Perhaps the most surprising result from our most recent survey was the rise in importance of ethical leadership. The American people, it seems, are craving more morality from their leaders. Doubtless many of you are immediately drawn to think about politics and government, but the importance of moral leadership in business is clearly just as vital.
What does it mean to lead with morality? Probably best to ask Perplexity or Chat GPT. The word itself derives from the Latin ‘moralitas’, meaning manner, character, or proper behavior. Applied to companies, the American people associate it with being transparent, honest, taking responsibility for wrongdoings and in a wider sense, doing right by all stakeholders. The HOW Institute for Society, founded and led by our good friend Dov Seidman, has examined the issue in great detail and comes to a similar conclusion that moral leaders seek truth, uphold ethical standards, and demonstrate humility (among other principles). In their most recent report, they highlight character and trust as being central to “outbehaving” the competition and, in turn, outperforming them, and detail a structure for measuring and scaling such leadership.
In today’s hyper-turbulent world, morality also represents a fixed point by which business leaders can navigate. Such was obvious last week, when we presented the Just Capital inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award to Enrique Lores, President and CEO of HP, Inc. Read more here. In Enrique’s words, “As business leaders, we have a choice. We can follow – or we can lead. We can react to change – or we can shape it. At HP, we are choosing to lead…companies that lead with purpose don’t just endure. They thrive.”
Just leaders have this philosophy in common: they serve a set of consistent, foundational values that guide them over the long term, through good times and bad, through fair weather and foul. We hope you are as inspired by Enrique’s leadership as we are.
Be well,
Martin
PS. If you’re looking for an exploration of morality in a modern context, I’d recommend the BBC’s Moral Maze podcast (it has grappled with morality in business many times).
Mar 27, 2025 12:00 PM
In today’s rapidly changing environment, both investors and consumers are applying new criteria when evaluating companies and their leadership. What do Americans expect from business leaders right now, and how are these expectations reshaping corporate priorities and investment decisions?
Join JUST Capital, alongside Potential Energy, for an exclusive, data-driven discussion that bridges the gap between public sentiment and business strategy, delivering actionable insights based on extensive research with investors, consumers, and market leaders.
(Photo by Adam Hamer)
“When corporate leaders prioritize responsible investment for all stakeholders, like job creation, workforce development like veterans hiring and apprenticeships, and training programs, they contribute to addressing critical challenges such as underemployment, income inequality, and healthcare access, so fewer Americans have to rely on “Renting Tires”.
Axios reports that recent studies are showing that AI is driving a major wedge between the c-suite and employees. Why? Beyond the fears of AI job replacement, many execs are forcing employees to adopt AI tools that workers themselves find aren’t suited to the job, in many cases providing inaccurate answers that require a significant amount of time to correct. Read the full story here.
Business Insider looks at how a push to “dominate AI” across the tech industry is drastically changing the culture of a sector once known for its job security.
HR Brew unveils their DEI tracker, which is keeping a pulse on how companies are rethinking, rebranding, or rolling back their initiatives. Meanwhile, Inc. looks at why small businesses are actually having greater success with their DEI initiatives.
The Wall Street Journal reports that consumer spending is weakening across both rich and poor, luxuries and necessities, at the same time.
This chart comes from The Wall Street Journal, and shows the salary increases that were previously common with a job switch have dropped to their lowest level in years, providing little more income for most people than their current job. Explore the data here.
Just Capital was honored to recognize HP Inc. president and CEO Enrique Lores with the inaugural Just Capital Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization’s 10th anniversary gala, “A Decade of Just Leadership: Celebrating the Best of American Business” hosted at the Nasdaq Marketsite in Times Square. The award was presented by Just Capital board chair Dan Schulman.
The prestigious recognition celebrates Lores’ exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to responsible business practices throughout his remarkable journey from HP intern to chief executive.
In his acceptance speech on March 12 in New York, Lores reflected on the guiding principle that has defined HP’s approach to business for nearly 85 years: “Doing the right thing by our customers, employees, and communities isn’t just a responsibility – it’s how we succeed.”
The award comes as HP was ranked second on Just Capital’s America’s Most Just Companies list, with Hewlett Packard Enterprise taking the top spot. HPE president and CEO Antonio Neri was also in attendance, having rung the Nasdaq closing bell alongside Schulman earlier in the evening. The top performance of both of these companies in the Just Capital Rankings underscores the enduring legacy of founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard’s belief that business success and social responsibility are deeply interconnected.
“Great companies don’t exist in isolation. They are part of something bigger – a network of employees, customers, and communities whose success is deeply interconnected,” said Lores, quoting HP co-founder Dave Packard’s philosophy that “the betterment of our society is not a job to be left to a few; it is a responsibility to be shared by all.”
Lores, who has served as HP’s CEO since 2019, emphasized that his leadership approach has been guided by the conviction that “business success and social responsibility are not separate pursuits. They are deeply connected.”
In closing his acceptance remarks, Lores articulated HP’s forward-looking vision: “The HP Way lives on, not just in our company, but in every leader and organization demonstrating how business should be a force for good. It’s why at HP we aim to become the most sustainable tech company.”
The Just Capital Lifetime Achievement Award represents a significant milestone in recognizing business leaders who exemplify just leadership and prove in practice that just business is better business.
“As business leaders, we have a choice. We can follow – or we can lead. We can react to change – or we can shape it. At HP, we are choosing to lead,” Lores said, reinforcing his belief that “companies that lead with purpose don’t just endure. They thrive.”
Just Capital’s 10th anniversary celebration brought together business leaders committed to creating a more just marketplace that better serves Americans and builds a more prosperous future for all. In addition to the award presentation, the program included a panel discussion with Just Capital co-fonder Paul Tudor Jones, former SEC chair Jay Clayton, and Just board member and chairperson of HPE Pat Russo moderated by MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle; remarks from board members Sushmita Banerjee and Roosevelt Giles; and a welcome from Nasdaq’s Jack Cassel.
In the 2025 Rankings of America’s Most Just Companies, HP Inc. demonstrates leading performance on many of the American public’s priority issues such as , offering robust benefits to employees; creating jobs through apprenticeships, veterans hiring policies, and restart programs; and communicating transparently and protecting user data.
Want to see how your company stacks up? Explore Just Intelligence today.
We celebrated our 10-year anniversary this week by hosting a fantastic celebration and fundraising gala at Nasdaq Marketsite in Times Square. Coming almost a decade to the day after our co-founder and former chair Paul Tudor Jones’ TED Talk in Vancouver, it was a great event that brought together some of the most influential voices in corporate leadership to mark a decade of progress by JUST, discuss current market conditions and inspire action.
JUST chair Dan Schulman and HPE president and CEO Antonio Neri, representing this year’s #1 Most JUST Company, got us underway by ringing the closing bell of the Nasdaq. The program that followed featured a lively panel discussion with Paul, former SEC chair Jay Clayton, and JUST board member and chairperson of HPE Pat Russo moderated by MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle; remarks from board members Sushmita Banerjee and Roosevelt Giles; a welcome from Nasdaq’s Jack Cassel; and a very moving presentation of the JUST inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award to Enrique Lores, president and CEO of HP, Inc., who personifies all that we represent.
We were joined by so many friends, donors and partners, including our incredible sponsors below. I’m still processing the key takeaways but one thing is clear; in an era of profound change, just business leadership is more important than ever. We will be stepping up our efforts, and if, like me, you believe that the private sector has a critical role to play in building a better future for everyone, we’d welcome your partnership and support.
Be well,
Martin
“For nearly 85 years, HP has been guided by a simple but powerful principle: doing the right thing by our customers, employees, and communities isn’t just a responsibility—it’s how we succeed.”
The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the dot com bubble and reveals the parallels and potential lessons for our current moment in AI.
Fortune reveals that companies are hoping that AI agents can teach people how to be better managers.
In Fortune, professor Jane Hoffman argues that corporate social responsibility is a flawed concept, when what we really need is corporate accountability. Read her full thoughts here.
The Last Vegas Sun reveals that, despite a disastrous 2024, Boeing executives received millions in bonuses.
The Washington Post reports that companies are warning investors that governmental uncertainty from DOGE cuts may impact revenue this year. Meanwhile, Fortune reports that Goldman Sachs’ chief economist just downgraded the entire U.S. economy.
The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Brief speaks to anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck, and lays out a three-point plan to help your company build resilience to backlash.
Chief Executive reveals that CEO optimism for the year has plummeted in March due to uncertainty around tariffs and growing stock market concerns. Look at all the research here.
Reports from CNBC, Axios, Politico and others regarding recent government cuts, including 1,400 employees at the VA per Fox News, have indicated that one group in particular appears to have been particularly affected by the downsizing: veterans.
One one hand it makes sense: last year veterans made up 28% of the federal workforce, per federal data, compared to just 5% in the private sector. Cuts to federal jobs would therefore naturally affect veterans on a disproportionate basis.
But it caught my eye for another reason, namely, that in the 2025 Rankings, company attention to veterans hiring was a growing area of activity.
For example, we saw a 4.5% increase from last year in the disclosure of a veterans hiring policy (39.8% of ranked companies disclosing vs. 35.3% in 2024). This was one of the highest net increases in a corporate workforce disclosure issue across the board. At an industry level, the Utilities sector leads the way, with 81% of the industry disclosing specific actions or initiatives geared to veterans. Aerospace & Defense, with 71%, was the next most active sector. In terms of specific programs, industries performing well on hiring veterans also had higher-than-average disclosure on related opportunity-generating policies like fair chance programs, restart programs, and apprenticeships.
This year’s top company, HPE, discloses a robust veterans hiring program, alongside major initiatives in the related areas. Other standouts include Walmart, and top 10 companies Accenture and HP, Inc. Wintrust Financial Corporation has a particularly strong veterans hiring policy, highlighting recruitment programs, as well as tailored banking services and community engagements. Other banks and financial services leaders include M&T Bank and Bank of New York (BNY).
Overall, it’s a good example of an issue where private sector leadership can make a big difference.
Be well,
Martin
“I think that right now people are underestimating just how much the world of work is about to change. In just three or four or five years, I could be talking to agents as much, if not more than I’m talking to my human colleagues today.”
In the wake of Meta authorizing 200% exec bonus increases after laying off 5% of their workforce, Benzinga cites our 2022 polling of American workers that found 87% of Americans believe the growing difference between CEO and worker pay is a problem.
The latest episode of Planet Money, “The controversy over Tyson Foods’ hiring of asylum seekers”, utilizes the wage data we collect to tell its story.
Apple is going to be hiring 20,000 new workers to produce AI servers in Texas to avoid increased costs from Trump’s China tariffs.
The Wall Street Journal takes aim at the claim that AI data centers will be a bedrock of new jobs, showing that while government and tech leaders say they will be an “employment bonanza”, data centers need “very few workers for very large spaces”.
Fortune posits that despite all the claims of productivity boosting, one major thing is missing from the debates on AI’s workforce impact – actual worker productivity stats.
CNBC has revealed its 2025 CNBC Changemakers – the list of women transforming the world of business, featuring several execs from JUST 100 companies.
Fortune reports that Apple shareholders have rejected a proposal to end the company’s DEI program. Meanwhile, John Deere pulls a similar move, with shareholders refusing an anti-DEI proposal that would reveal worker demographic data.
Per the New York Times, Starbucks is laying off 1,000 corporate employees.
The CEO of Alcoa has warned that President Trump’s threatened tariffs on aluminum could put almost 100,00 U.S. jobs at risk. The Wall Street Journal has the story.
Bloomberg reveals that New York fathers are much less likely to take their state-available paid parental leave, leaving $1.6 billion on the table every year.
Cometrics crunches the data on LinkedIn to see which companies are actually concerned about ethics in AI and which just appear to be following a trend.
The importance of talent has been a recurring theme in the last few weeks. Antonio Neri, CEO of HPE, highlighted it in his recent CNBC interview celebrating his company’s top spot in the 2025 Just Capital Rankings. Surveying over 1,200 global business leaders for its new 2025 Risk Report, global consulting firm Protiviti identified the ability to attract, develop, and retain top talent, and talent and labor availability, as the #3 and #4 issues. And in the discussions I’ve had with CEOs since our Rankings launched earlier this month, it’s come up time and again.
Hiring the best talent is only the start of the journey. As Goethe noted, great talent finds its happiness in execution. This means investing in people, providing the right incentives, creating conditions for workers to flourish, nurturing a sense of purpose – all things Just Capital’s benchmarking and scorecards help companies measure. The business case isn’t just intuitive. As of February 18, companies that perform well on our Workers stakeholder have outperformed their Russell 1000 equal-weighted benchmark by 17.03% since inception in January 2022.
The talent area is also one ripe with opportunities for innovation. Indeed, our current rankings highlight many creative approaches companies are pursuing. Constellation Energy Corp offers an impressive 94 hours of training or career development per employee. By investing in a growth-driven culture, aerospace company RTX boasts of a turnover rate of just 5%. CoStar Group Inc, which leads their industry in the Workers category, has committed that no full-time U.S. based employee will make less than $60k per year. There are myriad other examples.
If you’re interested to learn more about our services for companies in this area, please reach out.
Be well,
Martin
“This is a massive change in America, and there are other major changes also happening in other countries around the world. We have a choice: Do we want to take a pessimistic, dark view and think that it’s all going to be horrible? Do we want to be optimists and say, in change is opportunity?”
Cisco takes a survey of how CEOs are implementing AI at their companies, and the obstacles that are getting in their way. Explore the whole study here.
CNBC reports that Southwest Airlines is planning to eliminate nearly 1,750 jobs in an unprecedented move to cut costs, and the New York Times reports that Chevron is planning to eliminate nearly 9,000 jobs worldwide.
One bright spot? Chipotle plans to hire an additional 20,000 workers from March – May, which the company dubs “burrito season”. Reuters has the story.
Proctor & Gamble and Kroger join companies like Costco in pushing back against the attacks on their DEI programs, while at the same time, the Wall Street Journal reports on how big banks are trying to scrub public mentions of their DEI efforts.
Speaking of big banks, JP Morgan Chase is officially starting a round of layoffs. Yahoo Finance has the story.
Axios reports that the amount of in-person work doubled this year as many employers start to enforce return-to-office mandates. Explore the data here.
Paul Tudor Jones, Just Capital co-founder and chairman and Tudor Investments founder and CIO, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri join ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss Just Capital’s 2025 list of America’s most ‘Just’ companies, Americans’ top priorities for companies, President Trump’s tariff proposals, impact on the economy and markets, and more. Watch the full video here:
