Brendan Doherty, Co-Founder of Forbes Impact at Forbes interview with Matt Bird at Humanity 2.0 (Vatican City)

HIGHLIGHTS

• Humanity 2.0 is bringing together a dynamic group of people to help project our society forward
• Cultural capital sits above the global economy
• Forbes is aligning culture and capital and adapting with the times

(ESG News) – Dating to the 16th century, the Vatican is one of the most sacred places in the world. So the fact that it was the venue for the 2019 Humanity 2.0 Forum, a conference devoted to moving humanity forward, lent even more weight to what was already a pretty heady event. 

“Whenever you say you’re going to the Vatican to bring folks together, it’s magnetic,” Brendan Doherty, Co-Founder of Forbes Impact, told Matt Bird, Host of the Traders Network Show, at the forum. “There is this cultural power that’s behind it all that is helping give [the conference] a lift.”

Doherty, who has worked with the Vatican on multiple occasions, said the conversations at Humanity 2.0—which ranged from maternal health to business ethics—may take on added significance because of the venue, but they also need to take on the necessary urgency.  

“What [people within the Vatican] will sometimes say is the Vatican works on a timeline of infinity. That kind of timeline is both deep and meaningful and puts long-term goals in perspective, but it also means that it can be sluggish or rooted in ideas or practices that don’t reflect values of today. What Humanity 2.0 is trying to do is accelerate that. Disrupt it, even,” Doherty said. “Let’s use this platform but project foreword.”

Doherty said Forbes was particularly interested in advancing the notion of culture intersecting with capital. 

“Media narratives are what shape our global narrative. They are what shape our economy. In many ways I think cultural capital sits above the economy. It influences our behaviors, our attitudes,” he said. 

As cultural issues become issues that corporations take interest in—something that Millennial consumer habits could accelerate—values should continue to change for the better, Doherty said. He suggested that businesses should be as apt to work with ethics consultants as they are to work with other more traditional kinds of consultants.    

“It’s about making it more inclusive, about reflecting the values of today,” he said.