Good morning.
One reason the ESG investing movement has gone awry is that it focused more on minimizing risk than on maximizing impact. In the venture world, it is “impact” that holds sway, and that’s where you find visionary founders whose goal from day one was to make the world a better place.
Davis Smith, founder of Cotopaxi, the outdoor gear company, is one of those—its motto is “Gear for Good.” Smith was our guest on Leadership Next this week, and he explains why he abandoned plans to join a nonprofit and instead became an entrepreneur: “I wanted to have a bigger impact.” From the beginning, he pledged to give away at least 1% of revenue, and in some years significantly more than that.
