What We’re Reading is a roundup of current news and commentary on the challenges and opportunities of aligning business decisions with the long-term health of society. What comes through in this month’s roundup is an undercurrent of anxious murmurs about the broader direction of the U.S. economy. Where might the truth lie?
The Economy
Inflation and Recession Fears Are Squeezing Some Industries More Than Others (Amelia Lucas, CNBC) One way of sifting through the murmurs of an economic downturn is to identify where they are coming from. This article lays out how business perceptions of the economy are heavily dependent on the sector.
The Fed and the ECB Turn On a Dime (The Economist) “In this environment the central-banking playbook of the 2010s is failing. It was built around low global inflation and designed to dispel the notion that rates might rise.”
Worker Voice
Workers Don’t Feel Quite as Powerful as They Used To (Callum Borchers, The Wall Street Journal) “As unemployment claims tick higher and business leaders like Elon Musk try to reassert their in-office dominance, workers are showing a little less swagger and looking for more stability than they did just a few months ago.”
SpaceX Said to Fire Employees Involved in Letter Rebuking Elon Musk (Ryan Mac, The New York Times) Who gets to draw the line between worker voice and “overreaching activism”?
ESG
ESG Backlash Has Fund Clients Demanding Proof It Works (Lisa Pham, Bloomberg) As CO2 levels rise and clients get impatient, how should fund managers respond to arguments that “tea-and-biscuits engagement with companies just doesn’t cut it anymore”?
Don’t Get Distracted Now; Stay the Course on ESG and Sustainable Business (Daryl Brewster, CECP) “Those questioning ESG, we wonder, are they really against clean water, employee wellbeing, and good corporate governance? Do they really believe business can operate in a one-dimensional world of shareholder primacy?”
Tech
Why Cryptocurrencies Have Gone From Hot to Full-On Meltdown (David Gura, NPR) Why has the crypto market fallen so fast and so far? (for more on the impact of these declines, see U.S. Tech Companies Yank Job Offers, Leaving College Grads Scrambling)
Amazon’s Workforce Turnover Is So High That It Could Run Out of People to Hire by 2024 (Jason Del Rey, Vox) This new research serves as a warning for Amazon as well as “a cautionary tale for other employers who seek to emulate the Amazon Way of management.”
For more on our work to align business with the long-term good of society, sign up for our publications and visit our website. (Please note, the purpose of this newsletter is to highlight what Aspen BSP staff are reading, and is not intended as advertisement or endorsement of content or viewpoints.)
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