What does it mean to think like a physicist when it comes to value creation? In this interview by good friend and collaborator, Valeria Maltoni of Conversation Agent, I discuss how we can use the science of change to better understand how value is created and destroyed.

When asked “what’s next for business”, this paragraph from the interview now seems prescient:

The what now will continue until the chaos of the what’s next.

Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England warned this week warned of an impending “financial Armageddon” in the US. Can “Brand Me” survive a changing climate, species collapse and an economic crisis? How many of the ideas that inform our current business practices will stand up to nature’s feedback loop. In 2008 we doubled down. As king pointed out there was no fundamental questioning of the ideas that led to the 2008 crisis. We simply continued to decapitalise with little effective resistance from the distracted business community.

My hope is that my work in capital dynamics can rise out of the what’s next and offer a practical alternative to the “ism” that history tells us keeps chaos company. In the same way as the corporation can decapitalise, I have confidence in corporate law to lead the recapitalisation of society. As one of the first to connect law and thermodynamics reminds us, the purpose of law is to enliven.

Valeria writes on the power of culture to create value that affects positive change and creates lasting impact. Her life’s work gifts people and organisations the power to leave a meaningful legacy. That I continue to theorize and write is in no small part a measure of her success.

Please discover Valeria’s work. Links to her most read articles and regular email.