CEOs aren’t solely at fault, though. The board of directors is responsible for setting broad policies which might involve increasing profit even at the cost of human lives. And most publicly traded corporations have mission statements that explicitly prioritize profit over all other concerns because otherwise their shares wouldn’t be as attractive on the stock market.
Mind you, making the CEO job unattractive will make it harder to find people who implement board policies. But ultimately that’s a punctual relief attempt for a systemic issue – the way the stock market operates. Things will not improve as long as we not just allow but require companies to increase profit no matter what.
CEOs aren’t solely at fault, though. The board of directors is responsible for setting broad policies which might involve increasing profit even at the cost of human lives. And most publicly traded corporations have mission statements that explicitly prioritize profit over all other concerns because otherwise their shares wouldn’t be as attractive on the stock market.
Mind you, making the CEO job unattractive will make it harder to find people who implement board policies. But ultimately that’s a punctual relief attempt for a systemic issue – the way the stock market operates. Things will not improve as long as we not just allow but require companies to increase profit no matter what.