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Intended Consequences: How to Build Market-Leading Companies with Responsible Innovation
WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLERA pioneering venture capitalist provides an actionable framework for founders and executives to create innovative, enduring companies built for growth and for societal good.
The Milton Friedman philosophy that companies exist only to increase shareholder value is dead and buried. The old Silicon Valley tenets of “move fast and break things,” minimum viable products, and hyper engagement at any cost must be replaced with new principles for an era of responsible innovation. We can no longer manage businesses solely for growth. With innovation comes to generate returns beyond profits and to recenter technology as a force for good in the world. This requires a shift in the way organizations approach and value work.
A company’s mindset—its intent to do good, avoid harmful consequences, and innovate responsibly—is not enough. That mindset must be supported by a business model, a mechanism that leaders must intentionally and proactively build along with the company from the ground up, one that incentivizes and rewards the organization for fulfilling its intentions. Companies need a new set of KCIs, or key consequence indicators, that measure factors such as its impact on customers’ energy consumption, whether its product is being used equally across socioeconomic groups, or if it is actually solving the social problem it is addressing. Not only is this the right thing to do—increasingly, it is what customers, employees, and shareholders demand of business.
In this inspiring, practical, and actionable guide, Hemant
lays out the argument for why a new model of company building and leadership is necessary—and how it can lead to better performanceexplores why social-good businesses are some of the greatest opportunities today, detailing examples of billion-dollar startups that are addressing inequality, climate change, systemic societal problems, and chronic disease—all while generating profit and positive shareholder returnspresents a topic-by-topic road map that addresses business models, artificial intelligence, ethical growth, culture, governance, and good citizenship
Intended Consequences is designed as the ultimate playbook for founders, entrepreneurs, leadership teams, and investors on how to build and maintain a responsible innovation company.
The Milton Friedman philosophy that companies exist only to increase shareholder value is dead and buried. The old Silicon Valley tenets of “move fast and break things,” minimum viable products, and hyper engagement at any cost must be replaced with new principles for an era of responsible innovation. We can no longer manage businesses solely for growth. With innovation comes to generate returns beyond profits and to recenter technology as a force for good in the world. This requires a shift in the way organizations approach and value work.
A company’s mindset—its intent to do good, avoid harmful consequences, and innovate responsibly—is not enough. That mindset must be supported by a business model, a mechanism that leaders must intentionally and proactively build along with the company from the ground up, one that incentivizes and rewards the organization for fulfilling its intentions. Companies need a new set of KCIs, or key consequence indicators, that measure factors such as its impact on customers’ energy consumption, whether its product is being used equally across socioeconomic groups, or if it is actually solving the social problem it is addressing. Not only is this the right thing to do—increasingly, it is what customers, employees, and shareholders demand of business.
In this inspiring, practical, and actionable guide, Hemant
lays out the argument for why a new model of company building and leadership is necessary—and how it can lead to better performanceexplores why social-good businesses are some of the greatest opportunities today, detailing examples of billion-dollar startups that are addressing inequality, climate change, systemic societal problems, and chronic disease—all while generating profit and positive shareholder returnspresents a topic-by-topic road map that addresses business models, artificial intelligence, ethical growth, culture, governance, and good citizenship
Intended Consequences is designed as the ultimate playbook for founders, entrepreneurs, leadership teams, and investors on how to build and maintain a responsible innovation company.
209 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 25, 2022
11 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Hemant Taneja
4 books13 followersI am the CEO of General Catalyst, a founder, investor, and author.
My vision for General Catalyst is to be the world’s foremost investment and transformation company, supporting global resilience through applied AI. I first laid out my AI thesis in my 2018 book Unscaled. I believe in investing in the critical systems that underpin modern democracies and their allies.
I am an early investor in Stripe, Samsara (NYSE: IOT), Snap (NYSE: SNAP), Gitlab (NASDAQ: GTLB), Grammarly, Gusto, Applied Intuition, Anduril, Ro, and Canva. My recent focus has been on Applied AI and sustainability with focus on companies like Crescendo and Re:Build Manufacturing.
My 2020 book, UnHealthcare, co-authored with Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of Jefferson Health, details our thesis for how the healthcare system needs to transform a “sick care” system into a Health Assurance system that is proactive, accessible and affordable. I have helped create several companies to architect a health assurance system in America including Livongo, Commure, Transcarent, Tendo, Homeward, and Hippocratic.
I also serve as the Founder and Chairman of the Health Assurance Transformation Company (HATCo) that is working closely with several major health systems worldwide to drive their transformations.
I’m an advocate for Responsible Innovation, as outlined in my 2022 book Intended Consequences: How to Build Market-Leading Companies with Responsible Innovation.
In addition to my roles serving on many of our portfolio company boards, I am also Co-Founder and Chairman of the non-profits Responsible Innovation Labs and Advanced Energy United, trustee at Northeastern University and the Stanford School of Medicine Board of Fellows, and am a founding board member of Khan Lab School, an innovative K-12 school.
I hold five degrees from MIT: M.Eng. EECS, S.M. Operations Research, S.B. Biology, S.B. Mathematics, and S.B. EECS. And I’m a proud husband and father to three kids.
My vision for General Catalyst is to be the world’s foremost investment and transformation company, supporting global resilience through applied AI. I first laid out my AI thesis in my 2018 book Unscaled. I believe in investing in the critical systems that underpin modern democracies and their allies.
I am an early investor in Stripe, Samsara (NYSE: IOT), Snap (NYSE: SNAP), Gitlab (NASDAQ: GTLB), Grammarly, Gusto, Applied Intuition, Anduril, Ro, and Canva. My recent focus has been on Applied AI and sustainability with focus on companies like Crescendo and Re:Build Manufacturing.
My 2020 book, UnHealthcare, co-authored with Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of Jefferson Health, details our thesis for how the healthcare system needs to transform a “sick care” system into a Health Assurance system that is proactive, accessible and affordable. I have helped create several companies to architect a health assurance system in America including Livongo, Commure, Transcarent, Tendo, Homeward, and Hippocratic.
I also serve as the Founder and Chairman of the Health Assurance Transformation Company (HATCo) that is working closely with several major health systems worldwide to drive their transformations.
I’m an advocate for Responsible Innovation, as outlined in my 2022 book Intended Consequences: How to Build Market-Leading Companies with Responsible Innovation.
In addition to my roles serving on many of our portfolio company boards, I am also Co-Founder and Chairman of the non-profits Responsible Innovation Labs and Advanced Energy United, trustee at Northeastern University and the Stanford School of Medicine Board of Fellows, and am a founding board member of Khan Lab School, an innovative K-12 school.
I hold five degrees from MIT: M.Eng. EECS, S.M. Operations Research, S.B. Biology, S.B. Mathematics, and S.B. EECS. And I’m a proud husband and father to three kids.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 27, 2023
A very good book on how to think ahead on future unintended consequences (especially in the startup world but also in traditional companies). Definitely worth a read!
February 20, 2023
Excellent ideas - quick B-book read doe the ethically concerned
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews