Good morning.
I mark my tenure at Fortune with the annual publication of the Change the World list, year nine of which comes out this morning. This is our strongest statement that the success of business cannot be measured by financial metrics alone. Business exists, as Oxford’s Colin Meyer has written, to “profitably solve the problems of people and planet.” Change the World celebrates those that do that best.
How do we choose them? The powerhouse team of Matt Heimer and Erika Fry first look for companies that have made a sizable, measurable and durable impact on a specific societal problem. Then they and our editorial staff evaluate the business results—knowing such solutions are only sustainable if they can be profitable. And finally, they consider the degree of innovation, and whether others have followed the example. Social change, after all, is driven by imitation, not exclusion.
