Inclusion & Sustainability Are Prerequisites for Prosperity

The timing of being invited to write this book was serendipitous. The moment my book agent and editor suggested that I write a new edition of “A Better World, Inc.,” I knew what I wanted to write about. While I have written all three of my books with enthusiasm and belief in the topic, this one is truly a passion.

Like my other books, this one makes the case for companies to collaborate with nonprofits to find solutions to challenges facing our communities and our world. And while each book, and all of my work, has addressed justice, equity, and inclusion, this book gave me the chance to pull it all together into one cohesive, compelling vision: a vision of an inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous future.

There are three factors related to this vision: Companies and their boards, an inclusive world, and a sustainable world.

First, the appeal in each my books is to companies – to show them the way they can grow their value by finding solutions to social, economic, and environmental challenges. Because only companies have the vast resources and global footprint to make a better world possible, and it is in fact in their self-interest. Some companies have started down this path, others need to follow.

Second, a sustainable world is fundamental to success. Climate change is an existential threat to people and the planet.

Third – the one about which I am especially passionate – is that only a truly inclusive society can achieve peace and prosperity. A world in which each and every person is valued. Where each person can achieve their potential. Where each person is welcomed to participate in society. This is a matter of humanity. But it’s also incumbent from an economic perspective that instead of marginalizing large swaths of people, we appreciate and include them in the global marketplace. This is the only path to peace and prosperity.

The boards of directors of the world’s companies hold the power to either make or obstruct a vision of an inclusive and sustainable future. Corporate boards have authority that affects the creation of wealth and its access, the employment and earnings prospects of the world’s citizens, the fortunes of suppliers, and the portfolios of retirees. Boards determine business policies, and influence public policy, regarding education, training, healthcare, and human rights. They decide which countries to invest in, and which to neglect. So we can only achieve a better world if companies and their boards understand that inclusion and sustainability are not only good for the world, but good for business.

Fifteen or twenty years ago, it might have seemed laughable to appeal to companies and their boards to advance solutions to social, economic, and environmental challenges as central to their business missions. Today, however, as you will read in this book, investors and regulators are driving ESG (environmental, social, and governance), a model that puts the onus on companies to give an accounting of their environmental and social impacts, as well as their financial impacts.

The intention of this book is to show companies the way to help build an inclusive and sustainable and prosperous future for all.

I have the good fortune to engage every day with people who are dedicated to important causes – people from all sectors. Even when the world around us has seemed so toxic – politically and ideologically – I get to immerse myself in work with people whose energy, passion, and enthusiasm is contagious and inspiring. I am grateful to them.

My children and grandchildren inspire me to consider the world we will leave to them. This is about their futures.

I hope this book helps shine a little light on a way forward to a better world.

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