I had an exchange with Ben Thompson earlier today, and I've been thinking about it a lot. Regardless of who is right about the issue, I realized Ben is much more qualified to tell us how rich white guys are going to make business decisions. And we should listen to him.
I'm a fan of Ben's writing. I think he does a great job of making sense of business landscapes. But when we change the frame to try to understand how to improve the social outcomes, we can see his limitations. And I think that says a lot.
I'll try to be more clear about what I'm saying here. I believe Ben is making it clear that the men who make it to the top of these mega corporations are not influenced by the social harm they are doing. They won't be swayed by what it means to do the right thing.
Ben wants us to respond by finding other ways to influence these men that fit their capitalistic sensibilities. But I come away with a different message altogether. Men who lack the self-awareness to engage with social impact are entirely unfit to wield such unimaginable power.
