covid-19 taught us anything it was that some people who are great in their scientific fields have communication problems. This isn’t just a shame. It often undermines everything that they are trying to do. I see a…
Messaging About Sustainability
Jason Hickel wants a fundamentally changed world which he discusses in Less is More. Other posts have noted technical and historical challenges in his work. For this post let us consider how Hickel thinks his ideas can be implemented. What is his messaging about sustainability? For the sake of argument let’s assume that you think…
Sustainability And Grand Historical Sweeps
One way of arguing for the value of sustainability is to suggest that we (humans, westerners, whatever) have declined from a past that was more in touch with nature. Jason Hickel does this by combining ideas about sustainability and grand historical sweeps. History Is Very Much In The Past This isn’t the approach I would…
Modern Business And Sustainability
I was disappointed by Jason Hickel’s Less Is More. I had a number of concerns that fit under three headings, lack of economic/business understanding, lack of historical understanding, and divorce from political reality. Today I’ll discuss the technical business elements of my complaint about Hickel’s book. Let us discuss modern business and sustainability Modern Business…
Managing For Stakeholders
My second post on Paul Polman’s (former Unilever CEO) and Andrew Winston’s great book, Net Positive, covers a random bunch of advice and ideas that they give on managing for stakeholders. How best to manage a firm with more than just the shareholders in mind? Better Business Practice Can Lead To Better Opportunities Many in…
Net Positive Business
In the world of sustainable business Paul Polman seems to be the nearest thing to a superstar. Hence his book with Andrew Winston, Net Positive, will get a big audience which is a very good thing. It seeks to give Polman’s view of business which was central to his tenure as Unilever CEO, a net…
