You’ve made the decision to pursue faith-consistent investing, or are on a path to do more, and possibly today you’re hitting roadblocks. A recent article by global consultant Boston Consulting Group summarizes the most common roadblocks in 'Six Pitfalls to Avoid When Mobilizing for Sustainability'. It's short, punchy and maybe somewhat obvious to some of you. But what struck me ….
… replace the word "Sustainability" with "Faith-Consistent Investing" and it's relevant to the challenges of FCI faced by many of us.
In summary, BCG summarizes the challenges as below, with my comments in italics:
A Weak Commitment at the top.
The 'Perpetual' Chief Sustainability Officer, (role needs to permeate the org. & evolve over time).
Commitments with No Accountability.
Coordination Problems, (who's doing what?).
A Failure to Embed faith-consistent investing in the Business, (for some, it’s a side activity, a “sleeve” of total assets).
Talent Gaps, (e.g. do you have, or have access to, analysts who can assess, measure and interpret impact or other FCI metrics?).
The article lists questions that can be asked to help avoid these challenges, as useful framework that we’ll pick up on in coming Interest Group meetings.