About the Kindly Company
The Kindly Company is a place to think about business ethics, economic inequality, and our relationship with the natural world.
I’m interested in the things we have become accustomed to accepting. The idea that an economy must grow indefinitely. That environmental destruction is an unfortunate but necessary cost of prosperity. That decisions made in the interests of shareholders will somehow work out for everyone else.
I find these assumptions increasingly difficult to live with, and I want to examine them.
But I also want to write about what makes the world worth caring for. The night sky. The ocean. The experience of awe, and the sometimes inexpressible sense of belonging that comes from spending time in nature. What do we lose when these things disappear, and why are we so willing to treat that loss as inevitable?
Who’s Writing?
I’m Chris Barrett. I’ve spent much of my working life in commercial and programmes roles, including at Google and LinkedIn, and now work in the sustainability sector. That experience has left me with plenty of questions about the relationship between business, public benefit, and the stories we tell ourselves about progress.
This publication is a personal endeavour. The views here are my own.
I write to make sense of what I’m seeing, to challenge arguments I find wanting, and to turn some of my frustration into something useful. I’ll do my best to distinguish evidence from opinion, acknowledge uncertainty, and change my mind when there is good reason to.
Why ‘The Kindly Company’?
The name holds a little tension. There is the hopeful idea of business conducted with care, and of finding ourselves in good company. There is also a nod to the Kindly Ones of Greek mythology, whose concern with justice and reckoning gives the name a somewhat less comfortable edge.
Both meanings feel appropriate.
If these questions occupy your mind too, I hope you’ll find something here worth reading, sharing, or arguing with.
You’re very welcome to subscribe and join the conversation.
