Thanks for your thorough investigative work Hugh to unmask the extreme volatility in both staffing up and down in all things ESG for at least the last 20+ years it seems. The blowback from the GOP fiction and friction, and bundling all things that protect people and the planet together under one roof and calling it collusion or worse is dystopian and has had an outsized impact in so-called ESG-hushing, which, in turn, accelerated the talent flight. It’s time to move beyond ESG…and reboot.
Thank you for monitoring these developments and keeping us informed as to the evolution of a movement motivated by both pragmatism and prophecy.
The "pragmatic" focus was on the market value of integrating normative (ethical) and evidence-based (science) criteria into financial stewardship. The "prophetic" focus was on reforming financial capitalism and widening the aperture of wealth management, in service to a better, more just + happy world.
Doing the former relies on existing assumptions and structures that function (more or less) within a set framework, thus preserving business models + modes, especially intermediary "experts."
Doing the latter calls for systems thinking, innovation, courage, and transformation. Rather than sole reliance on existing patterns and practices, slightly tweaked to suit changing tastes, it views "capitalism" through multiple lenses. How best to manage the stock and flow of multiple capitals, including ethical and spiritual, assigns "trusteesship" and "stewardship" responsibilities to both experts and "the body politic," rightly understood. Called for are new structures and individual /institutional relationships that connect proximate (ground level) and multi-tiered (local to global) experience and aspirations. The vision? A political economy rooted in civic virtue, within which life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have both material + spiritual meaning.
That vision remains, but is carried out with multiple communities through an ongoing process of collaborative iteration, teaching + learning, triumph + setbacks. That layoffs have occurred, however cruel, is no surprise. The existing (old) frameworks and business models sought to capitalize, literally and figuratively, on outdated assumptions of success and performance. AI and fintech were harbingers — a far cry from the corporate equity research I carried out in the early 1980s for a nascent social responsibility mutual fund. I kept moving on, keeping my eye on the prize.
As the industry exploded 20 years later, I was both heartened and reserved. As "the field" now contracts, as hard as it is on practitioners both young + seasoned, I encourage them to keep the faith and widen the aperture. There will be new venues and opportunities for fulfilling the prophecy of a better, wiser, more just + prosperous world.
Thanks Marcy, some v. interesting points in what you say above. I'm going to start grappling with some of those and writing more on the why and how, rather than the 'what' has been happening as we rethink where we're at in sustainability and sustainable finance.
Thanks for your thorough investigative work Hugh to unmask the extreme volatility in both staffing up and down in all things ESG for at least the last 20+ years it seems. The blowback from the GOP fiction and friction, and bundling all things that protect people and the planet together under one roof and calling it collusion or worse is dystopian and has had an outsized impact in so-called ESG-hushing, which, in turn, accelerated the talent flight. It’s time to move beyond ESG…and reboot.
Thank you for monitoring these developments and keeping us informed as to the evolution of a movement motivated by both pragmatism and prophecy.
The "pragmatic" focus was on the market value of integrating normative (ethical) and evidence-based (science) criteria into financial stewardship. The "prophetic" focus was on reforming financial capitalism and widening the aperture of wealth management, in service to a better, more just + happy world.
Doing the former relies on existing assumptions and structures that function (more or less) within a set framework, thus preserving business models + modes, especially intermediary "experts."
Doing the latter calls for systems thinking, innovation, courage, and transformation. Rather than sole reliance on existing patterns and practices, slightly tweaked to suit changing tastes, it views "capitalism" through multiple lenses. How best to manage the stock and flow of multiple capitals, including ethical and spiritual, assigns "trusteesship" and "stewardship" responsibilities to both experts and "the body politic," rightly understood. Called for are new structures and individual /institutional relationships that connect proximate (ground level) and multi-tiered (local to global) experience and aspirations. The vision? A political economy rooted in civic virtue, within which life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have both material + spiritual meaning.
That vision remains, but is carried out with multiple communities through an ongoing process of collaborative iteration, teaching + learning, triumph + setbacks. That layoffs have occurred, however cruel, is no surprise. The existing (old) frameworks and business models sought to capitalize, literally and figuratively, on outdated assumptions of success and performance. AI and fintech were harbingers — a far cry from the corporate equity research I carried out in the early 1980s for a nascent social responsibility mutual fund. I kept moving on, keeping my eye on the prize.
As the industry exploded 20 years later, I was both heartened and reserved. As "the field" now contracts, as hard as it is on practitioners both young + seasoned, I encourage them to keep the faith and widen the aperture. There will be new venues and opportunities for fulfilling the prophecy of a better, wiser, more just + prosperous world.
Thanks Marcy, some v. interesting points in what you say above. I'm going to start grappling with some of those and writing more on the why and how, rather than the 'what' has been happening as we rethink where we're at in sustainability and sustainable finance.
Great! Very much look forward to that.