Conscious Capitalism
📸 Miki Agrawal's Soft Power talk at Ecoversity's Herbalism Summit 2025.
Conscious Capitalism - The receipts are in! 🧾
Yesterday I attended the first day of Ecoversity's Herbal Summit to hear Miki Agrawal’s presentation on Soft Power: Redefining Leadership for the Next Era.
If you don’t know Miki, she is a social regenerative entrepreneur with two 9-figure businesses. Her 4 founding businesses include: HIRO Diapers, TUSHY, THINX, and Wild restaurant.
I didn’t know Miki when I joined, but I was drawn to the concept of Soft Power – it’s what I live into, it’s what I coach and build strategies on, and it’s my default. I don’t know how to lead any differently because I’ve experienced power too often, in its recurring form, and it isn’t serving us.
Anyone who has experienced burnout knows this.
So when Miki started talking about the shift from Capitalism → Conscious Capitalism, I was all in.
She said it is a shift from shareholders → stakeholders.
In Capitalism, there is 1 core stakeholder:
1. shareholders
In Conscious Capitalism, there are 5 (equal) core stakeholders:
1. shareholders
2. employees
3. suppliers
4. customers
5. Mother Earth
I know this in my bones and yet often I doubt myself:
🧐 Maybe I'm too ahead of the curve
🧐 Maybe this won't happen in my lifetime
🧐 Maybe no one will buy in
And then there was Miki, and the receipts were in.
I’m not a dreamer, I know things. There is proof of what I know to be true, and I see it every day in my own work and with my clients. This is the way forward, and I am here to steward it.
The presentation slide above reads:
“A representative sample of conscious businesses outperformed the overall stock market by a ratio of 10.5:1 over a 15 year period. Delivering more than 1600% total returns when the market was up just over 150% for the same period.”
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Article FAQs generated by ChatGPT:
1. What is “Soft Power”, according to Miki Agrawal’s?
Miki Agrawal defines soft power as an active, embodied leadership style rooted in empathy, self-attunement, and alignment with people and planet. Rather than using force, speed, or pressure (“hard power”), soft power slows down, listens inward, and leads from presence. Soft power means being attuned to oneself, to the team or community, and to the Earth — aligning purpose with ethics, relationships, and sustainability.
2. Why is the shift from shareholders to stakeholders considered revolutionary in redefining capitalism?
The shift from a shareholder model to a stakeholder model represents a profound reorientation of business purpose – from profit extraction to collective thriving. Traditional capitalism prioritizes short-term financial gain for investors, often at the expense of people and planet. Conscious Capitalism reframes business as a living ecosystem in which all five stakeholders – shareholders, employees, suppliers, customers, and Mother Earth — are interdependent. This approach is revolutionary because it integrates ethics with economics, measuring success through regeneration, well-being, and long-term sustainability rather than quarterly profit margins.
3. How does “Soft Power” leadership contribute to the success of Conscious Capitalism?
Soft Power leadership emphasizes empathy, intuition, collaboration, and emotional intelligence – qualities often undervalued in patriarchal or extractive power systems. Within Conscious Capitalism, Soft Power creates cultures of trust and creativity where employees feel seen and suppliers are respected as partners. It replaces dominance and control with influence and inspiration. Leaders like Miki Agrawal demonstrate that relational intelligence and authenticity don’t diminish profitability; they amplify it. Soft Power, therefore, is not passive; it is an evolved, regenerative form of influence that sustains growth through integrity.
4. What internal or cultural resistance might arise when transitioning from capitalism to Conscious Capitalism?
The transition challenges deeply ingrained beliefs about success, hierarchy, and self-worth. Many corporate systems are built on scarcity and competition, making it difficult to adopt models based on reciprocity and care. Internally, leaders may fear profit loss, slower decision-making, or loss of authority. Culturally, societies conditioned to equate power with aggression may undervalue empathy and relational wisdom. However, as the “receipts” show, Conscious Capitalism proves that aligning with values doesn’t erode success – it expands it. The resistance, therefore, is not logistical but ideological: it requires redefining what power, value, and leadership truly mean.