Frequently Asked Questions on #FiduciaryInAllThings
with FOUNDER George Kinder
Q: How Do I Host a ‘Kitchen Table’ Conversation on FIAT?
A: We encourage every Fiduciary In All Things supporter to host a kitchen table conversation with friends and family. Invite them to take just 15 minutes and imagine a world where every business, institution, and government operates as a Fiduciary In All Things. Establish the power of the vision, its excitement and trustworthiness, for each person before engaging in how it might be done. How would your life change if every institution was trustworthy and humane? Focus on the vision of the world painting its picture. Don’t get stuck in the obstacles. As in life planning, a strong vision turns dreams into success. This energy is crucial for starting a movement. Against this energy, obstacles don’t have much power - they’re just part of the journey. Keep the conversation open and encourage others to spread the word.
Q: What does Fiduciary mean?
A: Fiduciary is derived from the Latin word for trust. It means trustworthy and caring. It is used frequently as a legal term for someone who is trustworthy and caring toward someone else, or toward an entity or principle. In its narrow meaning, one can be a fiduciary to a mafia boss, or to profits over purpose or community. For this reason, we distinguish fiduciary from Fiduciary In All Things.
Q: How is Fiduciary In All Things different from Fiduciary?
A: Fiduciary in all things is the standard we are proposing as a piece of legislation for all institutions (corporate, nonprofit, and governmental) to place the interests of all stakeholders, of truth, of humanity, democracy, and the living planet that sustains us, first above their own self interest.
Q: Corporations and governments serve many constituencies. Won’t it take a Solomon-like response to determine the best course of action when there are conflicts between these various groups?
A: Well, yes indeed. What we are proposing is that CEOs should act more from a place of wisdom, than merely from self-interest. It’s time that leadership formation throughout society put wisdom, and wisdom training, as their highest goal. How do we place humanity, truth, democracy, and the planet ahead of our own self interest? It’s time we studied that, made it a priority.
Q: Is just a single-sentence legislative proposal capable of changing the world?
A: Yes.
Q: What about the thousands of billionaires, is there any way to rein in their power, to make them humane and FIAT as well?
A: In a world where 26 billionaires own as much as 3.8 billion people, or in America where three billionaires own as much as 180 million people, it is clear that the fiduciary standard currently operative in society is to shareholders not to humanity. That would be a violation of FIAT, and institutions that contribute to that inequity would have to change their behavior.
Q: Why do you include non-profits in your FIAT legislative proposal? Aren’t they already a force for good in the world?
A: Unfortunately, many of them become the mouthpieces of corporate power and influence, even of how we understand the ‘truth’ of things in the world. Often their names will imply a ‘good’ for the world when they are delivering its opposite. Ensuring they are Fiduciaries in All Things, including to truth itself, to democracy, Mother Earth, and all of humanity will bring that goodness we expected and intended all non-profits would have.
Pathways to Success
Q: How can you expect to pass your single sentence legislative proposal for FIAT with politics the way they are?
A: Already in the UK, there is a bill in Parliament with numerous backers that would require politicians to tell the truth. In the US, neither Congress nor a constitutional amendment is necessary to establish FIAT. All we need is one state (see California and its auto pollution requirements) requiring FIAT of all organizations operating in that state. If they are required to be FIAT in one state, they will be FIAT in all. Banks, insurance companies, the fossil fuel industry, all media. Imagine. But the most effective politics is grassroots. An inspiring vision, if it’s spread broadly and widely, if it’s inspiring to everyone and all over the world, if its visible every day, everywhere, how can it fail? We need all hands on deck. Please join us. Host Kitchen Table conversations. Post social media daily. Bring the message to conferences and gatherings of all kinds. Bring it to schools, churches and spiritual centers. Talk to your children about it. Encourage discussions and debates. Spread copies of The Three Domains of Freedom. Join the FIAT Steering Committee or start one of your own. An inspiring Vision provides the energy to overcome any obstacle.
Q: How can you expect to accomplish FIAT in the face of such enormous and self-serving corporate power?
A: Let me reframe your question. How is it that we grant every corporation both limited liability protection and an ability to enormously leverage their power through the accumulation of capital, debt, and media – without asking from them a commitment to treat all of us and our values and our world humanely, with dignity and respect -- without insuring that in all the things they do they place humanity first, as well as the truth, the planet and democracy ahead of their own self interest? The fiduciary movement is already happening. In financial services, Registered Investment Advisors, Certified Financial Planners®, Registered Life Planners®, fee-only advisors and others are required to be fiduciaries to their clients, to put their interests first. Imagine, if they as a group were to insist that the banks, the insurance and other product companies to whom they bring business, become Fiduciary In All Things. If insurance companies were FIAT, they couldn’t insure organizations that weren’t FIAT. If banks were FIAT, they couldn’t lend to organizations that weren’t FIAT, and the world’s institutions would quickly become FIAT. Already, there are over 10,000 B Corporations that require a fiduciary standard to People and Planet as much as Profit. The conscious capitalism movement, and ESG regulatory requirements are moving us all toward a fiduciary society. And FIAT is now being introduced into businesses as a boost for productivity.
Q: Isn’t this a bit utopian?
A: Not just “a bit.” It’s the establishment of a trustworthy world for all of us, for generations to come. It’s what everybody wants, and that’s what’s most exciting about it. It will be the power of an inspiring, clear and widespread vision that will accomplish it, the power of a species. For the first time in the history of humanity, we all speak together to craft our social contract with the institutions that serve us. And consider the alternative, in the news daily, the negative externalities of capital are scaling faster than we can cope, climate change, false news, the undermining of democracy, the advent of Artificial Intelligence. The issues of today have become global. No longer turf battles between competing interests or states. It’s time we establish a standard for humanity that ensures a trustworthy and sustainable world for generations to come.
Q: If the legislation is passed, how will you implement FIAT?
A: Already many groups are working on that. The whole ESG movement has established a great foundation. And the Business Roundtable, groups working on establishing codes of ethics for our corporations and government. But our most urgent job now is to promote widely, through every media and venue, the compelling vision. Our logos and emblems should help. Your posts will help.