Performing shareholder primacy A few thoughts on the governance Panopticon

Shareholder primacy is more about what boards do than what shareholders do.

A bit on my Substack
tompowdrill.substack.com/p/performing...

Subscribers of @oxfordclarion.bsky.social be sure to read right to the end of today's newsletter. As the saying goes: Fortune favours the bold.

🎉😎 Launched a new book (as a co-editor)!

***Doughnut Economics for Regenerative Business Design ***

14 case studies exploring how the deep design of a business (e.g. ownership, governance...) unlocks regenerative & distributive dynamics.

Open Access: www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-7...

Doughnut Economics isn’t a tweak—it’s a redesign!

Align purpose, networks, governance, ownership & finance. Real impact comes from system coherence, not isolated initiatives.

www.linkedin.com/posts/kumli_...

#innovation #systems #regeneration #doughnuteconomics @erinchsahan.bsky.social

The war in Iran has already cost $22.8 billion.

For $22.8 billion, we could:

• Provide Medicaid to 6.8 million kids
• Build 2.6 million public housing units
• Fund Head Start for 1.3 million
• Hire 240,000 teachers
• Cancel $20,000 in student debt for 1 million borrowers

What's stopping businesses from being a force for good? | Erinch Sahan | TEDxPrague YouTube video by TEDx Talks

📣 My new TEDx talk in Prague.

Recorded during a time of transition - between leaving
@doughnuteconomics.bsky.social and just starting at
@jrf-uk.bsky.social, I took a moment to reflect on my 20 years attempting to transform the world of business.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=URBo...

The Mandelson scandal has shone a light on systemic issues in the British State.

This is about wealth, power, and undue access - not just a few bad apples.

A shared goal between ECOnGOOD and Doughnut Economics - Economy for the common good The shared goal of transforming businesses motivated the combination of two powerful tools: the Doughnut Design for Business (DDfB) and the Common Good Balance Sheet (CGBS). The result is an article t...

NEW ARTICLE | Transforming Businesses for People & Planet

DEAL and ECOnGOOD combined the two powerful tools 'Doughnut Design for Business' and 'Common Good Balance Sheet' to rethink how businesses impact people and the planet.

Read it here: bit.ly/3XioJmn

#DoughnutEconomics #DoughnutBiz

Should companies pay dividends if worker pay isn't even keeping pace with inflation? If your answer is also HELL NO, then you'd be interested in this concept.

The Wage Lock: companies should not distribute profits to shareholders unless employee pay has increased at least in line with inflation.

#GlobalDonutDays 2025 | Business Session: Insights on using #DoughnutEconomics with businesses

Join @erinchsahan.bsky.social & guests for this session focused on transforming the deep design of businesses.

14 Oct | 3:30 PM (UK)

More info and register here:
tinyurl.com/4pswnudw

If you're looking for a new home, a good friend has launched a very useful data-driven platform. Check it out.

unmapt.io/how-to-use-u...

Business Session: Insights on using Doughnut Economics with businesses | DEAL An introduction, with insights from practitioners on using Doughnut Economics to unlock transformations in businesses.

🍩 Global Donut Days!

📅 Business session 14 Oct
⌚ 10.30am US Eastern / 11.30am Brazil / 3.30pm UK/ 4.30pm Europe / 5.30pm Turkey / 8pm India

Join me & a practitioners from around the world to hear about how to use #DoughnutEconomics with businesses.

Register👇
doughnuteconomics.org/events/busin...

Schools & Education | DEAL Collaborating with educators and learners to create transformative education for regenerative futures.

There are some great teaching resources on the @doughnuteconomics.bsky.social education website:
doughnuteconomics.org/themes/schoo...

Bernie did a bad job debating Rogan on climate. He failed to say that it's the [very few] scientists who cast doubt on human-caused climate change THAT ARE ACTUALLY THE ONES EARNING THE BIG BUCKS (via fossils funding). And scientists who demonstrate that climate change is real aren't getting rich.

I think the same thing played out with vaccine science. At some point, you either trust or distrust the scientific institutions.

Climate is a bit different. You can see some of its impacts, but some of these also happened before industrialisation (some extreme weather, changes in weather patterns...). So if you don't trust scientists, how how do you decide on which storms & heat-waves would have happened anyway?

Why does #nature cut through but not #climate?

Loss of forests, sea-life, healthy soils, real food... this is all tangible. It's easier to believe the science on this.

1.2m companies in the US employing 58m people could transition into #EmployeeOwnership (1/3rd of the US civilian labour force).

For investors, it's a $1 trillion investment opportunity.

A huge opportunity to build wealth & resilience.

👉 Amazing new report from Transform Finance: bit.ly/EObriefing

It was a way into raising all the amazing purpose-led models being pursued, like #StewardOwnership #EmployeeOwnership #CommunityOwnership #NatureOnTheBoard... These new forms of relationship between investment & business are driving the amazing innovations in #PurposeDrivenBusiness.

🥊 If all that doesn’t hook you, of course there is also the drama between Altman & Musk.

We were also joined by Page Hedley, former policy & ethics adviser at OpenAI, who explained what has changed in the governance of the company, and why it matters so much.

💰 Also, limit was set on extraction by investors (of 100x). But then investors demanded more - 100x was insufficient. They expected to make much more than $100m for every $1m they invest. So the company restructured, bringing into question if the non-profit can really enforce society's interests.

The evolution of OpenAI seemed a good way in. The company was set up with the recognition that shareholder & society interests often diverge on AI. And that a non-profit needs to control its governance so as to prioritise society's interests. So a non-profit was set up to control the company.

How do we get the media interested in purpose-led business?

This morning on the BBC World Service, I gave it a go.

See from 39 min mark: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A map of Europe with many small multi-coloured circles layered on top. A legend titled Ecological Economics lists the colours and research hub, master programme, bachelor programme, and individual course. A logo of the European Society for Ecological Economics is in a corner, and a website URL is at the bottom: https://ecolecon.eu/ecological-economics-map/

🧐 Are you wondering where to study and learn post-growth approaches in Europe?

🗺️ I'm glad to share the first version of an interactive map - currently with 110+ diverse initiatives spanning 26 countries - that aims to help with that!

🤗 Dive in here: ecolecon.eu/ecological-e...

🙏 Feedback welcome

You’re invited to watch live as @erinchsahan.bsky.social, Business and Enterprise Lead at @doughnuteconomics.bsky.social, and other experts consider how business can help fill the global climate-leadership gap.