This is for people that have interest in business at any scale. You might be working for a company. Running your own company. Or maybe just thinking about starting your own. Whatever it is, this free newsletter is for you.
Each post will explore one question about business at a time. I'll grill (like a barbecue!) the assumptions and rules that we take for granted about business today. By doing so, I want to build my own theories, and start some discussions with people, on how to make better businesses for tomorrow.
Eventually, I'll go and apply those theories in practice by scaling up larger organizations.
There's two things that build the foundation of this newsletter.
#1: The Breakthrough Challenge
There's a book called The Breakthrough Challenge, by John Elkington — a world renowned economist that made the triple bottom line model — and Jochen Zeitz, the former CEO of Puma [1]. But this isn't just the title of a book.
The Breakthrough Challenge is a call and movement (that's ongoing!) for business leaders to breakthrough on the urgent crises facing the world today. It is also a call to break through out of the typical business model, which runs while mostly ignoring the many problems of the world, and often underestimating its costs on people and the environment.
Lets consider how businesses are running today.
Today's businesses calculates most things, and drives most decisions in terms of money. But in the book, I learned that other forms of capital, like the environment and social capital to name a few, are important to quantify and try to understand. This enables businesses to gain a deeper understanding of their true costs and returns, and make decisions that are better for the people, planet, and their own monetary profits. These other forms of capital are no less important than the abstractions we have created for money.
Businesses have money and power. So far, in the brief history of humanity, what have they done with this power? It's common for them to lobby for the interests of Big Business or Small Business by collaborating with politicians and the government, at the expense of most people [2], [3]. They take over places with people and life, and build their resource-intensive operations, like mines [4], [5] or data centers [6], [7] there. They often do so with little research, and apply time-sensitive pressure to the locals there so they hardly have the time to decide autonomously [8], [9]. And some businesses are more egregious: they fund wars [10], [11] help set up government dictatorships [12], [13] and profit directly from the destruction of people and the environment [14], [3], [15].
But it's because businesses have power, that they're uniquely positioned to lead positive change. They should fight against corruption, instead of playing with corruption as part of doing business. They can champion human rights and other important issues, while collaborating with but not having to wait on the orders of governments and non-profit organizations (NGOs). Governments and politicians are often slow and too used to the status quo to truly improve people's welfare, and NGOs don't often have as much power as businesses.
Any business can do this. A large institution, or a fledgling startup can also take meaningful action. For example: Patagonia, a certified B Corp outdoor apparel company, transferred 100% of its voting stock to a purpose trust and 98% of its nonvoting stock to a nonprofit fighting the environmental crisis, committing all profits not reinvested to protecting the planet -- contributing over $240 million to environmental organizations to date [16], [17]. Ben & Jerry's, a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever, operates as a certified B Corp with a social mission embedded in its corporate charter, advocating for racial justice, climate action, and refugee rights while maintaining independent board oversight of its social mission [18]. They're not perfect, but they're genuinely trying worthy things, and more of us need to do this work.
Elkington emphasized that students, teachers, and leaders in business are already clued in on the need to evolve past "business as usual". Some MBA programs have evolved their teachings, like Oxford Saïd Business School (where 51% of core MBA teaching hours contain ESG-related content and a mandatory Climate Bootcamp was introduced for incoming students) [19] and Yale School of Management (which created the first joint MBA/MEM degree in 1982 and integrates sustainability throughout its core curriculum), [20] after students and companies have demanded better education [21], [22]. New generations of leaders should be well equipped to make their businesses serve the people and planet, and be able to facilitate dialogue with different stakeholders on this, instead of only understanding finance and traditional management.
The new business leaders of today can intentionally create systems, funding, and a business model that is more sustainable and humanistic from day one. They can hire better, whatever that means to you. They can try to do everything better, and learn from their mistakes too. They can dive in with their own, better business philosophy. This is a significant advantage over incumbents, which have the task of steering a giant corporation into the people-planet-profit agenda.
Ultimately, Elkington says that the Breakthrough Challenge is about transforming the field of economics, the education around it, and capitalism itself, for the sake of the world and future.
#2: A deeper breakthrough is necessary
In fields of society
If we want a better world, we don't just have to start with transforming economics and businesses.
So let's take a step back. Why do we care about people and the planet? It's because they inherently matter, and life is precious. But what matters the most? Is it material things, and the success of some companies? No.
Life, and particularly human rights, inherently possesses the highest and most supreme value. Everyone is, absolutely, equal. There are more superficial things like intelligence, identities, education, accomplishments or wealth, but this doesn't make anyone better than anyone else.
Here's the essential: everyone has equal and unlimited potential.
The world of today doesn't respect the dignity and potential of all people. It stifles people and suppresses them. There's a massive disparity in basic needs, opportunities and education. For the most part, the society of today doesn't respect the planet either.
If we want to create a society that nurtures life, how can we approach this in a more practical way? Human society is made of a lot of different fields of activity. For example: art, humanities, politics, education for all fields, the sciences, governments, NGOs, and so on.
For every field, lets make the respect for all life the foundation of all of their innovations and activities, rather than self-interested priorities. We can create more positive value out of the existing systems, gradually, rather than doing away with them. The modern world also has many conveniences and innovations that people greatly enjoy, and need. At the same time, we can steer ourselves in a more sustainable direction.
By doing so, it seems like we would make a lot of progress, where every person can thrive and the planet can too.
But how are we going to get there? What strategies should we use, or issues shall we focus on? It seems like it would be incredibly complex to do this work for even one field, much less the countless others.
It's up to you
Since there are people that work in every field, let's look at the level of each individual. In the midst of life's daily challenges in our unique situations, do people in every field really have the courage to improve their workplaces? Do they feel happy, or empowered in their personal lives?
As much as there is talk about large oppressive systems, systems are made of people. People have thoughts and feelings about others that can greatly vary, and we also have our biases. As many writers have noted, war and peace also starts in the minds of people.
All the problems that we see today come from what is in people's hearts and minds. As the UNESCO Constitution states, "since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed" [23]. The United Nations Charter's Preamble affirms a determination "to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours" and "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person" [24].
As long as people still feel like they're stuck in their problems, and feel as if they are unimportant, it'll be difficult for us to collectively breakthrough.
I believe we need to build peace and happiness within our lives to continuously create peace throughout the world.
Each of us is responsible for figuring out how we want to grow, how much we want to transform our lives, and how we want to do it. When we grow, that has a great ripple effect on our daily environments, like work, home, school and any other communities we're part of. Inner growth is the starting point for building meaningful value for ourselves and society.
Any dream, or goal, or passion that you have is significant and important. Let's do our best to achieve all of our dreams.
Wrapping it up
I'm 24. Time is precious, and I want to use each moment intentionally so I'm making progress on my goals. There's also going to be plenty of times where I find out I'm very wrong about something, and have to apologize or make up for my mistakes. I'm just committed to learning and growing.
I see my mission in life as always raising the future, being a good friend, and I will create companies that contribute to long-lasting peace and human happiness. Peace isn't achieved forever — it is actively created for generations. We must raise future generations that are also empowered and committed to create peace, by "courageously, nonviolently fighting against the injustice that makes people suffer" [25].
However, there's intense and often fierce resistance, at any scale, to changing the status quo.
Injustices should be acknowledged for what they are. However, there's also not much use in demonizing and flattening people. That would suck us right back into our endless cycles of hatred and war. In reality, there's no real enemies on this tiny planet, that all living beings share as home. An awareness of this is part of global citizenship [26]. And anyone is capable of changing their ways over time.
Competition is fine, but rather than sabotaging or sacrificing others to get ahead, why not engage in a "humanitarian competition" [27], of countries and companies that compete not merely in terms of money and power, but how well they nurture people and the planet?
Knowing these things, I naturally feel a lot of hope. There is no reason to be anything but sincere, honest and hardworking in all things, including business. Now, where did I get all these nice sounding ideas?
For all of my endeavors, my unshakeable foundation is a life philosophy that honors the supreme dignity of all people, and something I know I can always use to bring out my courage, and win over all my challenges with joy and hope.
I've been able to decide on such a fulfilling purpose for myself through my daily practice of Nichiren Buddhism, and being part of a community that is also committed to helping all people experience real peace and happiness [28], [29].
I'm most inspired by the many books of Daisaku Ikeda [30], a philosopher of Nichiren Buddhism, peace builder, author and poet, who I regard as my mentor in life and faith. He wrote a lot about inner transformation, or "human revolution" in an easy to understand way, which is a term coined by the Soka Gakkai. This name translates to "society for value creation", and it is an international lay Buddhist community based in over 192 countries, including the USA [31], [32]. It is not a coincidence that value is something I bring up a lot in this post, and this is the community that I choose to always actively participate in.
To quote Ikeda:
"If we picture a global society of peace and creative coexistence as an edifice, the ideals of human rights and human security are key pillars that hold it up, while the foundation on which these rest is respect for the dignity of life. If this foundation remains no more than an abstract conceptualization, the entire structure will be unstable and could collapse in the event of a severe challenge or crisis" [33].
The foundation for respecting the dignity of life is still very weak today. It should be strengthened, so nothing can defeat our shared solidarity of people around the world.
I love to read other books about society as well, about particular topics like history, economics and politics. They are all intertwined and inseparable fields. I think that gaining a solid and practical understanding of them is essential to create "New Businesses" that change our systems for the better, and change the rules of capitalism.
So far, I'm simply been repackaging and connecting the ideas and writings of others. Nothing that I've said above is new.
As I write my own very specific questions for BBQ, do research, and write my own very specific answers, that's what will be more of my own thoughts and ideas. Thank you for reading the start of this series.
A message to you
If you're going to build something, consider how you can do it better in every single way you can think of.
Companies talk about excellence, but very often they are only referring to excellence within their company. For example, leading a product from zero to one and refining it so that customers are really delighted and the business makes more money. There might also be excellence in how you interact with co-workers and collaborate with them. It's true that systems thinking within a company and their day-to-day operations is essential to not run out of business, and continue delivering more value.
What are other things to do excellently?
- the organization that you might be building, how you treat and raise people
- how you do hiring
- how you define excellence
- who that is including or excluding
- what the potential consequences are
- how you want to change a certain system or certain rules through the things that you build
- how transparent is your organization, is it trying to clean up and understand its supply chain, etc
There's value in other scales of thinking, like civilization-scale thinking.
There must be people who are passionate and have a desire to properly understand, research, and rigorously form their own opinions on what they're doing with their company. How is the company interacting with society and the systems that we have today?
Is your company merely playing within the rules of old capitalism and old economics, or is it trying to change the rules to make a more fair playing field for all? That's not a binary state. It takes time for an existing or new company to change. Can this company champion people and the planet, and be reasonably profitable business? People who can wake up on most days and be excited by this greater ambition, can probably make it happen.
References
1. John Elkington and Jochen Zeitz, The Breakthrough Challenge. Read interview
2. Deniz Igan and Thomas Lambert, "Bank Lobbying: Regulatory Capture and Beyond," IMF Working Paper WP/19/171, 2019. Lobbying banks were 44.7% less likely to face enforcement actions. PDF
3. David Boyd, "Prioritizing Profits over People and Planet," OHCHR Policy Brief No. 6, 2024. $2.5 billion in oil/gas lobbying 2008-2022 blocked climate legislation; six largest fossil fuel firms made $350 billion in windfall profits in 2022. PDF
4. "Indigenous Villagers Say Consent Was Fabricated for Bauxite Mine in Odisha, India," Intercontinental Cry, Feb 2026. Vedanta Ltd. mining lease on 1,549 hectares; FPIC undermined with rushed procedures, heavy police presence, signatures linked to minors and deceased persons. Link
5. "Development-Induced Displacement of Indigenous Communities in Ecuador," Researching Internal Displacement, Feb 2026. Mirador mine displaced 200+ Shuar families through militarized evictions, manipulated consultation. Link
6. "7 Ways Data Centers Affect US Communities," World Resources Institute, Feb 2026. Average site 224 acres (144% increase since 2022); half in high-environmental-burden areas; $64B in projects delayed/canceled by opposition. Link
7. Liz Mineo, "Why are communities pushing back against data centers?," Harvard Gazette, Apr 2026. Rising electricity rates, enormous water use, tax breaks defunding public services, minimal jobs (20-50 staff). Link
8. "95 percent of fast-track amendment bill submitters opposed to changes," RNZ News, Dec 2025. NZ Fast-track Approvals Amendment Act 2025 cut consultation to 20 working days; 95% of 2,518 submitters opposed. Link
9. Will Atwater, "NC communities push back on AI data centers," NC Health News, Mar 2026. Stokes County farmland rezoned with limited input; NDAs hid project details from residents. Link
10. William D. Hartung, "Profits of War: Top Beneficiaries of Pentagon Spending, 2020-2024," Quincy Institute, Jul 2025. $2.4 trillion in Pentagon contracts, $771 billion to just five contractors. Link
11. Hanna Duggal, "Who has profited most from the war on Iran?," Al Jazeera, Jun 2026. Saudi Aramco profits up 25% to $32.5bn; defence stocks surged ~90% since Ukraine war. Link
12. Leigh Payne and Gabriel Pereira, "Corporate Complicity in Dictatorships," Oxford University Research Archive, 2014. 17+ corporations face prosecution in Argentina for complicity in the 1976 dictatorship. PDF
13. "Business, War & Dictatorships," European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). Volkswagen in Brazil, Mercedes Benz in Argentina, Lafarge paying ISIS in Syria. Link
14. "Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights," United Nations, 2011. Enterprises must respect human rights and address adverse impacts. PDF
15. "Corporate accountability," Wageningen University & Research, Jun 2026. EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Link
16. "Patagonia, Inc. — Certified B Corporation," B Lab. B Impact score 166.0 (median 50.9). Link
17. "Earth is now our only shareholder," Patagonia. Voting stock to Purpose Trust, 98% nonvoting to Holdfast Collective; $240M+ to environmental causes. Link
18. "Ben & Jerry's Social Mission." Certified B Corp; racial justice, climate, refugee advocacy. Link
19. "Teaching — Sustainability," Saïd Business School, Oxford. 51% MBA core hours ESG; mandatory Climate Bootcamp. Link
20. "Sustainability — Yale School of Management." First joint MBA/MEM (1982); integrated sustainability curriculum. Link
21. "GMAC Prospective Students Survey 2024." 57% of candidates say sustainability important; 37% won't apply without it. Link
22. Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, "MBA students and employers demand profitable solutions for people and planet," Financial Times, Feb 2020. Link
23. "UNESCO Constitution," 1945. Preamble: "since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." Link
24. "United Nations Charter: Preamble," 1945. "Practice tolerance and live together in peace" and "reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person." Link
25. Daisaku Ikeda, "Quotations: Peace." Link Cited for "courageously, nonviolently fighting against the injustice that makes people suffer."
26. "About Global Citizenship," SGI-USA. Link Cited for the concept that awareness of sharing the planet with all beings is part of global citizenship.
27. "Humanitarian Competition," Soka Global. Link Cited for the idea that countries and companies should compete on nurturing people and the planet, not just money and power.
28. Soka Gakkai International. Link Cited as the community of daily Buddhist practice.
29. SGI-USA. Link Cited alongside ref 28.
30. Daisaku Ikeda. Link Cited as the source of inspiration. "I'm most inspired by the many books of Daisaku Ikeda... my mentor in life and faith."
31. Soka Gakkai International. Link Cited when introducing the Soka Gakkai as "an international lay Buddhist community based in over 192 countries."
32. SGI-USA. Link Cited alongside ref 31. Ties "value creation" (the meaning of Soka Gakkai) to the concept of value mentioned throughout the post.
33. Daisaku Ikeda, "2013 Peace Proposal." Link Cited for the blockquote about respect for the dignity of life being the foundation. If it remains abstract, the whole structure collapses.