‘I am at one with the world. My spirit is free of all encumbrances. And I have made financially sound investment decisions.’

So might say a certain type of enlightened shareholder. And these are valuable people, no doubt, but not entirely relevant to this forum. Such is the importance of punctuation; but for a single hyphen, I would now be launching into a discussion about how we might all become not just valuable shareholders, but transcendent ones too. Which would not be such a bad thing, I guess: all shareholders could probably do with a little more enlightenment (though they should beware false profits, of course).

Given the absence of that hyphen, what we’re actually talking about here is an enlightened approach to company direction, for the good of shareholders. As UK Sustainable Investment and Finance (UKSIF) puts it: ‘long-termism and regard for other stakeholders can be achieved within current principles by ensuring that directors pursue shareholders’ interests in an enlightened and inclusive way’.

Is this an ‘alternative’ way of doing things in the corporate world? It certainly sounds like it. Benevolent guidance, consideration for others and an emphasis on working for the greater good: it seems that the concept of enlightened shareholder value isn’t so far removed from new-age thinking after all! So next time you smell incense in the boardroom, it probably means that those shares are getting really high.

Ryan Wallman is a Senior Writer at WellmarkPerspexa, a business-to-business communications agency with years of experience in what we like to think of as enlightening investor communications.

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