Fortune’s first century was tied to purpose. Its second century will be too
Good morning.
This will be my last day writing this newsletter, so allow me a few words of reflection.
I joined Fortune a decade ago as editor-in-chief and began writing the essays for this newsletter not long after. Five years later, I became CEO, as Fortune spun out of Time Inc. and into the hands of a new owner. My goal from the beginning was to ensure that this proud media brand, nearly a century old, would survive a second century.
It begins with purpose. Fortune’s very first issue, published in February of 1930, came on the cusp of the Great Depression. And from the beginning, Fortune was forced to develop a social conscience. Fortune editor James Agee and photographer Walker Evans best captured the soul of that difficult time in their Pulitzer Prize winning book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. That DNA later led to the creation of the Most Powerful Women list and the 100 Best Companies to Work For list, both first published in 1998, and both drivers of necessary change.
We doubled down on that history in 2015 with the Change the World list, in 2016 with the Fortune Global Forum at the Vatican, and in 2017 with the creation of the CEO Initiative, a forum to share best practices on maximizing companies’ positive impact on society. Today, that purpose is embedded in our mission and our actions. I like to think we have played a small part over the decade in making business better.
But of course, purpose without profit passes quickly. That’s why we have worked hard over the last five years to complete the transition to digital at Fortune, to vastly expand our leadership audiences, and to diversify our revenues. We’ve seen 50% growth during that time and have recorded three straight years of profit. There is still much to be done, but I have every confidence that our new CEO Anastasia Nyrkovskaya, in partnership with editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell, can build a great edifice on that foundation. They are two very powerful women.
As for this newsletter, Diane Brady, editorial director of the CEO Initiative, will be taking over, assisted once a week in Europe by Peter Vanham and in Asia by Clay Chandler. So keep opening this email; it will be an important window into the global business world.
Meanwhile, I will be taking the summer off—biking, kayaking, reading, and enjoying my first extended sabbatical in four decades—before starting a new venture in the fall.
I want to thank all of you who have allowed me to invade your inboxes each morning. It has been an honor, a privilege, and I hope I’ve not been too much of nuisance. Please keep striving. I am convinced the challenges of our future must be conquered not just by new technology, but by new leadership. And the readers of this column remain my best hope.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
