Human-Centered Capitalism
On progress’ relationship with empathy
Starting April 6, for the next 30 days, I’m writing a brief essay every day and posting it to my Medium account in an effort to get off social media and focus on doing something good for me, both personally and professionally. To read my last essay, click here.
I came across a great quote from a recent podcast I listened to:
“My sense of capitalism is that it only functions if you have this full-body contact violence at a corporate level that creates competition, innovation, and prosperity. But the only way that translates to progress is if it sits on a bed of empathy.
“And it feels as if we’ve become more empathetic to companies and more harsh or Darwinian to individuals. And it’s just very dangerous in my view.”
That soundbite was at the 30-minute mark of last week’s episode of The Prof G Show, which brought on Acumen (a global nonprofit) founder Jacqueline Novogratz to talk about how to use capital and networks as means — not ends — to combatting poverty.