This Tuesday, Forbes published a long and remarkably in-depth review of The Caring Company, written by Roger Trapp — and Laurent Marbacher and me were genuinely struck by how precisely it engages with the heart of our argument.
The article (see the link to it in my comment) starts from a sharp observation: many well-intentioned initiatives — CSR, TBL, ESG — remain overlays on business as usual. When pressure mounts, numbers still dominate, and the “commitment” quietly fades.
What the review captures well is why we argue that care cannot be an add-on. It has to be fully integrated into the core business processes — how value is created for customers, suppliers, and local communities. Not as virtue signaling and not as a branding exercise.
The review also underlines a point that matters deeply to us: this is not a polite call to “do things a little better.” It challenges some of the most entrenched assumptions of modern business — profit maximization as a goal, scale as a virtue, and leadership as something that can be delegated when it comes to common good.
One line quoted in the article resonates particularly strongly: leaders cannot outsource care the way they outsource training to “assistant coaches.” If they do, their organizations rarely win in the long run.
We’re grateful to Forbes for taking the time to engage seriously with these ideas — and even more encouraged to see that the question of how businesses can serve the common good and prosper as a result is gaining real traction.
Read the Forbes review here