Can Business Actually Be a Force for Good?

For the last 50 years or so, we've operated under a single dominant idea: the purpose of business is to maximize shareholder value. We live and die by the quarterly earnings, and everything else is basically secondary. And most of us have accepted this as just the natural order, as though business has always worked this way. But it hasn't. Before the 1970s, businesses were embedded in their communities. They created jobs. They built trust. They contributed to the places they operated in. And profit was an outcome of doing those things well, not the singular obsession. So what happened? And more importantly, what if this whole era of extraction and short-termism isn't actually the norm at all? What if it's just a blip? I've been sitting with this question a lot lately, especially as I watched the social impact sector struggle with funding cuts and political turmoil, and just a broader cultural retreat from purpose. We spent a lot of time on this show talking to nonprofits and philanthropies, but what about the largest and most powerful force shaping our society? What about business itself? Sarah Gillard is the CEO of A Blueprint for Better Business, a UK charity working with some of the biggest companies in the world to help them rethink what they're actually for. Before that, she spent 25 years inside major corporations, including leading purpose strategy at the John Lewis Partnership. Episode Highlights: [00:02:42] Two very different business models: profit maximization vs. employee ownership, from inside the same industry [00:06:37] The ESG rollback in context: what the data actually shows about corporate commitments [00:09:03] The forces of gravity that act on companies as they scale, and why purpose needs structural defense [00:12:17] The 70% problem: why intangible assets dominate organizational value but get ignored [00:15:27] Rethinking the social contract: why government, business, and civil society can't afford separate swim lanes [00:27:07] AI as a force for good or fragility: the questions businesses aren't asking but should be [00:37:58] Blueprint for Better Business's two foundational ideas, and why neither is as radical as it sounds Notable Quotes: Eric Ressler [00:25:20]: "We need more in culture imagining what that future could and should be, instead of constantly only warning about what it's looking like it's going to be." Sarah Gillard [00:38:40]: "Historically we will see these last 50-odd years as an odd blip. How do we take the most powerful shaper of our societies and just go: just focus on the money? Just weird." Sarah Gillard [00:40:20]: "Good intentions are necessary, but not sufficient. You need legal and governance mechanisms that keep you on track even when there is significant pressure to move." Resources & Links: Blueprint for Better Business — Sarah's organization; the one-page AI framework for boardrooms is available on their website John Lewis Partnership — The UK's largest employee-owned business, where Sarah led purpose strategy The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson Dear Alice: Utopian anime yogurt commercial — mentioned by Eric as a rare example of positive future imagery Hosted by Eric Ressler, Founder & Creative Director of Cosmic, with co-host Jonathan Hicken, Executive Director of the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. New episodes every Tuesday. #socialimpact #businesspurpose #businessforgood #systemschange #nonprofit #nonprofitleadership