Week 23: Most People [in Finance] Don’t Give a Monkey’s About Climate Change

Dear all,

There are many things that are catastrophic for humanity without being catastrophic for finance. This is about business leaders, their silence, their quiet acceptance. The silence of CEOs in the face of the sociopathic chaos created by a handful of people with money and power is one of the biggest failures of leadership in corporate history.

Where are they when we need them? In the corner, shuffling their shoes.

The irony is that most of our supine CEOs have been through some sort of leadership training. Almost 40 percent of S&P 500 bosses have an MBA. Worldwide, there are currently 160 management programs specializing in leadership. And don't forget the shelves of corporate leadership books published every year. Amazon lists more than 30,000, urging CEOs to Start with Why if they want to go from Good to Great.

The world’s CEOs are not saying a word about autocracy, lies, deceptions, or market manipulation. They are putting their heads down, either enjoying the ride (unlikely) or too frightened to speak (probably).

Either way, leadership is totally absent. And we must entertain the possibility that a descent into theocracy or autocracy might suit many of them quite well.

When the reckoning for this era arrives, as it will, they will be among those who have to answer for their actions.