Martin Luther King Jr., and resolutions worth keeping

We are busy people, always in motion, often taking for granted the things that matter most. Flipping the calendar to 2026 has me thinking about new resolutions, inspiring leaders and enduring values.

Some seven decades ago, MLK was considering this too, and he wrote to his future wife, Coretta Scott, about his resolve to make meaning with his work: “Let us continue to hope, work, and pray in the future we will live to see a warless world, a better distribution of wealth, and a brotherhood that transcends race or color.”   

Seems to me that’s a good and necessary place to start, especially as we consider our own place in the unpredictable year ahead. For guidance, of course, we need a few good books.

From a macro-view, experts differ on what lies ahead for the US economy. Most would agree it is not working for everyone and that corporate and elected leaders would benefit us all by taking a fresh look at stubborn challenges. That’s where Capital Evolution: The New American Economy, the latest thought-provoking book by venture capitalist Seth Levine and finance journalist Elizabeth MacBride, squarely lands. Shareholder primacy, emphasizing the return of short-term profits above all else, long has been the driving force of American capitalism.  However, as Levine and MacBride urge in great detail, this paradigm must shift, given that on the basic measures of financial security— a secure job, decent health coverage, and the simple ability to set aside a $1,000 emergency expense fund — America’s middle class is being hollowed out and those at the very top are taking an expanding share of the Nation’s prosperity.  They call for a new and urgent “dynamic capitalism” that connects tax, environmental, and economic policy to achievable goals of broadening employee ownership, supporting innovation and manufacturing, and alleviating income inequality. This is a quick, absorbing and essential read for every business and thought leader who cares about shaping what comes next.

MLK would endorse this call to action and urge each of us to join it. He knew of the “triumphant capitalism” that accompanied America’s rapid industrialization after the Civil War up and until the reckoning of the Great Depression. His “social gospel” was grounded in the belief that “social problems are moral problems on a larger scale.” Economic inequality in America has deep historical roots and it continues today because many with wealth and power are far too willing to ignore people and bend rules. For more on those topics, I’d recommend: Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank by UVA Professor Justene Hill Edwards, a riveting, infuriating history of Freedman’s Bank, a promising banking venture that failed after taking millions in deposits from newly freed slaves soon after the Civil War, and Wired on Wall Street, Tom Hardin’s forthcoming, autobiographical story of a hardworking young trader who cashed in on a few “harmless” stock tips before getting caught and turning informant for the FBI. Integrity, fairness, and the rule of law still matter and our resolve in holding our leaders and ourselves to those moral principles still defines our collective economic future.

Walter Rauschenbusch, a pastor in Hell's Kitchen, New York, during the early 20th century, inspired MLK’s notion that our social, spiritual and material well-being are inextricably linked and we all must contribute — individually and collectively — to making a better world. That message still resonates from Hell’s Kitchen, this time from Alicia Keys and her unforgettable Broadway show of the same name. In the show’s most resonant song Authors of Forever, Keys echoes MLK’s call for each person to reveal their best selves, make a difference, and build community:  “We are on born on our own. And we die on our own. And we're here to make meaning of what happens in between.” 

For every business leader, and indeed, for every one of us, that’s most assuredly a New Year’s resolution worth trying our best to keep.

Read in the Boston Business Journal

Larry Gennari is a business lawyer and chief curator of Authors & Innovators, an annual business book and ideas festival. Watch recent interviews with authors here. Gennari also teaches Project Entrepreneur, a business fundamentals bootcamp for returning citizens, at BC Law School.