Dan Ariely and the Science of Human Capital

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In this episode of the Capital Allocators podcast, host Ted Seides speaks with Ethical Systems collaborator Dan Ariely about his ongoing work quantifying human capital—how employees' motivation and feelings about their companies,…

3 Takeaways from One CEO’s Remarkable Culture-Change Experience

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Slowly, the business side and the farming and production sides of Cabot began to meet in the middle—or at least earn each other’s respect. In 2015, Ed Townley became the CEO of Cabot Creamery, the acclaimed but plateauing Vermont dairy…

What Pirates Have to Teach Us About Leadership

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Pirates, it turns out, were forward-thinking in a number of surprising—and instructive—ways. In the deep heat of an 18th-century summer, a crew of pirates was sailing off the Virginia coast when a lookout spotted a merchant ship to the…

Why a Basecamp Founder’s Blog Post Blew the Company Up

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Basecamp sought to transcend the messy, fraught political discussions—particularly about racism—that surround all of us with the quick fix of stifling speech on those topics in their chat forums. In 2018, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier…

The Tricky Role of Loyalty at Work

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The downsides of fostering loyalty don't mean that promoting loyalty is too dangerous. But leaders should proceed with caution. It’s fair to say that, overall, organizations can benefit from loyal employees. Loyal employees stay with their…

Don’t Underestimate the Experience of Doing the Right Thing

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As Patagonia makes clear, nothing compares to the awesome power of doing the right thing as the foundation of lasting success. Patagonia has long been considered one of the world’s most-admired companies. Apart from their millions of…

How Investors Can Lead the Shift Toward Stakeholder Capitalism

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The overwhelming focus on correlating highly imperfect ESG metrics with financial performance risks drowning out more promising avenues of research on how to meaningfully encourage a broader and longer-term approach to value creation. It’s…

Why Corporate America Should Oppose the National Effort to Suppress Voting

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American corporations have been great beneficiaries of our two-century-old democratic experiment. As Republican politicians in states across the country move to restrict voting rights, corporate leaders are faced with an uncomfortable choice.…

How British Bank Employees Feel About Workplace Culture

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The Banking Standards Board, an independently led body that promotes high standards of behavior and competence across the United Kingdom’s banking industry, has released results of its fifth annual cultural assessment. It reports on a…

Survey: Business Leaders See Ethics as a Competitive Advantage

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Business leaders, according to the study, “feel a growing responsibility to exert their influence on broader societal challenges, from climate change to deforestation to racial and gender equality.” ESG is turning out to be an abbreviation…