The Generosity Crisis

CHAPTER 3From Shareholder Value to Shareholder Values

Jamal merges onto Pacific Coast Highway with giddy anticipation. It's his first time out in his brand-new Tesla Model X, a top-of-the-line model featuring three motors. Now he wants to really open it up on this iconic highway. After all, the Tesla salesperson wowed Jamal with impressive stats: zero to 60 in just 2.5 seconds, a quarter-mile time of under 10 seconds, and more than 1,000 horsepower with an extremely high torque unique to electric motors. Pressed back into his leather seat, Jamal floors it. He notices admiring glances from other drivers as he nimbly zips in and out of traffic. Looking down, he marvels at all the digital features. It's like an iPhone on wheels.

But our newly minted Tesla owner isn't only thrilled by his new car's performance. He's joyful knowing he's doing his part to save the world.

All this horsepower and comfort comes sans environmental harm. In his head, he tallies all the gas he won't be burning up flying down the PCH. However, he doesn't spare a thought for the fact he's cruising on top of a 1,300-pound battery composed of exotic metals mined in brutal places like the Congo, or that the electricity to recharge his car will likely come from a coal- or gas-fired power plant. Neither of those facts appear in Tesla's expert marketing and sales campaign—only the good he'll be doing for the earth, plus the fun he'll have accomplishing it.

Zooming down the California coast, Jamal passes a billboard ...