Ep. 186: Alison Taylor - On the Myths, Misconceptions and Problems With ESG

I am delighted to welcome Alison Taylor back to the show. Alison works on challenges at the intersection of corporate integrity, risk, and responsibility. She is the Executive Director at Ethical Systems, a collaboration between leading academics working on behavioural science, organisational psychology, and systems thinking. She is also an adjunct professor at the NYU Stern School of Business. She has advised companies for many years on integrity, anti-corruption, sustainability, and political risk. On top of that, and for the purposes of this conversation Alison is one of LinkedIn's Top Voices for 2022. And this is where we get into the topic of focus for this episode. Alison is one of the world's top voices when discussing the myths and misconceptions of ESG. ESG stands for Environment, Social and Governance. It is ostensibly about how investors reward or punish companies for their performance in these areas (and in so doing help make the world a better place). However, as you will hear from Alison, it really isn't that. And, the fact that it really isn't is a problem for companies, stakeholders, and indeed, the planet. Alison explains what ESG is, better ways to address some of these challenges, transparency and its limits, and much more. Show notes: Alison on LinkedIn Ethical Systems Alison on Twitter Jonathan Haidt Alison on ESG Larry Fink's 2022 letter to CEOs Alison on Patagonia Stuart Kirk's infamous ESG presentation That Milton Friedman piece on the social responsibility of business The Balkanisation of the internet _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Like what you heard? Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7z8jmcbiemLawrHmay65kH Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings Drop us a note: [email protected]  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Our free course module "How to Set Up Any Decision for Success" from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence