From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
The idea of selfish philanthropy is a push against the notion of philanthropy as simply 'giving back.' That phrase implies that wealth was accumulated by taking something from society. But if you've built a successful business, you've contributed to society—you don't owe anything back.
poverty seems to be an aggravating factor in all types of violence
You've got around 2.6 billion people in the world who survive on less than $2 per day, 75% of them are rural and agriculture is their primary economic activity. Most are, however, mired in a form of subsistence farming that barely allows them to scrape-by.
The platform of business is one of the most amazing ways to change society, but I am telling you this as someone who grew up not liking the platform.
Social synchrony is a big feature of human behaviour—it's a weird thing if you think about it, but we do things like marching in time and parading and singing in choirs in ways that are highly coordinated and synchronised.
When the main participants in an economy (the general population not the investment banks) are struggling to survive- no amount of economic stimulus applied at arms-length from those participants- will inject growth.
Increasingly heavy-handed purges of crime will simply move perpetrators into different industries, increase the severity of crime, or create extremist groups. There is very little more dangerous in the world than individuals with nothing to lose.
The core reason is the remarkable surge in asset inflation, coupled with low interest rates and QE, which has entirely disrupted a decade's financial landscape. This dynamic favoring those with assets, often at the detriment of the upcoming generation, is at the heart of the crisis.
The real important fact is that consumers would rather choose a sustainable product or service from a transformed business over others. The young people are going to have to live in that future, and they are not part of the solution because they are not at the decision table and hence are increasingly voting with their money.
The silver lining of this pandemic in the last couple of years is we have realised that culture is not relegated to an office, it's agnostic of a physical office. It is how we work with each other.
Roughly 100 countries in the world have already eliminated malaria (most of them since the Second World War). Of the 100 countries in the world that still have endemic malaria, 39 are in the process of eliminating while the remaining 61 are making steady progress.
When you're young, you're basically a time billionaire, sitting on billions of seconds stretching out ahead of you. But here's the thing—most young people, even folks in the middle of life, don't see it that way.