What would it look like if we intentionally designed our regional economy so that prosperity was more broadly shared? That is the question Abraham Chen, Emily Randa, and I explore in a recent Times of San Diego opinion piece. We argue that San Diego has an opportunity to think differently about economic development—not only about creating more businesses and jobs, but about how enterprises themselves are designed: who owns them, who participates in decision-making, how capital is structured, and how the benefits they create are shared.
This is also a theme that runs through much of my current work in social innovation and social entrepreneurship. Across San Diego, we already have businesses and organizations experimenting with employee ownership, purpose-driven business models, B Corp certification, impact investing, and other approaches that seek to align enterprise success with the well-being of workers, communities, and the region. The opportunity now is to build on these examples and make shared prosperity a more intentional part of how we think about San Diego’s economic future.
Read the full op-ed in the Times of San Diego