Ethical Leadership

This year, climate week was about much more than climate.

After learning how energy costs contributed to a tragedy in rural India, Pranav Myana vowed to help communities across the world access energy through more reliable and sustainable means.

The dispute between the United Auto Workers and Detroit’s so-called “Big Three” – Ford, GM, and Stellantis – has once again thrust the topic of employer-employee dynamics into the headlines. Some view it as a test case with wider repercussions for American industry.

Amidst all the confusion, misinformation, and political wrangling over corporate ESG, stakeholder capitalism, and social responsibility, it is easy to lose sight of two basic questions. What are companies actually doing, and why? 

The American worker takes center stage yet again. 

The ESG shakeout currently working its way through corporate America is taking some interesting twists and turns.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing former Sprint CEO and JUST Capital Board member Dan Hesse about the importance of purpose-driven human leadership in business. 

For the first time in a long while, a right-of-center economic policy thinker questioned the virtues of untrammeled free market capitalism.

This week, we released a powerful video and article series documenting how the lives and livelihoods of workers at Verizon, Chipotle, PayPal, and Prudential Financial have changed because of these investments. I invite you to take a look. 

Two weeks ago, I noted how Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said the advent of ChatGPT represents a “printing press moment” for society today, and how JUST Capital co-founder and chairman Paul Tudor Jones saw “huge winners and huge losers” being created. 

Knowing and investing in your company’s culture is a must for any business leader today.  

A “printing press moment” is how Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, framed the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in his Senate testimony on Tuesday. 

The business case for reducing inequality is a compelling one, and the WBCSD’s report shows how to do it.

JUST Capital polled Americans to learn their views on recent waves of layoffs – including how they impact workers, long-term profits, and the economy overall.

Sustainability leaders from JUST 100’s Nike and AEP share why a transparent, people-based approach is needed to build a more renewable, equitable future.

We know from our polling that Americans are unhappy with CEO pay. But what if it was tied more explicitly to total stakeholder value creation?

I’ve spent much of the week talking to business leaders about what Tuesday’s election results could mean for corporate stakeholder leadership. The answer – like the outcome of a few key races – is not yet clear.

Engaging and empowering the next generation of business leaders is critical to our mission and, through our JUSTGen initiative, an increasingly exciting part of our strategy.  

Investor and AOL cofounder Steve Case explains why he’s dedicated the last eight years to his “Rise of the Rest” initiative, which develops startup ecosystems across the United States, and how it aligns with many of JUST’s big picture goals.

In the face of the backlash against ESG and stakeholder capitalism, have companies eased off in their actions to become more just? Our latest corporate engagement data suggests not. 

Ahead of Labor Day, let’s take stock of where things stand for the American worker. 

It’s a story that captures almost every aspect of the business zeitgeist in America today – workers’ quest for fair pay, good jobs, and better conditions; unions; community support and survival; COVID; health and safety; climate change; ESG; shareholder activism; the corporate profit imperative; and, of course (inevitably), politics. 

On the third anniversary of the Business Roundtable’s embrace of stakeholder value creation, we’ve taken a closer look at how that statement’s signatories have performed over that time across our key stakeholder categories. 

HBS’s George Serafeim discusses his new book, “Purpose and Profit,” and what debates around Tesla and Danone can teach us about sustainability and ESG.

The pressures inflation heaps on business does not mean stakeholder value creation needs to take a back seat. On the contrary, it can be a time for just companies to shine.