Brian Moynihan: 'It isn't a gimmick. This is how we run the company'

At the heart of today’s Leadership Next episode is the question, “How do you measure stakeholder capitalism?” We’ve been measuring shareholder returns for years – think earnings reports and stock market moves. But how do you judge if a company is successfully caring for its employees, customers and society?  Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, is on a mission to figure that out.  

After all, identifying the companies doing this well is just as important for big investors as it is for job seekers. 

 As chair of the International Business Council, Moynihan is working with the Big Four accounting firms to develop a set of metrics to measure stakeholder capitalism. The group is nearing consensus and, despite the coronavirus pandemic, Moynihan says companies are more committed to adopting these standards than ever before.  

Moynihan himself has been leading his company through the lens of stakeholder capitalism for some time. He and Alan Murray dive into those specifics, including the company’s response to the killing of George Floyd, raising the company’s minimum wage to $20 an hour, its focus on the environment, and Moynihan’s stance on the controversial “bathroom bill” in North Carolina in 2016.