Higher Ground

INTRODUCTION

Rethinking Ethical Business (Just Don’t Say “Ethics”)

In spring 2023, Laxman Narasimhan held his first earnings call with investors as the new CEO at Starbucks. He spoke of “a crisis of disconnection, where loneliness, division, and polarization have become far too common,” and said that “the everyday ritual of coffee is a powerful way to make connection happen with others and with yourself.”¹ Emphasizing the strengths of the culture at Starbucks, where employees are called “partners,” he cited “a strong partner-first mentality that is both top-down and bottom-up.”

While there are reasons to imagine that a global chain of coffee shops could play a positive and profitable role in countering an epidemic of social isolation, Narasimhan ...