Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business

We now enjoy an unprecedented level of information egalitarianism; ordinary people today have access to virtually limitless information on any subject, anytime, anyplace, instantly at almost zero cost.3 The richest billionaire in the world did not have such access twenty years ago.

The heroic story of free-enterprise capitalism is one of entrepreneurs using their dreams and passion as fuel to create extraordinary value for customers, team members, suppliers, society, and investors.

This is what we know to be true: business is good because it creates value, it is ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange, it is noble because it can elevate our existence, and it is heroic because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity.

Much of today’s animosity toward capitalism stems from a misconception that we need to share all resources fairly and equitably. But the reality is that by artfully combining resources, labor, and innovation, wealth can be greatly expanded. The poor can become wealthier without requiring the well-off to become poorer. The pie grows, and there is mo

“Business as usual” will not work anymore. We need a new paradigm for business, a new philosophy to lead and work by.

Far from being a necessary evil (as it is often portrayed), free-enterprise capitalism is an extraordinarily powerful system for eliciting, harnessing, and multiplying human ingenuity and industry to create value for others.

Free-enterprise capitalism must be grounded in an ethical system based on value creation for all stakeholders. Money is one measure of value, but it is certainly not the only measure.

business is good because it creates value, it is ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange, it is noble because it can elevate our existence, and it is heroic because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity.

Entrepreneurs are the true heroes in a free-enterprise economy, driving progress in business, society, and the world. They solve problems by creatively envisioning different ways the world could and should be. With their imagination, creativity, passion, and energy, they are the greatest creators of widespread change in the world.

Such businesses—suffused with higher purpose, leavened with authentic caring, influential and inspirational, egalitarian and committed to excellence, trustworthy and transparent, admired and emulated, loved and respected—are not imaginary entities in some fictional utopia. They exist in the real world, by the dozens today but soon to be by the hund