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The Value Revolution: Reimagining Worth

History &
Social Policy

How do we define value? How has this changed over time? And who has a say over what is deemed valuable or worthless?

Podcast and video coming soon.

“The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” – Oscar Wilde

How do we define value? How has this changed over time? And who has a say over what is deemed valuable or worthless? For centuries, society has seen value mainly through an economic lens: one takes a job because of its monetary benefits; marriage is a financially beneficial relationship to enable stability; and the true test of a business is its profit at the end of the year.

But is this changing? In recent years, factors such as climate change, social justice and the pandemic have forced us to reconsider how we define value. Our second event in the Futureverse series in partnership with Y TREE will cover some of the most pressing questions of today: Will technologies democratise finance? Can capitalism really adapt so that things other than monetary value are considered important in business, including fairness and environmental impact? And are we finally seeing a growing awareness that value cannot necessarily be quantified with a price tag? Some things, such as time, health, job satisfaction, and the survival of our planet are surely worth more than a number in a bank account.

In July 2022, we explored the Value Revolution through the eyes of former Financial Times columnist, now charity founder, author and maths and economics teacher Lucy Kellaway OBE; Adrienne Buller, author of The Value of a Whale, the book that examines the truth of “green capitalism”; and banker, co-creator and host of the award-winning Money Maze podcast, Simon Brewer. Chairing the discussion was be Jon Sopel, award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author.

Speakers for the motion

  • Simon Brewer

    Banker, co-creator and host of the award winning Money Maze podcast

  • Adrienne Buller

    Author of The Value of a Whale; the book that examines the truth of "green capitalism"

  • Lucy Kellaway OBE

    Former longtime FT columnist, now charity founder, author and maths

Chair

  • Jon Sopel

    Award-winning journalist and television presenter

Speakers

Speakers

Simon Brewer

Banker, co-creator and host of the award winning Money Maze podcast

Simon graduated from the London School of Economics with a degree in Economic History, and later took the advanced management programme at INSEAD, France. He started his career at Citibank in 1985, where he trained as a portfolio manager, before joining Morgan Stanley in 1989. Over the 17 years there, he managed their global balanced portfolio, was Chairman of their European Asset Allocation Committee and Chief Investment Officer. For the subsequent 14 years he was CEO and an owner of Vantage Investment Advisory Ltd. He is a senior advisor to Rothschild and Co, in London, a Governor of Clifton College and Chairman of their Development Trust, and served as a Trustee of Great Ormond Street Hospital. In 2019 he co-founded the Money Maze Podcast, which he hosts, an investment and business podcast that is listened to in over 80 Countries, and which is in the top 1% of global podcasts.

Adrienne Buller

Author of The Value of a Whale; the book that examines the truth of "green capitalism"

Adrienne is a Senior Fellow at Common Wealth, a progressive think tank working toward a democratic economy, where her work focuses on the intersections of the financial system and environmental crisis. Her research and writing have featured in the Financial Times, Bloomberg, The New Statesman and The Guardian, among other publications. She is the author of The Value of a Whale: On the illusions of green capitalism (Manchester University Press, 2022) and Owning the Future: Power and Property in an Age of Crisis (Verso, 2022).

Lucy Kellaway OBE

Former longtime FT columnist, now charity founder, author and maths

Lucy Kellaway OBE is a British journalist turned teacher. During her career in journalism, she has worked as energy correspondent, Brussels correspondent, a Lex writer, and interviewer of business people and celebrities, all with the Financial Times. She left the FT in 2017 to work as a maths teacher in a "challenging" London secondary school. Whilst training to teach, she co-founded the educational charity Now Teach, which provides a route for experienced people to successfully retrain as secondary school teachers and stay in the sector for the long-term. Her book Re-educated details her decision to leave her job, her home and her husband to pursue a radically different life. She currently teaches economics at a school in Tower Hamlets and is on the board of FLIC, the FT’s financial literacy charity.
Chair

Jon Sopel

Award-winning journalist and television presenter

Award-winning journalist and television presenter. Co-host, alongside Emily Maitlis, of up and coming podcast in partnership with Global as well as a radio show for LBC. Prior to this, he was North America Editor, the most senior foreign posting in the BBC. He has worked variously as the corporation’s Paris Correspondent, Chief Political Correspondent, hosted both The Politics Show and Newsnight and is a regular on HARDtalk, as well as a number of Radio 4 programmes. He has played a key role in major political and international stories, anchoring coverage on location from around the world, including the funeral of Nelson Mandela, the inauguration of the new Pope, countless presidential elections, wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, and a number of natural disasters. He is the author of three books, including UnPresidented, a diary of the 2020 US elections.

 

Speakers are subject to change.