Hartford Business Journal

28 Hartford Business Journal • October 14, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com RULE OF LAW Attempts to redefine capitalism must also look at philanthropy By John Horak C apitalism is always being criticized in fundamental ways, while philanthropy generally escapes serious scrutiny. I am juxtaposing the two this way because there is a new wave of thought about reforming capital- ism that simultaneously (if unwit- tingly) begs as many questions about philanthropy. The new wave thought readily embraces capitalism's ability to create wealth, but wants to spread it around more widely — not by taxa- tion and redistribution, but at the level of corporate governing boards. The traditional obligation of corporate boards is to govern solely for the financial gain of shareholders, but the new wave requires them also to attend to matters of social justice that benefit the public generally. It does this by requiring corporate boards to also take into ac- count the needs of other "stake- holders." Stakeholders is a broad term — it can mean the community, environment, nonprofits, employees, suppliers, customers, financiers and more. In August, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon convinced the National Business Roundtable to endorse the stakeholder concept. In 2018, Leadership Greater Hartford promoted an organization called Conscious Capitalism, which (from the web) puts it this way: "Conscious businesses are galvanized by higher purposes that serve, align, and integrate the interests of all their major stake- holders, … are driven by service to … all the people the business touches, and the planet we all share togeth- er … to evolve our world so that bil- lions of people can flourish, leading lives infused with passion, purpose, love and creativity; a world of freedom, harmony, prosperity and compassion." The questions that stakeholder capitalism pose for philanthropy are self-evident in the aspirational words quoted above. These words are, essentially, a philanthropic- sector mission statement found in OPINION & COMMENTARY John Horak PUBLISHER'S NOTE Change is the only constant By Joe Zwiebel W elcome to the Hartford Business Journal's new format and frequency. This week HBJ is announcing it will be moving to a biweekly print schedule as it focuses more on its digital news offerings. Beginning with this issue, HBJ is also unveiling a new redesigned print publica- tion that lends itself more toward fea- tures, long-form journalism, analysis and a deeper form of engagement for readers. The move comes months after HBJ launched a new website that includes more online news content than ever before. A good deal has been written over the last couple of years about the "lean back" experience that print provides a reader, versus the "lean forward" experience of digital content consumption. I first heard this expressed by Andrewr Rash- bass, CEO of the Economist, so I'll attribute it to him, though many have expressed and studied this phenomenon. We have plenty of data that backs this up. The average reader spends 20 to 30 minutes with their print copy, while the average website vis- it is under two minutes, as readers grab a particular piece of informa- tion that they want right now. Many readers have told me about their special rituals with our publi- cation, and they are always gratify- ing. The developer who takes the paper home on weekends and reads it early Saturday morning while the family sleeps. Or, the banker who has a special mid-morning ritual at the local coffee house when HBJ lands on his desk, and the many readers who consume lunch and HBJ concurrently, spilling a little salad dressing or red sauce on our pages. Sound familiar? For many months, we've had discussions about the way our print publication relates to our digital offerings. Today, nearly all of our readers consume our content both in print and digitally. Since a major redesign of our website a few months back, we've been looking hard at our publishing frequency, along with the look, feel and overall readability and relevance of our now 27-year-old regional business journal. Our job is to give you the information you are looking for in print, digitally or both. As we have made sizeable invest- ments into digital delivery, we must work hard to differentiate print content from online news. Our new website was a major undertaking and a major investment in serv- ing the need for up-to-the-minute news content, as well as the context that more than a decade of story archives can provide to anyone who really wants to understand the mar- ket, and its movement. The other side of that is to care- fully craft a print experience that is less frenetic, and lends itself far more toward features and long- form stories. News breaks online. Stories with deeper context and per- spectives are the domain of print. And for advertisers, both are important, as B2B brands strive to make both logic driven, but also emotional connections with you, our readers. Please let us know what you think of these changes. At Hartford Business Journal, we will continue to work hard to deliver you the business news and information you can use to run your business, and understand the Central Connecticut marketplace. As the world of media continues to evolve we will do our best to serve you. Joe Zwiebel is the founding publisher and president of the Hartford Business Journal. Joe Zwiebel

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