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(I’ll share highlights from my talk shortly) https://twitter.com/ConsciousCoMag/status/1222663042334257152

Ok, y’all, apparently “shortly” = 3 days in this case. I was so engaged at the event that I’m just coming up for air.

Kudos to @ConsciousCoMag for a lovely and purposeful summit. Really looking forward to whatever comes next

This is v1 of my take on the future of business.

I’m glad I had a chance to pull together a few ideas that I’ve been working through. There was a lot to jam into 20 minutes tho, so holler if you need clarifications.

Book me to give a talk like this : https://www.aniyiawilliams.com/speaker 

Here are the 5 Rules of Considerate Capitalism.

To create conscious economies and considerate capitalism, we must start from the most basic foundation of who we are. HUMANS.

We are sophisticated animals, but we’re constrained by the limits of the stuff we are physically made of.

Our minds make us exceptional, but the systems we have built around us currently exploit the worst parts in order to collect and hoard money and power.

We are experiencing a reckoning, y’all. And something has got to give.

Let’s not waste time fighting about a past when America was considered “great” and by whom. Instead, I ask this question:

*What has she done for us lately?*

The truth is: in colonial times… America imported autocracy, transformed it into oligarchy, and branded it as democracy.

(Shout out to @SceneOnRadio who’s podcast is covering this history on their current season. It’s so good.)

The truth is: that so much of class, race, and gender struggles point directly to BUSINESS as a source.

The truth is: bigotry, prejudice, and discrimination are symptoms of a capitalist disease that should have been quarantined a very long time ago.

And the truth is: it’s now our way of life. We’ve gotten too comfortable with the way things are.

So, FUCK THE STATUS QUO. You can make a choice today about what role you will play in the future. At most, will you be a leader of change? At the least, will you be able to keep up?

Its essential that we reshape the role of markets in our lives.

When I say markets, I mean how we buy and sell stuff.

When I say that many class, race, and gender struggles point to business as a source, it’s because we’ve continuously fabricated social reasons to justify the immoral behaviors of business throughout history.

Slavery. Genocide. Health crises. Senseless gun violence, just to name a few. You can trace almost all of it back to a small group of people who want to make money.

Follow the breadcrumbs of today’s biggest challenges. Where do they lead you?

At some point, you have to care, even if it’s not out of compassion. It’s more expensive to ignore inequality than it is to fix it.

Inequality inevitably paves the way for social and economic dysfunction. History has proven it.

When systems and institutions stop delivering on their promises, people stop following the rules that prop them up.

The antidote to inequality is MOBILITY. But if we want to move people up the ladder and have healthy economies, then people need to have their basic needs met.

People need and should be entitled to:

Good healthcare;

A safe place to live, rest, and sleep;

Clean air, clean water, and healthy food;

An honest and useful education;

A livable wage or resources to satisfy other essential needs;

And an equal vote.

These are the basics and there is enough for everyone. But just because we CAN monetize something doesn’t mean we SHOULD.

Markets are not neutral. The buying and selling of certain things can corrupt their value and availability. Satisfying our basic needs should not be so hard.

We must recognize the moral challenges that markets pose, and continuously make adjustments.

And ultimately, we must untether someone's “worth” from how much money/stuff they have, and instead, tie it to what they do to contribute to our collective goals.

The future of business requires us to account for the fact that *humans are highly corruptible.*

I think it all boils down to SURVIVAL.

Our instinct to survive is powerful, and we all have the capacity to be both GOOD and BAD.

Kindness, generosity, AND greed and violence are all characteristics that exist inside of all of us because they have allowed our species to make it this far.

We are naturally programmed to keep ourselves alive, thus we are inherently self-interested.

When you understand this alongside our relationship to money, how money helps ensure one’s survival, and how business is a means of acquiring it, the picture gets clearer.

It’s not that you can’t be self-interested in business, but you have to choose the greater good sometimes.

My bet is that knowing our limitations is half of the battle, and that having “purpose” and “accountability” is the other half.

I believe that many of us can come together, redefine the rules of business, and use it as a tool for changing other systems through an equity lens.

There are three key elements that nurture innovation: community, opportunity, and safety.

All three of these things must be present for every person we want to innovate and lead. It’s the only way to create a *considerate capitalist society*.

A “considerate capitalist society” is one that has agile systems that can move and adjust with quickly-changing times.

It has a flexible process that allows us to experiment and iterate over time.

Considerate capitalism allows us to try things that we know are equally as likely to fail as they are to succeed, and has a response for either outcome.

It has strong feedback loops, and based on what we learn, allows us to make decisions around growth, repair, or starting over.

A considerate capitalist society requires an equitable distribution of power and resources. We know our limits, so let’s take a pragmatic approach to implementing this.

That pragmatism should guide us to maximize satisfaction for ourselves, while minimizing suffering for others.

Which brings me to Rule 4. We must seek to minimize harm to others as we employ solutions for our future.

Humans are guided by a moral grammar—an innate set of rules that help us shape what’s right.

But this isn’t about right and wrong. As I said, there will always be evil as long as there is good, and each of us is capable of both.

What this is actually about is understanding what’s EFFECTIVE and INEFFECTIVE at achieving our goals, and doing so in a morally-acceptable way.

But first we have to define those goals, and define the line of morality. And in order to do that, we have to talk to each other.

That means we must create spaces for truthful and authentic discourse on today’s pressing issues.

If we want to continue our species into the future, then the community has to sometimes come before the individual.

This should be coupled with changing how we value people, shifting away from material assets, and normalizing a worth based on contributions to the commons.

Here’s the challenge—as humans, it’s really hard for us to apply the same level of consideration to others outside of the people we actually know.

But we have no other choice. We are ALL connected.

The future of business requires you to look beyond yourself. So...

Think of changing the world as changing YOUR world.

Solve problems for communities that you have meaningful access to, or support the people who are already doing the work.

So, start with yourself and what’s close to home.

When the problems feel too big and overwhelming, lower the stakes. Focus on what you can handle.

What can you consistently show up and do? Master that, then grow from there.

My hope for a better future is:

One where people are committed to their personal growth and doing something to improve the lives of others who need help.

It’s one where people are trying to preserve genuine goodwill in the commons.

It’s one where everyone’s needs are met at a level that ensures safety and satisfaction.

It’s one where people don’t want to take from others without a willingness to replace it with something equally valuable.

It’s one that holds bad actors accountable for their transgressions.

We need to explore a world where we build businesses in a moral and socially-accountable way, and we need to allow more people to have a crack at doing it.

If you enjoyed this thread, you can see more of it on my website. I’ll be updating it as my thoughts on this evolve.

https://www.aniyiawilliams.com/considerate-capitalism