[Part 2 of some post-election reflections.]
I don’t have words of wisdom right now. There will be endless analyses of the U.S. election, and hot takes don’t interest me too much. We’ll need more time (maybe years) to answer the question “what happened?”.
I could speak from the heart about what this all means to me and the need to connect with others who fight for a just, safe world. But for now, I offer a more clinical observation about a connection I see between my work on sustainability in business and what some voters were looking for.
I believe that the biggest hurdle to sustainable business is a story…the narrative the world has embraced over decades that, in short…the sole purpose of business is profit, and the government should enable completely free markets and essentially maximize GDP and stock market performance. Success is only about $, not well-being or meaning.
The free market, profit-obsession approach to economic thinking has always rebelled at sustainability, claiming that it’s too expensive. Most business people still assume that sustainability lowers earnings, which is wrong in many obvious cases and is, at best, un-nuanced. Outside of sustainability, we often call spending “investment” not “cost.” Only with sustainability, is the base level of skepticism so high.
So, to jump to our elections. Polls show clearly that the top concern of a large number of voters was “the economy.” Obviously, the economy is important. People need jobs and affordable food, clothing, shelter, education, entertainment, etc. But it’s also true that there’s a large middle- and upper-class group with more sufficiency than just ensuring the basics. And for most people, it’s unlikely that in their proverbial death bed conversation, they will wish they’d spent more time making money.
And yet, if you believe that the economy, um, trumps than any other priority – women’s rights to their own bodies, an imploding climate, equity, and more – you likely vote for the party seen as “better” at the economy, no matter the truth of that claim or who leads that party.
But it’s really all one story. Money as the core measure of well-being…helping the economy as the core purpose of a leader…free markets and unfettered business as the best path forward.
For those working for a just, safe world, we must grasp how strong this story is and work to change it. I don’t have easy answers. I’ve spent two decades pushing business to pursue LONG-term value in multiple dimensions for many stakeholders, over the sugar rush of short-term shareholder profit maximization. This is hard work and will now only get harder. But it continues.
We can tell a better story of the interconnectedness of all life — a practical, not ethereal concern — and describe a thriving world that we can build together.
(Some good conversation on this on LinkedIn)
(Image: Bing AI)
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