Fifty Years of Shareholder Value

Fifty years ago, on Sept 13, 1970, Milton Friedman published his seminal essay in The New York Times, where he introduced his shareholder primacy doctrine.
Here’s what Henry Mintzberg, Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies, at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University in Montreal,   thinks about shareholder value today: “Shareholder value has nothing to do with human values.”

Henry Mintzberg:
“Shareholder value has nothing to do with human values.”

To hear that directly from Henry Mintzberg, watch this video:

Professor Henry Mintzberg agreed to publish excerpts from his recent talks and calls on climate change, pandemic, leadership, and rebalancing society. These short videos, Minutes With Mintzberg, about one minute each, are posted regularly on the Collectiver YouTube channel. Subscribe today and be the first to learn from one of the most remarkable contemporary minds.

This “Minute with Mintzberg” is is an excerpt from the fireside chat with Mitch Joel,  produced by CoachingOurselves, a friendly coaching company co-founded by Henry Mintzberg and Phil LeNir.