Social Investing Says a Lot about a Person

Existential choice. Examples:

• Purchasing a Gucci handbag
• Driving a Prius
• Investing in a high impact nonprofit

These choices, and the style the choice reflects, say a lot about a person. Had it been a Prada handbag, an Escalade, or tithing, the message would have been different. In our philanthropic decisions we define a social self, a moral identity, or a persona. That so many strive for the philanthropic personhood of the businesslike is one of the saddest things I know. MBA to the core. Stanford, Harvard, Wharton. Results, results, results, effective and efficient, managed, everything has to be managed. These social investors so well socialized to business that even in their dreams they visualize paradise as a well run firm, though a green one, with sod on the roof of the HQ, and maybe a Calder mobile in the atrium. I would not mind working here. Somewhere in there is a cubicle and a career ladder for me.