Caleb Gardner

“Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)”, “Conscious Capitalism”, “triple bottom line”—the dizzying ways the business community has attempted corporate social responsibility in the past two decades are almost as plentiful as the case studies about the negative impacts of public pressure on business perception. The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer claimed “Societal leadership is now a core function of business.” How are leaders supposed to navigate the increasing social pressure to do business better?

In this talk, Caleb explores key themes from his new book, No Point B, to show how becoming a more ethical and inclusive company depends on our ability to navigate a hyper-politicized business environment, adapt quickly—and never rest on our assumptions about our moral impact on the world.

Key takeaways:

• A lack of shared definitions and philosophies around most corporate social responsibility creates dispersed attention—and hurts progress.
• The hyper-politicized internet environment our (increasingly remote and isolated) employees operate in affects their perception of our company’s social impact. Internal company communications has to be more than an afterthought—they are one of the most important tools in our toolkit for making change.
• It takes moral imagination to operate a business in a complex world. Doing business well while minimizing harm is incredibly difficult, and takes a focus on constant adaptation.