Allison Kostka, Author at High Meadows Institute, Inc.

System change investing – A new approach to ESG

The world is changing, and it’s changing quickly, as we face global systemic threats, from climate change to inequality to loss of biodiversity. Even as investors looking to finance a transition to a more sustainable future focus on these challenges, many recognize that ESG strategies alone will not be enough because they fail to address the root causes of the problems – the economic and political systems that underpin society. According to Kevin Dixon, Founder of Global System Change, ESG strategies are flawed because they set up a paradox – they ask companies to voluntarily stop harming the environment and…

Allison Kostka In Business leadership in society

Disney, Bud Light and Corporate Activism

Businesses today face increasing pressure from their stakeholders, from employees to customers to investors, to take on a “political” role and speak out on the pressing social issues of the day. But companies that do so often walk a fine line and struggle to navigate how to do it right. Two recent media stories, those of Disney and Bud Light, are illustrative of how this can play out, and what the challenges can be to both speaking out and staying silent. For Disney, it began last year when CEO Bob Chapek initially refused to take a public stance on Florida’s…

Allison Kostka In ESG, Sustainable investing

Notes from RI USA 2022

From navigating new SEC regulations to setting net zero targets to managing an increasing divisive political discourse around ESG, 2022 has brought many new challenges to the field of sustainable investing and catalyzed new debates on where it is heading. On December 6 and 7, sustainable finance and ESG investment professionals from across North America gathered in New York City for Responsible Investor’s 14th annual RI USA conference to discuss developments and best practices for hot-button issues from human rights and biodiversity to net zero and the role of Big Tech. Some of the questions raised in the panels included:…

Allison Kostka In Review

Purpose + Profit: How Business Can Lift Up the World
A Review

Can business do good while doing well? This was the question George Serafeim set out to answer over a decade ago, when he first began his research into understanding the impact of business on society. At the time, ESG issues were seen as “soft” and business leaders were skeptical that contributing to social change would do anything but hurt their bottom line. But the more he looked at the data, the more Serafeim realized the question was not “can it be done?” but “how?” In…

Allison Kostka In Review

COVID-19: The Great Reset
A Review

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global disruption on a scale unprecedented in modern history. While there are useful parallels to be drawn with previous pandemics like the Spanish flu epidemic, financial downturns like the 2008 Great Recession and geopolitical upheavals like World War II, none match the scope and shape of the human and economic toll of COVID-19 and none can predict all of the changes this crisis will set in motion. In COVID-19: The Great Reset, authors Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret set out to the explore the transformations that are occurring at all levels, from the macro to…

Allison Kostka In Review, Sustainable investing

Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory:
A Review

When modern portfolio theory arrived on the scene in the 1950s, it was considered revolutionary. It changed the way that investors perceive risk, return and portfolio management and permanently altered the investing world and financial markets.

Allison Kostka In Review, Sustainable investing

21st Century Investing:
A Review

“It’s time for a new way to think about investing, one that can contend with the complex challenges we face in the 21st century,” authors William Burckart and Steven Lydenberg write in the introduction to their new book, 21st Century Investing: Redirecting Financial Strategies to Drive Systems Change.

Allison Kostka In Business leadership in society, Review

The Six New Rules of Business
A Review

“Tell me which of the pressing issues of our time keep you awake at night, and I will tell you how the old rules of profit maximization and short-term thinking contribute to those problems,” Judy Samuelson writes in the introduction to her new book, The Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World. The rules are changing. The COVID-19 pandemic and other recent crises have made it clear that business and society are more intertwined than ever before, and the old notions of “what is good for business” are no longer sustainable for society – or…

Allison Kostka In ESG

Biden and ESG:
How the new administration might shape the sustainability landscape

With one week until President-Elect Joe Biden takes office, the U.S. is likely in for a major shift in tone at the top. The Trump administration has been marked by a loosening of regulations, both environmental and economic, that have drawn criticism for their negative impact on ESG issues from climate change to social justice. Analysts are already predicting that a Biden presidency will give a substantial boost to ESG investing and many of his early cabinet and advisor picks appear to be ESG-friendly. With the recent runoff election in Georgia adding two Democratic seats to the Senate, giving the…

Allison Kostka In 21st century governance challenge

FT ODX panel confronts the 21st century corporate governance challenge

What are the implications for corporate governance in an environment where firms are being looked to as “social institutions,” sharing with governments the responsibility to ensure elements of social welfare and well-being? This is the question considered at a panel session moderated by the Financial Times’s Billy Nauman, entitled “New Models of Corporate Governance,” part of the FT’s Outstanding Directors Exchange (ODX), a platform that brings together sitting directors of public companies to discuss strategic boardroom issues. Panelists Chris Pinney, President of High Meadows Institute, Peggy Foran, CGO of Prudential Financial and a Director at Orion Group Holdings and Sheila…