Seeing the Full Picture
This fall, I had the opportunity to coach my daughter in a flag football league. And no, it was not powder puff or all-girls league. With the encouragement of my neighbor, Taylor, who is also a former college football player, we formed an all-girls team to play against the boys. The girls had never played football before, but we thought it would be fun! To keep it as simple as possible, we bought wrist bands in different colors and drew up plays and would mark the routes we wanted the girls to run in the various color colors.
The idea was simple - don’t overthink it. Just look at the play sheet, find the color that matches your wristband, and run that route. Taylor and I naively thought that we didn’t need to give the girls a more in-depth explanation of the plays. We mistakenly assumed that they would understand why the player running the go route needed to run as hard and fast as she could to take the defender with her and clear out room for the stop route underneath.
What ensued was pure chaos. The girls were confused and frustrated. And as play after play went wrong, the coaches were frustrated as well. We tried to make it as simple as possible for them…what went wrong?
Looking back, here’s what I think we missed - we didn’t connect the dots. We didn’t spend any time helping the girls understand how each route affected the others and was a part of the larger play. We gave them the info we thought they needed but failed to show how their piece was essential to the larger picture. Without this information, the girls didn’t understand how it would benefit them and help them achieve their goal - winning the game!
I think this may also be the case when we discuss the topic of Biblically Responsible Investing. There is a tendency to show investors the companies that they own and discuss how some of those companies have practices that are in opposition to their values. Or on the flip side, we show investors positive things, such as the good some companies are doing in the world. However, in taking either of these approaches, we miss the foundational issue. We must begin with the question, “How are the companies that I invest in important to me, and how do I invest in a way that aligns with my values?”
These questions have real-life implications. For example, I had a client that gave money and time to a local crisis pregnancy ministry. When we conducted an impact analysis on her portfolio, we found that she owned companies that made abortifacients and supported Planned Parenthood. She obviously had no idea, but her response when she found out was profound - “I feel like I am canceling out my own vote.” She realized that her investments were not in line with her values.
From a broader societal standpoint, corporations are affected by the way people invest. The growth of the Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) focused investment is having an impact on corporate America. There are a growing number of investors around the world looking more closely at company policies. They are interested in how businesses treat their employees, the environmental impact, and many other issues. The fact is that money talks. And this shift has caused many corporations to change the way they do business to better comply with investors’ concerns.
The individual investor can be the advocate for change. What powerful things would happen if investors could step back and see the whole picture? They would see how their investment matters. How would corporate America change if investors pushed back against policies that go against their values?
The exciting thing is that this movement can start with an individual investor. The proverbial “little guy” can be the hero in this story. But success hinges on knowledge. Unfortunately, in many scenarios, people do not take the time to discover what they truly own. But that is where advisors come into the picture. We can help educate the investing public and help them see the full picture.
With that, I will leave you with this question: What’s in your portfolio?