Losing My “Religion”

My mother spent much of the first four years of her life living in a basement. She, her older brother, and their mother huddled together while my grandfather brushed Nazi firebombs from the roof of their home in Kristiansund, Norway. Not once, not twice, but night after night for weeks and months. They survived, as did their home. The war eventually ended and my mother went on to live a life hard to conceive of in the midst of the chaos that was a large part of her early childhood. Despite it all, she grew to be an optimist. She had a summery disposition and preferred to see beauty rather than focusing on the darkness. She was always able to find the best in people and the world. In many ways, it was her religion.

When I think of my mother, who passed in 2020 after battling a rare brain disease called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, I am often reminded of the quote by Albert Camus, who famously wrote about finding his “Invincible Summer”:

I, too, am an optimist, a religion I learned, perhaps inherited, from my mother. But finding my Invincible Summer this past month has been hard, so very hard. Beyond the daily images of yet another human being rounded up because of their skin color and the concurrent plummeting of our nation’s reputation around the world, the senseless murder of Charlie Kirk and the unsurprising response from the right and left to said murder has left me demoralized and deeply disheartened. 

And then there was the circus that became corporate America’s response to a comedian’s ill-timed joke. What an utter failure in leadership!

To better understand why this became a prime example of what is wrong with today’s leaders, let’s play, “Follow the Money”:

• Disney owns ABC. ABC airs the Jimmy Kimmel Show. 

• Disney also owns ESPN. ESPN wants to secure the media rights of the NFL. Benefit to Disney if the deal goes through? Billions. 

• The FCC is in charge of approving said merger. 

• Jimmy Kimmel makes ill-timed and arguably insensitive statement about MAGA’s response to Charlie Kirk’s murder.

• Massive outcry from the Right

• FCC Chairman, Brandon Carr, implies he will use the power of his position to take action against ABC if the network and its parent company, Disney, did not "change conduct".

• Disney is worried the merger will be denied.

• Disney/ABC removes Jimmy Kimmel.

• Massive outcry from Left and Right.

• Kimmel is reinstated.

It might appear that when they reinstated Jimmy, the leaders of ABC and Disney were standing up for what is right: Free Speech. Certainly that is how he phrased it in his most-watched monologue:

Nice sentiments, but let’s be clear, it wasn’t courage that inspired ABC and Disney to bring him back. It was the same reason that had them remove him in the first place: Money. Thousands of customers threatened to cancel their subscriptions to Disney and its affiliates if they didn’t reinstate Jimmy Kimmel. Thousands more spoke out against the company on social media, harming its brand and by inference negatively impacting their business.

Rather than actually standing up for what is right and being the moral leaders we want and need, Disney’s and ABC’s leaders caved to the pressures that impacted their bottom line. Sadly, they aren’t alone.

We’ve seen it again and again as American business leaders focus their power on delivering results to shareholders at the expanse of everyone and everything else. This is why so many CEOs are reviled by so many in this country. Let’s be clear though: Yes, this a problem of leadership, but really this is a problem of modern capitalism.

In my book, Intentional Power, I explain that we've been running our businesses under a form of capitalism called Shareholder Capitalism. It has been the norm since the mid-1980s when economist Milton Friedman’s philosophy - that the purpose of the corporation is to relentlessly focus on profits - became the gold standard for how a leader should run their company.

Before that, business leaders had a different view of their role and the purpose of the companies they ran. They understood that their company’s success depended on ALL stakeholders: employees, customers, suppliers, the local communities in which they operated, AND shareholders. It’s called Stakeholder Capitalism and it was what once made this country great. 

Today, under Shareholder Capitalism, the stock market is at an all time high and some are getting very rich, but the underlying values that drive these outcomes are harming the vast majority of us. Despite what is plastered on the walls of so many American companies - We value collaboration! We value teamwork! And, ironically, “Don’t Be Evil” - far too many American business leaders have lost their way.

Finding My Invincible Summer

Here’s the good news - yes, there is good news! - CEOs from other parts of the world—including CEOs who also live in countries with authoritarian governments—aren’t following our lead. Apparently they didn't get the memo about Shareholder Capitalism. Like American CEOs of yore, these modern leaders are absolutely passionate about making sure they have a robust bottom line AND they are also passionate about doing well while doing good.

How do I know? I just spent three weeks coaching and advising eight CEOs from around the globe at Harvard Business School’s executive education for Owners/President Management - a program geared to help entrepreneurs maximize their impact and take their company to the next level. 

Here are a few examples of the modern leaders I had the privilege to work with:

• A Nigerian media entrepreneur who has built one of the most successful content businesses in Africa. She is committed to creating content that provides positive role models for the next generation of Black children, both in Nigeria and around the world. 

• A Brazilian CEO who, as the second generation to help run his family’s empire, is passionate about climate. He has expanded their retail building and construction business into clean tech and that is only the beginning. He knows with great privilege comes great responsibility. His goal is to build a family legacy his children and grandchildren will be proud to be part of.

• A Singaporean CEO who wants his employees to live their best lives. He is so passionate about this that he has created an entire program with accompanying cards and toolkits called “Better Me” with six core pillars including Live Better, Learn Better, Love Better, Earn Better, Lead Better, Evolve Better. Why? Because as he told me, his company does better when his employees are thriving. The Better Me tool kit says it all:

I couldn’t agree more. 

It was these CEOs who helped bring back my optimism. They renewed my faith in what is possible when we get capitalism right. They are the light in the midst of this darkness. Leaders like them are my Invincible Summer. 

Lead On!

Lisen

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