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181 / CPR, CSI & A Eulogy for ‘Business for Good’
Published about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hello friends,
How strange it is to read a eulogy for the business approach that’s shaped your entire working life.
That’s how I felt reading “How ‘Business for Good’ Went Bad—And What Comes Next”, the Fast Company cover story making the rounds on LinkedIn (shared in this issue’s 5 Links below). It hit hard. Not because it said anything wildly new, but because of how starkly it named what so many of us in this field have been feeling: that the vision we’ve spent years building — of business as a force for good — has, in some ways, become obsolete.
Reading it, I kept flinching at the author’s use of past tense. As if this whole movement we’ve been part of is now history and all the things we fought for — ESG, corporate purpose, stakeholder capitalism — are now relics.
And maybe they are.
That’s a tough pill to swallow. Especially when, if we're honest, we helped build these systems. We were advocates and enablers. And now we’re watching them falter under pressure.
It reminded me of something I read in the book “Hospicing Modernity” (a Change Hub Book Club pick) about the need to provide “palliative care” to systems and ideas that are dying. This article felt like another step in the grieving process for a version of “doing well by doing good” that once felt so inspiring and revolutionary, and now feels like a meaningless slogan.
It’s sad, no doubt about it. But it’s also an opportunity.
I’m brought back to 2008, the year I graduated from college right into a global financial crisis. My classmates and I had to throw out our plans and assumptions and start from scratch. In that wreckage, we made things. We remade things. We shaped new business models and movements that carried us for the next 15+ years.
I think we’re at that kind of inflection point again. The question isn’t just what’s ending, but what’s beginning. What will we carry forward, and what will we leave behind? What new version of business for good — more ambitious, more honest, more just — can we help bring to life?
I’d love to hear what this moment feels like for you. What you’re mourning. What you’re hoping. What you’re building.
And I’m excited to see what we can build together.
P.S. Huge thanks to the 96 people who have responded to our 2025 Community Survey 🙏! I'm reading all your responses and loving your ideas. It's not too late to respond to our 5-minute questionnaire to help shape what comes next — respond before June 17th and you’ll also get entered to win one of 10 quarterly Change Hub memberships or access to our New Rules of Sustainability Communications virtual course.
I'm so excited to speak at the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit on September 23rd and experience the magic of Climate Week NYC! I’ll be leading an afternoon workshop on “The New Landscape of Sustainability Communications” — unpacking allllll the shifting regulations/stakeholder expectations and sharing practical guidance for brand leaders looking to navigate this particularly tricky period for sustainability.
P.S. If you’ll be in town and see an opportunity to collaborate on an event, drop me a note!
June’s Hot Topic in the Change Hub is the B Corp Movement, and we’re hosting a live members-only webinar breaking down the new B Lab standards with B Lab Global’s Darja Markek next Tuesday, June 17th. We’ll also be curating resources to support with B Corp certification all month long. 🤗
The latest hot take on the state of sustainable business comes via this much-shared Fast Company cover story, which charts “the rise and fall of an unprecedented era of business” and attempts to predict what comes next. (30 minutes)
📌 PRO-TIP: If you don’t have a subscription — and don't mind a robotic voice — you can listen to this article for free via the audio player under the byline.
Individual organizations can’t solve today’s biggest challenges alone — not when climate, tech, geopolitics and inequality are colliding all at once. If you’re looking to strengthen your systems change skillset, this deep dive from researchers at the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship analyzes different approaches to “collective social innovation” to surface practical insights you can apply to your own collaborative efforts. (11 minutes)
A recent independent analysis of 45 U.S. right-wing groups advocating against trans rights revealed that 80% receive donations from fossil fuel companies or billionaires. The report’s co-authors argue it's a deliberate strategy to divide, distract and undermine both the climate and LGBTQIA+ movements. This report adds urgency to calls for greater transparency in corporate political spending, echoing findings from another recent study on corporate climate lobbying that exposed widespread secrecy and misalignment across major firms. (14 minutes)
While we’re on the subject, there’s a new acronym on the block that’s making waves. Corporate Political Responsibility — or CPR (insert resuscitation joke here) — refers to “an emerging best practice for public affairs governance” that seeks to guide companies in better aligning their public affairs and lobbying efforts with their values and corporate sustainability goals. The CPR Hub, created by think tank and non-profit advisory firm Third Side Strategies, contains heaps of resources to help.
The results of the People’s Climate Vote 2024 — the largest public opinion poll on climate change ever — are in. Run by the UNDP and Oxford University, it asked people in 77 countries how climate change is showing up in their lives and what they want leaders to do about it. Bookmark the results for your next business case presentation.
Angela Loder is the founder and Executive Director of Greening the City, an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a member of the Reconsidered Change Hub. In this profile, she shares how she supports people and places to thrive through regenerative sustainability, the “puzzle piece” that jumpstarted her PhD pursuit and how choosing the less-traveled path has led to a head- *and* heart-led approach in her impact work.
📆 June 19 — (re)Imagining Sustainability| 🇳🇱 Amsterdam| Hosted by The Sustainable Link. Join an inspiring evening at the Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam exploring how future literacy can help us reimagine sustainability with creatives, leaders and changemakers.**
📆 July 22 — Peer Review: Your Personal Brand| 💻 Virtual| Hosted by the Change Hub. In this speed dating-style members-only session, you’ll connect 1:1 with fellow Change Hub members to swap feedback on your resume, LinkedIn page, website or other personal branding content.
📆 July 31 — Behind the Scenes of Reconsidered’s LinkedIn Presence| 💻 Virtual| Hosted by the Change Hub. Peek behind the curtain during this members-only webinar where we’ll share the strategies, systems and tools that have powered our growth on LinkedIn.
📣 **Partner Post. However you're bringing sustainability and social impact folks together, we can help. Book one of our new Sponsored Event Posts and we'll spread the word.
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Get fresh finds from the world of corporate responsibility, sustainability + social impact delivered straight to your inbox, every other week. Each issue includes 5 thought-provoking links, a curated list of impact job opportunities, interviews with global impact leaders and loads of exclusive tools + resources for sustainable business professionals.
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