Welcome to the twenty-ninth issue of CEE News!

More than 15 years ago, Jim Collins, author of the best selling Good to Great, introduced the flywheel as a business metaphor. “A company achieves excellence,” Collins wrote, by “relentlessly pushing a giant, heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough.”

The last edition of the Harvard Business Review of 2017 included a ranking of the 100 top CEO’s in the world.  What’s interesting, is that the rubric for making the list included not only financial results, but environment, governance, and social (EGS) measures as well.

Prior to 2015, HBR judged CEO performance solely on the basis of financial performance. Today, however, ESG ratings became a game changing factor. Based on financial performance alone, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos would have made the top of the list. This year 88% of global companies scored higher on ESG measures than Amazon.

Why the change in measurement standards? A recent survey of investment executives found that they use ESG information because they believe it is material to investment performance. Nearly half said they believe that a company with a high ESG score is a less risky investment.

This month’s CEE News includes a feature of one such company. Read our Business In Focus to learn about how Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing hardwires ESG into its Core Values and Beliefs.

Happy reading!