PREFACE

In scattered experiments—disconnected, often unaware of one another—unsung leaders are building the beginnings of what many of us hunger for but can scarcely imagine is possible: an economy that might enable us all to live well, and to do so within planetary boundaries. They’re laying pathways toward an economy of, by, and for the people. Visiting these leaders, we have distilled the first principles at work. What we find emerging is a coherent paradigm for how to organize an economy—one that takes us beyond the binary choice of corporate capitalism versus state socialism into something new.

The first moral principles of this system are community and sustainability, for as indigenous peoples have long known, the two are one and the same. Other principles are creating opportunity for those long excluded, and putting labor before capital; ensuring that assets are broadly held, and that investing is for people and place, with profit the result, not the primary aim; designing enterprises for a new era of equity and sustainability; and evolving ownership beyond a primitive notion of maximum extraction to an advanced concept of stewardship.

This emerging democratic economy is in stark contrast to today’s extractive economy, designed for financial extraction by an elite. It’s an economy of, by, and for the 1 percent. Society long ago democratized government, but we have never democratized the economy. That is the historical project now beginning. There’s a role for all of us in nourishing this potential next system.

This book is for all who are concerned about the fate of our planet and civilization. It can be of value to activists and to those from both sides of the political aisle who recognize the status quo isn’t sustainable. It will be useful for leaders from foundations, nonprofit hospital systems, colleges and universities, government and nonprofit economic development, impact investing, progressive and employee- owned companies, unions, mayors, and other civic leaders. Political scientists and economists may find it of value, though it’s not an academic book.

These readers are international. The stories here are predominantly from the US and UK, the epicenter and birthplace of capitalism. But the lessons apply in many nations, for the extractive economy is global, and the democratic economy is likewise rising across the world. Each chapter visits one site where this work is emerging; feel free to jump directly to the chapter that interests you most.

The two of us, coauthors Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard, are executives at The Democracy Collaborative, a 19-year- old nonprofit that is a research and development lab for a democratic economy. Our staff of 40 plus a dozen fellows—in Washington, DC, Cleveland, Ohio, Brussels, Belgium, Preston, England, and elsewhere—work in theory and practice to incubate ideas for transformative economic change. We work at the level of systems creating the crises making the headlines. In our place- based work, we help communities create wealth that stays local and is broadly shared, through economic development fed by the power of anchor institutions, built on locally rooted ownership. In our theory, research, and policy work, we envision large-scale system change in areas such as the environment, finance, and ownership design.

In recent years, our staff has tripled as demand for our services has grown. This growth has occurred because of a rising thirst for transformative solutions, and because of a group of visionary funders who share that thirst. We’ve reached the point where we cannot work with every community, organization, or political leader seeking our partnership. That led us to write this book, to open-source what we and many others have learned.

This book is the work of two minds writing as one, so you’ll find us speaking of each other in third person—“Marjorie” and “Ted.” Marjorie Kelly, executive vice president at The Democracy Collaborative and lead author, brings long experience with progressive business and investing as a journalist, cofounder and president of Business Ethics magazine, author of two previous books, and hands- on designer of company and financial architectures for social mission and broad ownership. Ted Howard, president and cofounder of The Democracy Collaborative, helped the Cleveland Foundation and others design and develop the employee- owned Evergreen Cooperatives and works widely with anchor institutions such as nonprofit hospital systems, colleges, and universities and, increasingly, with political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic.

We’re radicals with our feet on the ground. This book is intended to help the reader see that a new system is in the making. In the different models, approaches, and ideologies we encounter in our visits, we see a coherent, new system paradigm in formation. We hope you come away understanding this potential path forward and how you can join others in walking it.