Sir John Kay on why almost everything we are told about business is wrong

In this podcast Sir John Kay, one of the most original economic thinkers of our time, talks about what companies often get wrong. Drawing from his latest book, The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century: Why Almost Everything We Are Told About Business Is Wrong, he argues that chasing money instead of meaning is the first folly of modern corporations. Often times they focus far more than is necessary on quarterly numbers. Buzzwords like "maximising shareholder value" look great on power point slides. "No one has an epitaph on their grave that said he maximized shareholder value", he says. He shares many examples where behemoths disappeared gradually and then suddenly after shifting their purpose to maximising shareholder value. The conversation also turns to ethics. He quotes Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mocking Bird - "I can't behave one way at home and another in town" addressing that the company and the individual shouldn't have different moral codes. "There isn't a separation in my mind between ethics and morality as applied to business and ethics and morality as applied to life. They are one and the same".

You can listen to Sir John Kay on why almost everything we are told about business is wrong online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Sir John Kay on why almost everything we are told about business is wrong is an episode from Indicast Podcast Network - Mother Feed by Indicast Podcast Network.

This episode is 47:16 long.

This episode was published on Feb 14, 2026.

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