Capitalists, Arise!

The legendary CEO presents “a challenge to America’s captains of business . . . to reclaim capitalism as a means of creating wealth and shared prosperity” (Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation).   Peter Georgescu arrived in this country as a penniless Romanian refugee and rose to become the CEO of Young & Rubicam. This is why he's so heartsick that with flat wages, disappearing jobs, and a shrinking middle class, his kind of rags-to-riches story doesn't seem possible now. But he has a message for his fellow CEOs: we're the ones who must take the lead in fixing the economy.   Today, America has greater wealth inequality and lower social mobility than just about any other country in the developed world. As Georgescu demonstrates, this is because free-market capitalism has been hijacked by shareholder primacy. Where once our business leaders looked to the needs and interests of a variety of stakeholders—employees, community members, the business itself—now they're myopically focused on maximizing their shareholders' quarterly returns.   In Capitalists, Arise!, Georgescu offers concrete, pro-capitalist actions we can take to create a better future—one in which shareholders would do even better! In the long run, businesses can thrive only when society is healthy and strong. This book is a manifesto calling on capitalists to heal the nation that has given them so much.