What if your relationship with money is the most important relationship you have — and you have never examined it?

In this TBLI Talk, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Peter Koenig — Zurich-based researcher, educator, and author of 30 Lies About Money, who has spent over four decades studying the phenomenology of money and how our relationship to it shapes everything: our health, our organisations, our societies, and our planet. This is not a talk about budgeting, investing, or financial planning. It is something far more fundamental — and far more rarely discussed. Peter's radical truth: the assumptions most of us carry about money are not truths. They are inherited lies — and until we examine them, they run our lives without our consent.

In this episode:

• What money actually is — beyond medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account
• What thousands of participants in Peter's money seminars have discovered about their unconscious relationship to money
• How the relationship between self, others, nature, and money is at the root of both personal suffering and systemic dysfunction
• What the thirty lies about money are — and how dissolving them liberates both individuals and organisations
• What a practical money constellation looks like in practice — and what it reveals that no financial analysis can
• Why impact investors and ESG practitioners need to examine their own money relationship before expecting to change others'

The key insight: Financial success and personal freedom are not the same thing. Peter discovered this in his mid-thirties — when he already had the money — and has spent the decades since helping thousands of others discover it for themselves. The transformation of our economic system begins not with new policies or new products, but with new consciousness about the meaning of what we already hold.

Special offer: Peter is available for live practical demonstrations of his MoneyWork system during this session for participants who wish to explore their own relationship with money in real time.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — What is money, really? Beyond the textbook definitions
• 0:X:XX — The 30 lies about money — and how they shape our lives invisibly
• 0:X:XX — What thousands of MoneyWork participants have discovered
• 0:X:XX — The relationship between self, others, nature, and money
• 0:X:XX — Live MoneyWork demonstration
• 0:X:XX — What conscious money means for impact investing and ESG

👤 About Peter KoenigPeter Koenig holds a BSc and MBA and has been based in Zurich, Switzerland since 1973. After a career in management training and organisational development, he became an independent consultant to businesses and social organisations in 1987. H Typepade has studied the phenomenology of money since the early 1980s, and in 1994 launched his first public Money Seminar, going on to initiate an international conference series on Money & Business Partnership. H work with sourcee is the author of 30 Lies About Money: Liberating Your Life, Liberating Your Money, and has been featured as one of nine visionaries in the Canadian documentary film Earth Keepers. H Peterkoenigsystemis research has engaged thousands of participants across decades, exploring how the human relationship with money affects personal vitality, organisational health, and the evolution of monetary systems.

For anyone working in impact investing, sustainable finance, personal finance, or the inner dimensions of economic transformation — this episode is essential listening.

ABOUT TBLI RADICAL TRUTHReal experience. Real results. No greenwashing. TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#PeterKoenig #MoneyWork #MeaningOfMoney #30LiesAboutMoney #ConsciousMoney #ImpactInvesting #ESG #TBLI #TBLITalk #MoneyRelationship #InnerWork #SustainableFinance #MoneyPsychology #SystemsChange #WealthConsciousness

Note: Since this recording, Ruben Vardanyan was arrested by Azerbaijani authorities in September 2023 and remains imprisoned. His family and the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative describe his detention as politically motivated. This description reflects his work at the time of recording.

What does it mean to give away 90% of your wealth — and build the systems that make giving meaningful?

In this TBLI Talk, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Ruben Vardanyan — Armenian-Russian business leader, social entrepreneur, and co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. As former CEO of Troika Dialog, Russia's first major investment bank, Ruben built a billion-dollar institution before redirecting the vast majority of that wealth into transformational philanthropy. With his wife Veronika, he has committed over $600 million to projects addressing education, humanitarian crises, and sustainable development in Armenia — not through charity, but through a commercial, blended-finance model designed to create lasting structural change. His radical truth: giving money away is not enough. The way you give matters as much as the amount.

In this episode:

• How Ruben and Veronika built a $600 million blended finance and philanthropic portfolio in Armenia
• Why blended finance is essential for solving social problems at scale in post-conflict and developing contexts
• What the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is — and why a prize named after a survivor of the Armenian Genocide has become a global movement
• How venture philanthropy differs from traditional philanthropy — and why that distinction matters for impact
• What it takes to convince a business community shaped by Soviet-era economics to embrace long-term, values-driven investment
• What 30 years of building and giving has taught Ruben about money, meaning, and responsibility

The key insight: Ruben Vardanyan's grandfather survived the Armenian Genocide because a Turk and four American missionaries saved his life. That gift of life became the moral foundation of one of the most ambitious philanthropic programmes in the post-Soviet world. Gratitude, he argues, is the most powerful engine of generosity.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — From Troika Dialog to venture philanthropy: Ruben's journey
• 0:X:XX — Building a $600M blended finance portfolio in Armenia
• 0:X:XX — The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative: purpose and impact
• 0:X:XX — Venture philanthropy vs traditional giving
• 0:X:XX — Making philanthropy structural, not transactional
• 0:X:XX — Money, meaning, and responsibility: the lessons

👤 About Ruben VardanyanRuben Vardanyan and his family have made more than $1.5 billion in commercial and philanthropic investments in global education, healthcare, the SDGs, and humanitarian issues. His best-known projects include Troika Dialog, SKOLKOVO Business School, United World College Dilijan, the Wings of Tatev cable car, and the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. H Uwcdilijanis humanitarian work was inspired by his grandfather, whose life was saved during the Armenian Genocide. He and his family have committed to giving away 90% of his wealth.

Asia TimesFor anyone working in venture philanthropy, blended finance, or strategic giving — this episode is essential listening.

ABOUT TBLI RADICAL TRUTHReal experience. Real results. No greenwashing. TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#RubenVardanyan #AuroraHumanitarianInitiative #VenturePhilanthropy #BlendedFinance #Armenia #ImpactInvesting #ESG #TBLI #TBLITalk #SDGs #SocialEntrepreneur #UWCDilijan #Skolkovo #PhilanthropyInvesting #HumanitarianAid

Africa is the world's fastest-growing continent — in population, economic output, and the creation of entrepreneurial family wealth. But can that wealth be mobilised for impact? And do Africa's family business owners even know what impact investing is?

In this TBLI Talk, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Tsitsi Mutendi — third-generation family business owner, internationally recognised family business expert, and co-founder of African Family Firms (AFF). Born in Zimbabwe and building businesses across Africa for nearly two decades, Tsitsi has spent her career at the intersection of family wealth, governance, succession, and legacy. She didn't inherit financial wealth — she inherited the entrepreneurial spirit of her predecessors and built it herself. Now she is building the community infrastructure for Africa's family business owners to support each other, govern better, and invest with purpose. Her radical truth: conversations about African family business are usually about wealth. They should be about community — and about the legacies we are building for generations we will never meet.

In this episode:

• What African family firms actually look like — and how they differ from Western family office models
• Whether Africa's entrepreneurial families are interested in impact investing — and what stands in the way
• How African Family Firms creates a safe, non-solicitous space for owners to talk openly about real challenges
• What governance, succession, and family communication have to do with purpose-led wealth
• How the family office industry in Africa is evolving — and what it still needs to develop
• What Tsitsi has learned about wealth, legacy, and multigenerational thinking across the continent

The key insight: The adage "shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations" does not have to apply. But avoiding it requires intentional governance, open communication, and a clarity of purpose that goes beyond profits. Africa's family business owners are beginning to understand this — and Tsitsi Mutendi is helping them get there.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — Africa's rising family wealth: where it comes from and where it's going
• 0:X:XX — Are African family firms interested in impact investing?
• 0:X:XX — What African Family Firms does — and why non-solicitation matters
• 0:X:XX — Family governance and succession as the foundation of lasting impact
• 0:X:XX — The evolution of the African family office industry
• 0:X:XX — What building multigenerational wealth in Africa really takes

👤 About Tsitsi MutendiTsitsi Mutendi is a family business and family office advisor, founder of Nhaka Legacy Planning in Zimbabwe, and co-founder of African Family Firms — a non-profit pan-African family business association. An award-winning businesswoman with over 12 years of experience in publishing and education, she developed a passion for helping family businesses build multigenerational legacies. A Lionesses of Africa third-generation entrepreneur, she did not inherit financial wealth but inherited the entrepreneurial spirit to build her own businesses. T Thebusinesstransitionsherpahrough African Family Firms, she has been at the forefront of supporting family-owned businesses across Africa with education, resources, and networking on governance, succession, and wealth preservation.

Empower AfricaFor anyone working in family office, impact investing, African business, or multigenerational wealth — this episode is essential listening.

ABOUT TBLI RADICAL TRUTHReal experience. Real results. No greenwashing. TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#TsitsiMutendi #AfricanFamilyFirms #FamilyBusiness #ImpactInvesting #Africa #ESG #TBLI #TBLITalk #FamilyOffice #Succession #FamilyGovernance #Zimbabwe #AfricaRising #MultigenerationalWealth #LegacyPlanning

Companies worry about the cost of going sustainable. Tensie Whelan wants them to calculate the cost of staying the same.

In this TBLI Talk, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Tensie Whelan — founding director of the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, former President of the Rainforest Alliance, and the researcher who developed the ROSI™ framework: Return on Sustainability Investment. With 35 years of experience spanning Latin American journalism, the National Audubon Society, the New York League of Conservation Voters, and Rainforest Alliance — which she grew from $4.5 million to $50 million, recruiting 5,000 companies across 60 countries — Tensie has spent her career building the evidence base that sustainability is not a cost. It is a competitive advantage. Her radical truth: executives will invest in sustainability when they understand the business case. Until then, all the moral arguments in the world will not move a CFO.

In this episode:

• What the latest research from NYU Stern actually shows about sustainability and corporate financial performance
• What ROSI™ is — and how it helps companies and investors identify, quantify, and unlock sustainability-driven returns
• Why sustainability drives better performance through innovation, risk management, operational efficiency, employee retention, and supply chain resilience
• What the Sustainable Market Share Index reveals about consumer purchasing of sustainably marketed products
• Why ESG reports are not a replacement for real sustainability — and what real embedding actually looks like
• What investors need to understand about the financial value of sustainability strategies in private and public markets

The key insight: Incremental sustainability reporting is not the same as embedded sustainability strategy. Companies that treat sustainability as core to their business model — not a marketing add-on — consistently outperform those that don't. NYU Stern CSB has the data to prove it. The question is whether the corporate world is ready to act on it.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — Why the business case for sustainability still needs to be made
• 0:X:XX — What NYU Stern's latest research actually shows
• 0:X:XX — ROSI™: measuring what finance teams miss
• 0:X:XX — From Rainforest Alliance to business school: Tensie's journey
• 0:X:XX — What the Sustainable Market Share Index reveals about consumers
• 0:X:XX — What real sustainability embedding looks like — and what it isn't

👤 About Tensie WhelanTensie Whelan is Founding Director of the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, bringing 35 years of experience working on sustainability issues to engage businesses and investors. As President of the Rainforest Alliance, she built the organisation from a $4.5 million to $50 million budget, recruiting 5,000 companies in more than 60 countries. NYU Stern Her previous roles include Executive Director of the New York League of Conservation Voters, Vice President of the National Audubon Society, and journalist in Latin America. NYU Stern At NYU Stern CSB, she developed the ROSI™ methodology — a cross-industry framework to help corporate leaders and investors identify, prioritise, and unlock sustainability-driven returns — and the Sustainable Market Share Index, an annual analysis of US purchasing data for sustainably marketed products. NYU Stern

For anyone working in corporate sustainability, ESG investing, or the business case for responsible business — this episode is essential listening.

ABOUT TBLI RADICAL TRUTHReal experience. Real results. No greenwashing. TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#TensieWhelan #NYUStern #SustainableBusiness #ROSI #ImpactInvesting #ESG #TBLI #TBLITalk #BusinessCase #CorporateSustainability #RainforestAlliance #SustainabilityStrategy #ReturnOnSustainability #ESGResearch #FinancialPerformance

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Trillions of dollars have poured into ESG and impact investing. So why do we have more pollution, more inequality, and accelerating biodiversity loss than when we started?

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with B. Lorraine Smith — writer, researcher, speaker, and one of the most clear-eyed critics of mainstream sustainability. After two decades working with global players in banking, mining, energy, chemicals, food, agriculture, retail, and tech — leading ESG strategy, investor communications, and executive engagement — Lorraine concluded that not only were we not solving the problems, we were making them worse. She stopped working in mainstream sustainability and ESG in 2021. B. Lorraine SmithHer vision is an economy where all businesses, across all industry sectors, can only succeed by enabling society and the biosphere to thrive. B. Lorraine SmithHer radical truth: ESG is not a solution. It is a distraction dressed up in the language of progress.

In this episode:

• Why tens of trillions in ESG capital have failed to bend the curve on climate, biodiversity, water, poverty, or inequality
• What the difference actually is between sustainability, ESG, and genuine regenerative investment
• Why most ESG frameworks measure the wrong things — and what measuring the right things would require
• What a regenerative economy looks like in practice — and why it demands a fundamentally different relationship between business, finance, and the living world
• Why circularity is not the same as regeneration — and why the distinction matters enormously for investors
• What it takes for corporate leaders and investors to move beyond "sustainability as usual"

The key insight: Despite billions invested in ESG initiatives, we have more pollution, inequality, and biodiversity loss. B. Lorraine SmithThe problem is not a lack of capital or intention — it is that the frameworks guiding that capital were never designed to create the outcomes they promise. Regenerative investment is not a tweak to the existing model. It is a different model entirely.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — The ESG paradox: more money, worse outcomes
• 0:X:XX — What two decades inside corporate sustainability taught Lorraine
• 0:X:XX — The difference between ESG, sustainability, and regeneration
• 0:X:XX — Why circularity is not enough
• 0:X:XX — What regenerative investment actually demands of investors
• 0:X:XX — Where the real signals of change are emerging

👤 About B. Lorraine SmithB. Lorraine Smith worked with global corporations across banking, mining, energy, food, agriculture, retail, and technology for over two decades, leading ESG strategy, stakeholder dialogue, and executive engagement across multiple regions. S B. Lorraine Smithhe sits on the Board of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility and is a member of the Release Council of the Future-Fit Business Benchmark. S Biodiversity for a Livable Climatehe is based in Montréal and speaks French, Portuguese, and German. John Elkington of Volans describes her as one of the most thoughtful colleagues he has worked with in decades in the sustainability field.

For anyone who suspects that ESG is not delivering what it promises — and wants to understand what would — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#BLorraineSmith #RegenerativeInvestment #ESG #ImpactInvesting #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #RegenerativeEconomy #SustainableFinance #BeyondESG #IndustrialHealing #SystemsChange #Sustainability #ClimateFaith #BiodiversityLoss #RadicalTruth

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What happens when a 350-year-old bank — still owned by the founding family — decides that capitalism must be redeemed from the inside?

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Alexander S. Hoare — Partner and Director at C. Hoare & Co., the first of the eleventh generation of the family to join the partnership, and a founder partner of Snowball LLP, a leader in the field of social and impact investing. HoaresbankFounded in 1672 by Sir Richard Hoare, C. Hoare & Co. is the UK's oldest privately owned bank — still run on an unlimited liability partnership model, still family-owned, and still guided by a founding ambition: to be good bankers and good citizens. Alexander's life work has been to demonstrate that you don't have to descend to the unacceptable face of capitalism to earn an honest crust. Spears 500His radical truth: impact is not optional — it is what banking was always supposed to be.

In this episode:

• How a 350-year family banking legacy shapes Alexander's personal approach to capital and responsibility
• How in 2010 Alexander began a portfolio of impact investments through the Golden Bottle Trust, leading to the co-founding of Snowball in 2016 Hoaresbank— a diversified fund where every investment targets both positive impact and financial returns
• Why Snowball is structured as a B Corporation, owned entirely by charitable or public benefit capital providers, with no incentive to greenwash
• What it means for a fund to target all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals simultaneously across a multi-asset portfolio
• How Alexander bridges the worlds of traditional private banking and frontier impact investing — and what he has learned from both
• What sophisticated investors need to understand before entering the impact space — and what most still get wrong

The key insight: In 2017, Alexander predicted that "social investment will be redundant within a generation as all investments will have impact built in." GrokipediaA bank that survived the South Sea Bubble, two world wars, and the 2008 financial crisis has a particular vantage point on what endures. The Hoare family's wager is that the institutions which will still be standing in another 350 years are those that put people and planet first — not last.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — 350 years of banking and one founding principle
• 0:X:XX — Alexander's personal journey into impact investing
• 0:X:XX — The Golden Bottle Trust and the birth of Snowball
• 0:X:XX — How Snowball works: structure, mission, and returns
• 0:X:XX — What sophisticated investors need to understand about impact
• 0:X:XX — The future: will all investment have impact built in?

👤 About Alexander S. HoareAlexander Hoare is the first of the eleventh generation of C. Hoare & Co. partners. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a B.Com (Hons) in Marketing, worked as a marketing consultant at PA Consulting Group, and served as Chief Executive of C. Hoare & Co. from 2001 to 2009. H PitchBooke is a patron of Royal Trinity Hospice and chairs the trustees of Intermission Youth Theatre. H Hoaresbanke is ranked in the Spear's 500 Top 100 Power List for 2025 as a pioneer in social and impact investing.

For anyone who believes that finance can be a force for genuine good — and wants to understand what that looks like in practice across centuries — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#AlexanderHoare #CHoareAndCo #SnowballImpact #ImpactInvesting #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #PrivateBanking #ESG #FamilyBusiness #GoldenBottleTrust #ResponsibleInvesting #SustainableFinance #Philanthropy #SDGs #RadicalTruth

America's criminal justice system is cruel, expensive, racist, and broken. One lawyer decided she could no longer save people one by one — and went to find the constituency powerful enough to change the system itself.

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Celia Ouellette — dual US-UK qualified lawyer, former death row defence attorney, and founder of the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ). Celia spent a decade practising as a defence attorney, primarily on capital cases across the United States, constantly fighting a criminal justice system she found cruel, expensive, racist, and broken. Despite working to save people from execution, she could only help individuals one at a time. Real LeadersHer radical truth: saving people one by one is not enough. The only way to fix a broken system is to mobilise the one constituency that lawmakers cannot ignore — business.

In this episode:

• What Celia witnessed first-hand as a death row defence attorney — and the moment she decided systemic change required a different strategy
• How RBIJ works with companies to use their voice, resources, and hiring practices to drive criminal justice reform in the US and UK
• How RBIJ launched Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty at SXSW in 2021, bringing together more than 250 international business leaders including Sir Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Marc Benioff, and Arianna HuffingtonReal Leaders- Why criminal justice reform is not just a moral issue — it is an economic one, with the US losing an estimated $87 billion in GDP annually by under-employing people with records
• What "Clean Slate" legislation, occupational licensing reform, and fair-chance hiring actually mean in practice — and how businesses can move these campaigns
• What the role of investors and ESG frameworks should be in internalising human rights within systems of justice

The key insight: Since founding, RBIJ has activated over 600 businesses across 91 campaigns and programmes, partnering with some of the world's most recognised brands. RBIJThe criminal justice system does not exist "on the side" of business — it shapes the talent pool, the community, and the economy every company operates in. When business speaks, lawmakers listen.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — From death row defence to systemic reform
• 0:X:XX — Why business is the missing lever in criminal justice change
• 0:X:XX — Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty
• 0:X:XX — Fair-chance hiring and Unlock Potential
• 0:X:XX — What investors and ESG frameworks must do next

👤 About Celia OuelletteCelia Ouellette is a dual US-UK qualified lawyer who began her career in criminal defence in the United States before joining UK human rights charity Reprieve as a Staff Attorney on their death penalty team. In 2015 she founded The Powell Project, an organisation designed to empower and equip trial teams in capital cases. I RBIJn 2017 she founded RBIJ, which has since partnered with hundreds of companies worldwide to advance fairness and equality in systems of punishment and incarceration.

Real LeadersFor anyone who believes that the 'S' in ESG must include criminal justice — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#CeliaOuellette #RBIJ #CriminalJusticeReform #ESG #ImpactInvesting #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #FairChanceHiring #DeathPenalty #HumanRights #ResponsibleBusiness #CleanSlate #JusticeReform #SocialJustice #RadicalTruth

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In October 2005, a 150-page legal document was quietly rolled into a UN chamber in New York. Twenty years later, it remains the foundation on which the entire ESG investment industry was built.

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Professor Paul Q. Watchman — the Scottish lawyer who, as Senior Partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, led the pro bono team that produced The Freshfields Report for UNEP Finance Initiative. The report is credited with revolutionising market practice on the legality of integrating ESG considerations into the investment decision-making of pension funds and other investment houses, and has been said to be the most downloaded report in UN history. Law Society of Scotland Paul Watchman was the first inductee into the TBLI Hall of Fame in 2020. His radical truth: ESG is not optional — it is a fiduciary obligation.

In this episode:

• Why the Freshfields Report concluded that integrating ESG into investment analysis is not just permissible — but arguably required
• How the 2008 financial crash accelerated ESG mainstreaming after years of slow adoption
• How fiduciary duty has evolved since 2005 — and what the 2016 Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century report added
• Why governance must permeate the entire ESG framework — not just bookend it
• What Paul saw as the greatest threat to ESG's credibility: greenwashing by corporations, asset managers, and Big Law
• What still needs to happen for ESG to fulfil the promise of the Freshfields Report

The key insight: Before the Freshfields Report, pension funds routinely argued that fiduciary duty prevented them from considering ESG factors. Paul Watchman demolished that argument with legal rigour across nine jurisdictions. The report concluded that integrating ESG considerations into investment analysis to more reliably predict financial performance is clearly permissible and arguably required in all jurisdictions. GRC World Forums The question was never whether ESG was legal. The question was whether the industry had the courage to act on it.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — The 2005 UN chamber and the document that changed everything
• 0:X:XX — What UNEP FI asked Freshfields — and why the answer mattered
• 0:X:XX — From Glasgow housing lawyer to ESG's legal architect
• 0:X:XX — The 2008 crash and the slow mainstreaming of ESG
• 0:X:XX — Greenwashing: Paul's biggest concern for ESG's future

👤 About Professor Paul Q. WatchmanPaul Watchman was named by Ethical Corporation alongside Hank Paulson as one of the six most influential global figures in sustainable finance, and received the Thomson Reuters ESG Leadership Award for Outstanding Contribution to ESG in 2010. Law Society of Scotland He began his legal career in Glasgow acting for the homeless and victims of domestic violence, before becoming a Partner at Freshfields. New Earth Lawyer He served as Special Legal Counsel to UNEP Finance Initiative for nearly 20 years, and in 2020 became the first inductee into the TBLI Hall of Fame. Professor Watchman passed away in 2023. This episode is a tribute to his life's work.

Essential listening for anyone who wants to understand where ESG came from — and what it was always meant to be.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years. 🌐 tbligroup.com

#PaulWatchman #FreshfieldsReport #ESG #FiduciaryDuty #UNEPFI #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #ResponsibleInvestment #SustainableFinance #ESGLaw #UNPRI #Greenwashing #ESGHistory #ImpactInvesting #SustainableInvesting

Everyone knows Bhutan as the "happiest country in the world." But what if that story is a carefully constructed myth — and behind it lies one of Asia's most ignored human rights crises?

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Dr. Rieki Crins — Dutch cultural anthropologist, one of the world's leading authorities on Bhutan, and the woman the Bhutanese government placed on its blacklist. Rieki first arrived in Bhutan in 1990, living in a remote village in the Paro district. What began as a 27-year love affair with the kingdom slowly became something far more troubling. MediumShe obtained her PhD on Gender and Sustainability in Bhutan at the University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, founded the Learning Exchange Foundation, and established the Bongde Institute of Hospitality and Tourism to support unemployed Bhutanese youth. WordpressHer radical truth: Gross National Happiness is a brand — and more than 120,000 people were expelled from the country it was built to sell.

In this episode:

• Why the Gross National Happiness narrative conceals systematic ethnic cleansing of the Lhotshampa — Bhutanese of Nepali descent
• How over 120,000 refugees ended up in camps in eastern Nepal — and why Bhutan simply ignored the crisis
• Why Rieki was blacklisted and declared persona non grata after decades of work in the country
• What she witnessed first-hand: citizenship cards confiscated, cultural rights denied, and a law allowing life imprisonment for anyone who speaks about the refugee issue
• What the international community got wrong about Bhutan — and why the Shangri-La image persists
• What accountability — and resolution — could actually look like for the displaced Lhotshampa community

The key insight: The Bhutanese government denied Southern Bhutanese — many of Nepalese descent — their culture and way of life, and having more than 100,000 people flee the country while acting as if the problem does not exist is a profound disgrace. MediumThe UN and western nations were left to manage the consequences of a crisis that Bhutan created and then refused to acknowledge.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — The myth of Gross National Happiness
• 0:X:XX — What Rieki saw from 1990 onwards
• 0:X:XX — The Lhotshampa: who they are and what happened to them
• 0:X:XX — Blacklisted: how Rieki became persona non grata
• 0:X:XX — What justice and accountability could look like

👤 About Dr. Rieki CrinsDr. Rieki Crins is a cultural anthropologist who has spent decades developing her expertise in Bhutan. She lectures at Oxford University, the University of Amsterdam, and the Siam Society in Bangkok, and is co-founder of TBLI Group together with her husband Robert Rubinstein. S Wordpresshe is the author of Blacklisted in Bhutan and Meeting the "Other", and founded the Learning Exchange Foundation in 2009 to support Bhutanese youth and cross-cultural exchange.

A conversation that challenges one of the most seductive narratives in modern geopolitics. Essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

#Bhutan #GrossNationalHappiness #HumanRights #RiekiCrins #BhutaneseRefugees #Lhotshampa #TBLI #TBLIRadicalTruth #RefugeeRights #Asia #Geopolitics #Anthropology #BlacklistedInBhutan #HumanRightsCrisis #RadicalTruth

What happens to a financial professional when the products they are asked to sell conflict with the values they actually hold? For many in finance, that tension is never spoken aloud. Dr. Giulio Franzinetti has spent 30 years living it — and now helps others navigate it.

In this TBLI Radical Truth episode, Robert Rubinstein sits down with Dr. Giulio Franzinetti — Italian-born financial services veteran, personal coach, and serial innovator. His career spans Eurobond markets at Prudential Bache, capital markets, investment management in Asia at Indosuez, and International Fund Management Marketing at Banca Intesa. ContactOut Along the way, he worked on one of the most complex portfolio rationalisation challenges in the world — the Catholic Church — and founded the Gum Arabic Fund, an attempt to create a fair trade structure for one of the world's most essential and least understood commodities. His radical truth: the financial sector is full of talented, thoughtful people quietly selling things they don't believe in — and the cost of that silence is paid in more than just money.

In this episode:

• What it feels like to be a well-compensated professional asked to push products that conflict with your values — and what that does to a person over time
• What Dr. Franzinetti encountered working to rationalise the Catholic Church's investment portfolio — and what it revealed about institutional finance, faith, and accountability
• What the Gum Arabic Fund was, why he created it, and what it taught him about fair trade, commodity markets, and the gap between financial innovation and real-world impact
• Why so many financial sector professionals reach a crisis around meaning and alignment — and what they typically do (and don't do) about it
• What personal coaching for corporate and financial professionals actually involves — and why this sector needs it more than most

The key insight: The financial sector produces some of the most sophisticated thinkers in any industry. It also produces some of the most profound personal crises around meaning, identity, and integrity — quietly, invisibly, behind well-tailored suits. Giulio Franzinetti has been on both sides of that experience. Now he helps others find their way through it.

⏱️ Episode Guide:

• 0:00 — The silent torment of selling what you don't believe in
• 0:X:XX — 30 years in finance: what Giulio saw and what it cost him
• 0:X:XX — The Catholic Church portfolio: faith, money, and complexity
• 0:X:XX — The Gum Arabic Fund: fair trade from the ground up
• 0:X:XX — What alignment between values and vocation actually looks like

👤 About Dr. Giulio FranzinettiDr. Giulio Franzinetti has over 30 years of experience across Eurobond markets, capital markets, investment management, and international fund management at Banca Intesa. Since 2017 he has been Managing Director of Executive Generation, his personal coaching and advisory practice for corporate and financial sector professionals. ContactOut He has served on boards of directors and advisory boards across multiple industries and is based in the UK.

For anyone in finance who has ever wondered whether there is another way — this episode is essential listening.

TBLI Group is the world's leading ESG and impact investing network — educating, advising, and connecting investors for 25 years.🌐 tbligroup.com

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