“More than ever before, this is the book our economy needs.”

—Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation

“Business doing good is good business—and this book puts that beyond doubt.”

—David Cameron, former prime minister of the United Kingdom

“Unwilling to settle for easy answers or superficial changes.”

—Senator Michael F. Bennet

“A fresh, balanced, highly readable, and deeply informed case.”

—John Pepper, former chairman and CEO of P&G
More about Accountable

This provocative book takes us inside the fight to save capitalism from itself.

Corporations are broken, reflecting no purpose deeper than profit. But the tools we are relying on to fix them—corporate social responsibility, divestment, impact investing, and government control—risk making our problems worse.

With lively storytelling and careful analysis, O’Leary and Valdmanis cut through the tired dogma of current economic thinking to reveal a hopeful truth: If we can make our corporations accountable to a deeper purpose, we can make capitalism both prosperous and good.

Two iconoclastic investors writing from the frontier of capitalist reform.

About Michael O'LearyAbout Warren Valdmanis

Featured

TED Talk: What makes a job “good”—and the case for investing in people.

Op-ed: An ESG Reckoning is Coming.

Interview: Capitalism must be saved by capitalists, argue these pioneering ESG investors.

Feature: The Promise and Pitfalls of Investing for Change

Interview: Companies are making pledges to cut emissions and investing in climate solutions. Can capitalists save the planet?

Op-ed: To make companies sustainable, we must make them accountable.

Interview: “How companies can save capitalism (and maybe the planet),” with Robin Pomeroy for the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset podcast.

Interview: “We’ve misdrawn the battle lines of capitalism,” with Marguerite Ward for Business Insider’s Better Capitalism series.

Interview: Corporate accountability is missing one big thing—accountability.

Op-ed: Stakeholder capitalism: Moving forward from mere happy talk towards substantive action from our corporations.

Review: Accountable named one of the best business books of the year in 2020 for ‘Big Ideas & New Perspectives.’

Op-ed: Investors are starting to demand better of the companies they own.

Review: A sharp, ethically sound endorsement for capitalist reformation.

Interview: Covid is hastening the rise of stakeholder capitalism, with hosts Paul Sweeney and Vonnie Quinn.

Op-ed: Impact investing won’t save capitalism. But its example might.

Lecture: “How we can save capitalism,” delivered at the London School of Economics.

Review: A well-informed and idealistic call for a more ethical version of capitalism… O’Leary and Valdmanis offer an astute record of American capitalism’s best and worst qualities.

Feature: Sustainable investing has long focused on excluding companies. There’s a new sheriff in town.

Interview: Companies and their employees are increasingly seeking ways to embrace socially responsible practices. What does conscious capitalism mean?

Feature: ‘Accountable’ featured on the Moral Money newsletter’s rundown of recent books covering ESG.

Review: Accountable named Editor’s Choice in August.

Feature: A new book out this month explores this critical question: Where previous efforts at reforming capitalism have failed, can a new commitment to corporate purpose succeed?

Debate: Can capitalism deliver social good after Covid-19?

Op-ed: Getting people to trust big business will take much more than simply reopening the economy

Review: Publishers Weekly featured Accountable in their Top 10 Business & Economics books for their Fall 2020 Announcements.

Op-ed: In June, Danone and the US Department of Labor gave us two different views of capitalism.

Review: Accountable proposes creating corporations that live up to common values… It suggests rechartering corporations around purpose, holding them accountable and assuring the purpose is profitable.

Interview: Bestselling author Michael Covel’s podcast on investments, economics, and entrepreneurship.

Op-ed: Impact investing goes mainstream.

Interview: Aaron Niederhelman’s podcast on food, environment, and climate stability.

Keynote: Social Impact: Why Even Bother?

Interview: Income inequality is an issue that affects the poor, middle class, and rich. Warren Valdmanis joins Andy Tanner to discuss solutions for challenges facing capitalism. 

Interview: “Empowering investors to keep companies accountable,” on John Treadgold’s Good Future podcast.

Op-ed: Measure profit to people—all people. Corporate profitability is too narrow a measure of a company’s financial impact.

ACCOUNTABLE: THE RISE OF CITIZEN CAPITALISM   AVAILABLE NOW 

ACCOUNTABLE: THE RISE OF CITIZEN CAPITALISM   AVAILABLE NOW 

ACCOUNTABLE: THE RISE OF CITIZEN CAPITALISM   AVAILABLE NOW 

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Accountable takes a fresh look at a fundamental question of capitalism—whose interests should corporations serve. Its call for collective action by consumers, workers, and investors to reorient corporate behavior may foretell the next decade.

—Jonathan Levin, dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business
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O’Leary and Valdmanis have given us thoughtful, well-researched, and compelling ways to rethink how to assure that prosperity and fairness are linked.

—Deval Patrick, former governor of Massachusetts
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Accountable is striking in its clarity and insights born from the authors’ experience as investors on the front lines of capitalism’s excesses and potential.

—Daniella Ballou-Aares, CEO and cofounder of the Leadership Now Project
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A well-informed and idealistic call for a more ethical version of capitalism. . . . O’Leary and Valdmanis offer an astute record of American capitalism’s best and worst qualities.

⁠—Publishers Weekly
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Combining compelling examples and analytical insights, O’Leary and Valdmanis. . . provide a road map for how shareholders and citizens can and must transform the corporate landscape to save capitalism from itself.

—Oliver Hart, Harvard University, 2016 Nobel laureate in economics
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