Somewhere along the journey of the last fifty years, business seems to have moved from being something that powered our economy to something that controls it. It has moved from servant to master, and it makes a poor master.
I think the implications of this are far-reaching because the world is evolving far faster than the world of business can keep up. It shows in the responses to the significant issues of the moment, the reaction of major oil companies when brought to account as they appeal decisions or obfuscate and the proposed policies for preparation for the next pandemic by harnessing business.
Business is no more malign than a shark is malign; it's just doing its thing, and it is us who have created the water it swims in. Business exists to make a profit because that is how we have structured it. Legal frameworks oblige it to act in the interests of shareholders. We give a business the rights of an individual but no obligations to being a good community member. We enable it to s…
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