As this blog posting will go live on election day in the US, I wanted to take a moment to preflect, to look ahead at a plausible future, rather than to dwell on the short-comings of the recent past. We have a real opportunity to reposition the United States as a global leader once more, though as the Economist put it a while back, with brains not bullets.

I have just returned from a three week road trip with stops as wide-ranging as New Jersey and Amsterdam. A little bit of Maine, Pennsylvania and throw in some New York City and DC, add in conference attendees from all over the planet and two things are very clear: EVERYONE is watching the US election, and everyone has an opinion about America. Well, maybe not everyone- I know there are pressing issues around the world that do not involve the US today. But being an American abroad... it sure feels like all eyes are upon us.

Perhaps what struck me more than anything is this—people around the world actually care about America. We are quite unpopular globally; we are seen as invasive, destructive and hypocritical. As we face what is by far the most important election in a generation if not more, it would not have surprised me if citizens of the world wanted to see us fail once and for all... to finally add that last nail in our geopolitical coffin. But they don’t. They want to see us get it right. They would rather see a United States that rebuilds its power and uses it for good, with respect, intelligence and a sophisticated world view, rather than us fade into darkness. 

So what is the America that could be? If I were to preflect on a vision, it would be—at least in part—one in which we rebuild our economy by investing heavily in the resources of the future. Renewable energy of course, but also innovators and entrepreneurs who are willing and able to provide a new means of making investment decisions and addressing the challenges the world community faces. One in which due-diligence includes understanding how any investment might perform not only in a financial sense, but also the impacts for people, communities and the environment. In the last few months we’ve learned critical lessons about investments in companies that grow by feeding on their own foundations. We now have an opportunity to start again, to take a new approach that insists we ask questions about the impact, and sustainability, of our investments.

A new view of investment need not necessarily mean a tradeoff in financial return, though it might and that can be good as well. Many of us believe that the investments that will produce the highest financial returns, at least in the long run, will be those that are not only sustainable in that they don’t consume more than they produce, but that are actually regenerative. We now have a ‘do-over,’ a chance to try a new approach that might allow this country to stand as an example of investment that brings returns on all fronts.   

Though I put forth this entry on election day, make no mistake this is not a partisan issue. Democrat and Republican alike, regardless of campaign trail rhetoric, must craft a new vision for America. One in which personal aspirations are not necessarily pushed aside, but one in which people achieve their own success directly by helping the planet and all its inhabitants—human, animal, plant or otherwise. This is no easy task, and may require incentives and education, but if as a country we demand this new direction, we can much more effectively direct the resources we have—natural, financial and human. We have the opportunity to be proactive, not reactive. The world is with us. We can do this.