Let’s Talk About Evolving American Capitalism Part 4: What Must We Ask Ourselves to Truly Evolve?

The final installment of the Evolving American Capitalism essay series imagines a set of questions that I believe are essential for our society to most effectively direct our evolution of American Capitalism.

During the process of introspecting on the state of American Capitalism, researching what frameworks already exist that show how American Capitalism is evolving, and lastly exploring how corporations have shown their evolution — and stumbling blocks to evolving American Capitalism, I went from a stage of pessimism, to hope as I saw a cauldron of ideas and actions that have been burbling away for years now.

I loved reading about how companies of all sizes, industries and leadership styles have made a point to integrate societal profit tenants into their operations without regulation, informed by critical events such as the release of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the murder of George Floyd, the shifting demographic sea change of boomers to millennials, and the general scientific consensus on the damage done to the environment by means such as greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and excessive water usage. Particularly encouraging was seeing the shining examples of companies who have taken the additional step of rooting societal profit goals directly into their business models and values systems, such as Toms, Seventh Generation, Ecosia, Patagonia, Dr Bronner’s, Etsy, Novozymes, and Airbnb.