Jay Jakub Gives EoM Keynote at Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit

Published October 2019

Jay Jakub delivered an inspiring keynote address about the Economics of Mutuality to CEOs at the Conscious Capitalism Summit in Austin, Texas in October. The annual gathering of over 250 CEOs provides space for business leaders to think about how their companies can be a source of healing in the world in ways that can transform business operations. Selected highlights have been transcribed and the recording is available to watch below.

Jay and the Economics of Mutuality team will continue to dialogue with Conscious Capitalism and other leading business reform movements at the fifth annual Economics of Mutuality Forum at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford on 15th May 2020. The gathering will provide space to compare approaches, to identify opportunities to help one another where movement purposes are aligned and to offer the Economics of Mutuality as a means of practical application for other movement member corporations.

The purpose of business is not to make profit. The purpose of business is to create profitable solutions to the problems of people and planet. It’s not to profit from creating problems for people and planet.

… Putting purpose into practice starts with a sort of ‘Copernican revolution’ whereby the company’s leaders realise their firm and its shareholder maximisation are not at the centre of their business ecosystem – their universe, per se – but rather purpose is at the centre with stakeholders – including the firm – contributing to the shared purpose of that given ecosystem.

… Putting purpose into practice through the Economics of Mutuality is also about articulating purpose as meaningful challenges that are actionable at a business unit level, cascading from the macro purpose of the firm which is often descriptive or a values statement that on its own is not necessarily actionable.

… In business, you only manage what you measure. A core element of the Economics of Mutuality, therefore, is to measure and mobilise non-financial forms of value – Social Capital, Human Capital and Natural Capital – to drive performance, given there is a correlation between these other forms of capital and economic performance. Businesses that fail to measure and mobilise these non-financial forms of capital are essentially squandering value that they create, destroy and could otherwise leverage for the benefit of stakeholders and the firm.