In April 2015, Capital Institute released Regenerative Capitalism (by John Fullerton) at an event hosted by Yale University. John Fullerton is the founder and president of Capital Institute, “a collaborative working to explore and effect the economic transition to a more just, regenerative, and thus sustainable way of living on this earth through the transformation of finance.” Through the work of Capital Institute, regular public speaking engagements, and university lectures, John has become a recognized thought leader in the New Economy space generally, and the financial system transformation challenge in particular.
The collaboratively created framework and accompanying white paper calls on business leaders and policymakers to fundamentally rethink economics and how our free enterprise system operates.
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I salute the comprehensive (100+ page) article provided by John Fullerton on Regenerative Capitalism. His eight principles are an especially powerful application of systems thinking to our economy. They place it within the context of society and the environment, and create aspirational goals for us to strive for. It is encouraging to hear a leader from the financial sector take this approach.
In my own words, John urges us to reconnect with what matters most in the long run: survival of the species and the health of our planet. We can’t continue to let greed, amassed as wealth and power in the hands of a few, rob us of a fulfilling present or a viable future.
John’s article stops short of making specific change recommendations. He praises numerous initiatives that are consistent with regenerative capitalism. But what do we do about the vast array of business practices that are non-regenerative? As John acknowledges, change entails “carrots, sticks, and maybe even a few clubs.” But he stops short of proposing specific incentives or penalties to reverse the tremendous momentum behind today’s capitalism.