(The Information) There’s no better way to avoid flack for a slew of bad venture capital investments than simply erasing evidence of those deals—right? That’s apparently what a handful of VC partners decided in 2022, a year many will remember for the collapse in startup valuations and several unforgettable blow-ups. In between marking down the…

(The Atlantic) The dramatic, multidimensional implosion of Meta; the nuclear train wreck of Elon Musk’s Twitter; the momentous labor uprising against Amazon—it wasn’t just an unusually disastrous year for America’s biggest tech companies. It was a reckoning. The tech giants that have shaped our lives, online and off, over the course of the 21st century…

(Washington Post) They are not elected to any office. But in the fight against global warming, the world’s billionaires have more influence than many heads of state. As government struggles to move quickly to contain greenhouse gases, ultrawealthyinvestors and philanthropists are increasingly grabbing the reins, using their fortunes to guide the transition to cleaner energy toward their…

(Fast Company) Those of us who make things are idealistic. We see the beauty of how a new idea can change the world and we run after that vision. Sometimes, we put well-intentioned policies in place, or execute new programs, but don’t always think through all the ways they might impact customers, teams, or partners. …

(FT) Vanguard is pulling out of the main financial alliance on tackling climate change at a time when Republicans in the US have stepped up their attacks on financial institutions that they say are hostile to fossil fuels. Read more here.

(GreenBiz) It’s not enough for companies to report about their financial activities and liabilities as required by law, according to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. Nor is it enough for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to demand, as expected soon, that businesses report about climate liabilities as well. Read more here.

(Forbes) A recent New York Times story looked at some of the new course offerings and concentrations at Harvard, Yale, and Wharton business schools, noting that they’re “stepping into the political arena.” The schools simply say curricula focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion and in environmental, social and governance factors are a response to shifting…

(Financial Times) As the clean energy industry takes off – ushering in a new boom for the mining sector that serves it – it’s vital that human rights are not sidelined in the push for low-carbon power. That’s the logic behind a new collaborative initiative announced yesterday at the annual Principles for Responsible Investment conference.…

(Harvard Business Review) There’s a big, poorly kept secret in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) industry: the actual efficacy of an uncomfortably large proportion of our “flagship” services, talking points, and interventions — unconscious bias training, racial sensitivity workshops, the “business case for diversity,” resume anonymization, and the like — is lower than many…

(Financial Times) It’s been a lousy month for the reputation of professional investing. The collapse of FTX revealed that everyone from racy hedge funds to staid pension and sovereign wealth funds had been throwing money at a cryptocurrency exchange with weaker financial controls than Enron. Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to 11 years in prison for…