Milton Friedman, Blackrock & other influencers of the last 70 years— shareholders, stakeholders, sustainability. At its most basic level, the purpose of a company is to meet a market need, and to continue doing so. There are pragmatic concerns about doing it effectively, consistently, and profitably. The way to meet market needs, however, has been evolving.

 Because of the reasons I have mentioned in earlier articles, businesses are embracing what I call the alphabet soup of corporate citizenship (CS, CSR, ESG, DEI, SDG, PPP, 9Rs, etc), ie identifying and balancing all your stakeholders and their concerns. While complex, this has become, in many ways, the ultimate strategic growth mindset. Modern businesses (& firms which finance them) embrace the facts of a fast changing world full of multiple desires and needs, so they listen to multiple perspectives to get fuller insight into the “lay of the land” and trends, and they get to know their stakeholders needs and desires (they actually care and empower, decentralizing decisions and speeding up responsiveness), all of which fosters more folks’ sense of ownership and creativity flow, to unleash greater innovation and problem solving… and long-term profit. The underlying crux of this, is tapping into and creating a culture of (psychological safety — more on this in a separate article — and) purpose. [Read on at this friends’ link]