Ways to change
The Italian version of IMPACT: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change, a book that outlines a future where good corporate culture is best realised, has been released in Italy
We should pay attention to profits, but also to ethics; we should focus on being successful across the board, not just in terms of budget – surely, this is the future of economy and production. A future whose main features have already been outlined, though several companies and large territories still find it difficult to grasp them; a future that, at a global level, already has a name: impact revolution. Impact. La rivoluzione che sta cambiando il capitalismo (IMPACT: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change), written by Ronald Cohen and recently published in the Italian language, revolves precisely around this concept,
The work sort of summarises the brand new future that awaits our economic and social systems, something that it is clearly explained from the beginning: “The world must change, but we cannot change it by throwing money at old ideas that no longer work; we need new ideas and approaches.” In other words, it means that we need to find an alternative way to build a new world where inequality can decrease, where natural resources can regenerate and where people can benefit from a shared wealth. These expectations do not entail establishing sanctimonious companies dedicated to charity for charity’s sake, but something that is completely new as compared to the past (and, largely, to the present). Cohen – venture capitalist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, innovator in the field of social finance – attempts to impose some order on the ideas revolving around the impact revolution. Starting precisely from explaining what ‘impact revolution’ means and entails (in these same pages, the notion of so-called “triple helix of risk-return-impact” makes an appearance), to then go on and narrate the stories of entrepreneurs who got it before anyone else, and ending by outlining the role of investors who are already driving companies towards the concept of “impact in their products”. Subsequently, Cohen deals with the effects of the impact revolution within large enterprises and then with the meaning of philanthropy, “to ensure that people’s life and the environment improve as much as possible.” Finally, the last two sections of the book are dedicated to how much governments and institutions can do and to how much progress we still need to make.
As the author writes at one point: “We cannot hold on to a system that actively seeks to have a positive impact while it simultaneously gives rise to negative consequences that force governments to spend a fortune to solve them.”
Ronald Cohen’s book is, unquestionably, a fascinating and visionary one, to be read and perused with much care – with Italy and Italian companies in mind, too.
Impact. La rivoluzione che sta cambiando il capitalismo (original title: IMPACT: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change)
Ronald Cohen
LUISS University Press, 2022
The Italian version of IMPACT: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change, a book that outlines a future where good corporate culture is best realised, has been released in Italy
We should pay attention to profits, but also to ethics; we should focus on being successful across the board, not just in terms of budget – surely, this is the future of economy and production. A future whose main features have already been outlined, though several companies and large territories still find it difficult to grasp them; a future that, at a global level, already has a name: impact revolution. Impact. La rivoluzione che sta cambiando il capitalismo (IMPACT: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change), written by Ronald Cohen and recently published in the Italian language, revolves precisely around this concept,
The work sort of summarises the brand new future that awaits our economic and social systems, something that it is clearly explained from the beginning: “The world must change, but we cannot change it by throwing money at old ideas that no longer work; we need new ideas and approaches.” In other words, it means that we need to find an alternative way to build a new world where inequality can decrease, where natural resources can regenerate and where people can benefit from a shared wealth. These expectations do not entail establishing sanctimonious companies dedicated to charity for charity’s sake, but something that is completely new as compared to the past (and, largely, to the present). Cohen – venture capitalist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, innovator in the field of social finance – attempts to impose some order on the ideas revolving around the impact revolution. Starting precisely from explaining what ‘impact revolution’ means and entails (in these same pages, the notion of so-called “triple helix of risk-return-impact” makes an appearance), to then go on and narrate the stories of entrepreneurs who got it before anyone else, and ending by outlining the role of investors who are already driving companies towards the concept of “impact in their products”. Subsequently, Cohen deals with the effects of the impact revolution within large enterprises and then with the meaning of philanthropy, “to ensure that people’s life and the environment improve as much as possible.” Finally, the last two sections of the book are dedicated to how much governments and institutions can do and to how much progress we still need to make.
As the author writes at one point: “We cannot hold on to a system that actively seeks to have a positive impact while it simultaneously gives rise to negative consequences that force governments to spend a fortune to solve them.”
Ronald Cohen’s book is, unquestionably, a fascinating and visionary one, to be read and perused with much care – with Italy and Italian companies in mind, too.
Impact. La rivoluzione che sta cambiando il capitalismo (original title: IMPACT: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change)
Ronald Cohen
LUISS University Press, 2022