What Value Does ESG Deliver to Business? | Alex Edmans

In this episode of the Sustainable Ambassador Podcast, we speak with Alex Edmans about the opportunity for leaders to deliver long-term business value through sustainability.
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Timestamps:
00:15 - Welcome to Sustainability Ambassador Podcast
000:35 - Alex Edmunds Introduction
01:35 - Sustainability & Driving Long Term Value
02:55 - Engaging on Sustainability
04:25 - Milton Friedman & Business Case for Sustainability
08:00 - Corporate Leadership & Sustainability
10:10 - The End of ESG
11:30 - Lessons from Anti-ESG Movement
13:45 - Making ESG Mainstream
14:15 - Measuring Success of Work
15:25 - Advice to Board/ Executives Looking To Start Sustainability Process
About Alex
Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. Alex has a PhD from MIT as a Fulbright Scholar, and was previously a tenured professor at Wharton and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley.
Alex has spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos, testified in the UK Parliament, and given the TED talk “What to Trust in a Post-Truth World” and the TEDx talks “The Pie-Growing Mindset” and “The Social Responsibility of Business” with a combined 2.7 million views. He serves as non-executive director of the Investor Forum, and on Royal London Asset Management’s Responsible Investment Advisory Committee.
Alex’s book, “Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit”, was a Financial Times Book of the Year for 2020, and he is a co-author of “Principles of Corporate Finance” (with Brealey, Myers, and Allen). He has won 25 teaching awards at Wharton and LBS and was named Professor of the Year by Poets & Quants in 2021.
Follow Alex:
Website: alexedmans.com
LinkedIn: / aedmans
Twitter: / aedmans
About Collective Responsibility
Based in Shanghai, Collective Responsibility is a strategic advisory firm founded by Richard Brubaker, one of Asia’s most recognized authorities on sustainability, innovation and responsible leadership.
Founded with the fundamental belief that a sustainable world can only be achieved through awareness of issues, finding tangibility in business cases, and development of cross-sector collaboration, Collective Responsibility acts as a knowledge base, catalyst, and facilitator between stakeholders.
Our mission is to:
- Create a knowledge base and catalyze discussion of issues related to the development of civil society, business sustainability and social development in Asia.
- Develop tangible interests, engagement, and action on issues of sustainability (economic, environmental and societal).
- Develop organizational capacity with the aim to help create stable and profitable enterprises.
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Website: www.coresponsib...
Facebook: / collectivere. .
LinkedIn: / coll. .
Twitter: / beyondbau
WeChat: www.coresponsib...
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[@user-rs3rl1do7n]

So insightful. I specifically like the perspective Alex gives to the Milton Friedman paper. I think Unis have been making a mistake, and unfairly so, by juxtaposing that paper against the Porter & Kramer (2011) paper. Truthfully, businesses exist to provide a need to society, profitably. And the keep portions of the paper Alex highlighted attends to the issues that scholars normally use to critique Friedeman's far reaching ideas!