Table Stakes: Recent Episodes
Marcy Twete
In today’s business landscape, responsibility and sustainability are no longer optional or “nice to have.” Modern stakeholders don’t just expect an environmental, social and governance (ESG) focus, they demand it. Being a good corporate citizen today is “table stakes.” Simultaneously, many of the corporate social responsibility departments companies launched in the last 30 years aren’t thinking enough about innovation, growth, business-focused results and resilience. Table Stakes discusses the issues of sustainability with forward-thinking leaders to forecast the future of responsible business. Being ethical, human and sustainable is no longer optional – it’s table stakes.
Six episodes into the Read Responsibly series, Marcy takes a solo lap: five things that have stuck with her from the first six author conversations, including why every single guest has admitted their own book is a little bit wrong now, and why the language problem in this field turns out to be everyone's problem. Then five books from the first half of 2026 already locked for this year's list. And finally, an announcement: Veerless and Table Stakes are starting a book club. One book, read together, discussed on the show. Marcy isn't picking it. You are. The poll is on LinkedIn!
Lisa Beth Lentini Walker is the first guest to return to Table Stakes for the Read Responsibly series, and she's here to talk about the book that reframed how I think about getting people to do the right thing: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice, written with co-author Stef Tschida.
Lisa Beth is the CEO and Founder of Lumen Worldwide Endeavors and a compliance leader whose career runs from the SEC to the C-suite. We get into why compliance fails on communication rather than rules, the near-miss stories every ethics leader collects (gold bars, hunting knives, Beyoncé tickets), and the language problem that haunts both our fields — why "ethics," "integrity," "sustainability," and "compliance" all keep buckling under the weight of what we actually mean. Plus: risk as a floor versus a ceiling, and why the future of this work is more human, not less.
Philanthropic futurist Trista Harris believes we're five years from utopia — and she's serious. The founder of Future Good and author of the book by the same name joins Marcy to explain what it really means to be a futurist, how the 2008 financial crisis turned her into one, and why the systems collapsing around us right now are also a once-in-a-generation chance to build something better. Along the way: the honest, scrappy truth about self- and hybrid-publishing, a grounded take on AI's impact on work and the social sector, and why rest and human connection are survival skills in a time of exponential change. A conversation for anyone trying to stay in the work — and stay hopeful while they do it.
When a company pollutes a river, cuts wages, or buys its way out of accountability, who actually pays the bill? According to Christopher Marquis, the answer is almost always the rest of us. In this episode of the Read Responsibly Book Series, host Marcy Twete sits down with Chris — Sinyi Professor at Cambridge Judge Business School and author of The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profits and Socializes Costs — to talk about the structural forces that make corporate accountability so hard, what corporate gaslighting and astroturfing actually look like in practice, and why the B Corp movement might be one of the most important experiments in capitalism happening right now. A wide-ranging, honest conversation about the system, the language we use to describe it, and whether business can still be reformed from within.
What does it mean to be a corporate idealist when the company you believed in becomes the company behind one of the worst environmental disasters in American history? Christine Bader spent years doing innovative work on human rights inside BP — and then Deepwater Horizon happened. In this episode of the Read Responsibly Book Series, host Marcy Twete sits down with Christine, author of The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil, to talk about what the book still gets right twelve years later, what she'd write differently now, and what it looks like when a hyper-global career gives way to a hyper-local life as a school board member, business school faculty, and head coach of a high school girls rugby team in McMinnville, Oregon. A deeply honest conversation about idealism, accountability, and where impact actually comes from.
What does it mean for a body to belong — in sports, in the workplace, in the world? In this Pride Month episode of Table Stakes, host Marcy Twete sits down with Minneapolis author, educator, and former two-sport college athlete Ellie Roscher to discuss Fair Game: Trans Athletes and the Future of Sports, co-authored with Dr. Anna Baeth. They dig into the myths driving anti-trans sports legislation, the stories of the 20 trans athletes interviewed for the book, and why the fight over who gets to play is really a fight over who gets to belong — in locker rooms, in boardrooms, and everywhere in between. Plus: what embodied leadership looks like, why psychological safety is a structural problem before it's a personal one, and the book Ellie is working through with a group of women in commercial real estate right now.
What does it actually take to build a responsible company? Mot just a company with a sustainability department, but one where corporate citizenship is woven into strategy, operations, and culture? That's the question Dave Stangis and Katherine Valvoda Smith set out to answer nearly a decade ago, and it's the question at the heart of this conversation.
Dave and Katherine join Marcy for the first episode of Table Stakes' "Read Responsibly" book series to talk about 21st Century Corporate Citizenship: A Practical Guide to Delivering Value to Society and Your Business — what inspired it, how it's held up across a decade of political and cultural turbulence, and what they'd add if they wrote it today. They also dig into the war over ESG terminology, the quiet disappearance of the word "ethics" from corporate vocabulary, and why the money in publishing a book is never actually in the book.
Host Marcy Twete, CEO of Veerless and author of the annual Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Book List, returns to announce a season unlike anything the podcast has done before. In the second half of 2026, Table Stakes is dedicating itself entirely to the authors behind some of the most important books in corporate responsibility and sustainability — books that have appeared on Marcy's list over the past seven years and shaped how thousands of leaders think about their work.
In this trailer, Marcy shares why this moment feels different: she's approaching her 10th annual book list, she's writing her own book, and she has a question she can't stop thinking about — what does it actually take for a book to change how someone leads?
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We're unveiling ESGPS, Veerless’s new investor-ready sustainability reporting research. ESGPS combines years of research, qualitative interviews with investors, and analysis of thousands of existing reports to build more usable, narrative-driven disclosures that meet stakeholder expectations. In our conversation, we unpack what makes ESGPS different — from the Compass and Anchor frameworks to the “6 Dimensions of Stakeholder Intelligence” — and share actionable insights on how companies can adopt the new standard to elevate the clarity, trustworthiness, and impact of their ESG reporting.
Today, we're returning to a conversation on moral distress we started last year. Moral distress was first studied by American ethicist Andrew Jameton related to nursing teams and ethical decision making in the 1980s. Today, the Veerless team applying Jameton's concepts to the work of sustainability and the ethical decision making professionals in our field deal with every day. In today's podcast, Veerless Senior Consultant Kris Fischer joins Marcy to discuss the overarching concept of moral distress and apply it to roles and functions in our industry.
After a brief hiatus since our fall series on sustainability at the Olympics, Table Stakes is back—and not a moment too soon. In a time when ESG headlines are swirling with uncertainty, backlash, and bold political shifts, we’re here to shine a light on the real momentum powering sustainability forward. This week’s episode kicks off our new biweekly series, unpacking the key takeaways from Veerless’ A Climate of Opportunity report and what’s happened in the six months since President Trump took office for a second time. From resilient governors to rebellious mayors, supply chain pressure to Gen Z firepower, we’re breaking down why ESG is far from dead—and how the work continues, with purpose.
As the 2024 Summer Olympics continue in Paris, Table Stakes is continuing our series on sustainability and sports. Joining us today is the Founder of EcoAthletes, Lew Blaustein. This summer, EcoAthletes has 18 Olympians competing in Paris. Together, they've engaged in advocacy, communications, personal sustainability actions, and more in their time in Paris, before and after.
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris began last week, and as we led up to the opening ceremonies, our team asked ourselves "What's the environmental impact of an event like this one?" One of Veerless' newest team members, Katie Yoder, joins us to talk about the carbon footprint of sports and the Olympics, and examine the preparation that goes into an event like this in terms of environmental excellence - for the city, the athletes, and the games in general. Katie is a decorated triathlete herself and brings the perspective of the athlete experience to our entire conversation.
Happy Earth Day! Today we're tackling a subject that is often a little taboo in the sustainability space. And even in the last few weeks has caused major turmoil for our friends over at the Science-Based Targets Initiative. There’s a word in the sustainability space that, when spoken, often feels like one should look to the left and right to make sure no one hears them say……offsets. Veerless recently became Carbon Neutral Certified and Aclymate Leader Climate Certified. In this process, as a company with a small footprint, we went through the process to choose offsets twice. And we learned a lot. In today's episode, we're sharing our four-pronged approach to choosing carbon offsets for companies of any size and the offsets Veerless chose to offset our 2023 footprint.
Veerless recently released our first ever Impact Report. Aligned to the five areas of focus in the B Impact Assessment, our first annual report details the steps we have taken to achieve excellence in each of these areas in 2023. It also lays out our goals for 2024 in terms of certification and sustainability alignment in our business. But it wasn't enough for us to release an Impact Report for our small business. We want to inspire other companies like us to do the same. Today's podcast shares our 5 Reasons Why Small Businesses Can and Should Produce an Impact Report.
The concept of moral distress was first studied by American ethicist Andrew Jameton related to nursing teams and ethical decision making in the 1980s. Today, the Veerless team is kicking off an ongoing conversations about moral distress in the workplace and its effect on wellbeing of team members. In the work of sustainability, the ethical decision making components of our roles are often glazed over or forgotten. In today's podcast, Veerless Senior Consultant Kris Fischer joins Marcy to discuss the overarching concept of moral distress and begin to apply it to roles and functions in our industry. Stay with us in 2024 as we continue our series on moral distress throughout the year.
Alright, it's March...and our "Happy New Year" episode should have been recorded weeks ago. But hey, action speaks louder than words? Right? Join our host, Marcy Twete, for a quick solocast about 2024 so far and takeaways from a few months of snowbird/nomad lifestyle. Welcome to 2024!
The buzz on AI and specifically Generative AI has reached an all time high in today's technology zeitgeist. Sustainability and ESG leaders are experiencing the AI wave first hand as they see more investors, ratings agencies and even consumer and employee readers using AI to evaluate their reports and progress. In today's episode, Veerless CEO and technology expert Charlie Beck joins us to talk nuts and bolts of AI, how AI is already at use in sustainability and ESG ratings and regulations, and what considerations we should all make in tailoring our reports to an ever-changing AI landscape.
One of the more shocking trends in ESG and sustainability is when a stand-out leader in one area of ESG (environment, for example) lags behind significantly or experiences concerning controversy in another area. Today on Table Stakes, we're examining three examples of companies (Kaiser Permanente labor strikes last week, Patagonia controversy in fair pay of textile workers, and Ben & Jerry's role in a migrant child worker crisis) whose fair treatment and fair pay initiatives just don't hold up against their impeccable environmental programs. What can we do to influence the fair labor work of brands we already respect?
In the corporate world, some policies, procedures and processes take years to change. But others may just require a small group of individuals who say "there's a better way to do this." Today, we're talking about one of those policies in particular - bereavement leave. Unfortunately, most companies have archaic bereavement leave policies in place that don't consider the personal and cultural differences we all might face when it comes to the loss of a loved one. In today's episode Veerless leaders Marcy Twete and Kristen Fischer outline the steps your company can take to build a better bereavement policy in your company.
It's been over a year since Table Stakes brought you the news of corporate responsibility, sustainability and ESG on this platform, and we are back! Today's episode is a quick message from your host, Marcy Twete, updating our listeners on what's been going on this past year. Learn about the exciting new developments in Veerless, our newly rebranded company, and what's to come for the future of Table Stakes.
The link between compliance and ESG is clear. We are all working to make our companies stronger, more ethical, more sustainable, and encouraging our colleagues to "do the right thing." The skills necessary for success in these roles is also the same - influence over authority, understanding over commanding, listening more than talking. Today's guest Lisa Beth Lentini Walker joins us to share her experience as a compliance leader and the co-author of the book Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice: How Listening, Communicating, and Storytelling Shape Compliance Program Influence.
We know that companies and governments must be leaders in fighting the threat of climate change. But individuals have a clear role to play as well. Our guests today lead Aurora Sustainability, an innovative platform for individuals to calculate, understand, and address their carbon footprint. Aurora's model is unique in that it brings together individuals and the companies they work for to collectively address carbon footprint and climate change.
For our 2021 trends forecast, we've broken down four overarching trends and definitions of those trends. And in each of those four areas, outlining a trend in action (happening right now), a trend in development (starting to happen), and a trend in decline (was a trend in recent years but diminishing today). From diversity to CEO activism, from body positivity to corporate philanthropy, these trends span the fields of CSR, ESG and sustainability in 2021.
We all want to have a positive impact on our communities and the world we live in. But it's easy to get stuck on where to start and how to achieve our impact goals. In Impact: A Step-by-Step Plan to Create the World You Want to Live In, authors Tammy Tibbetts and Christen Brandt give readers a workbook for anyone who wants to reevaluate the impact they make in the world personally. You set a strategy for your financial life, your career, your family - you should have a strategy for your social impact as well. January is the perfect time of year to go through the steps in Christen and Tammy's book and set your intentions and goals for 2021.
January 1, 2021 is right around the corner, and as you think about setting your 2021 resolutions, we're challenging you to make one big commitment related to a sustainability or social issue. In this episode, Marcy takes you through her 5-year journey of setting a sustainability challenge/resolution every year, how to do it, and what you'll learn.
When we think of leaders in sustainability, it's unlikely we might think first of a 200-year old company. But a company's age doesn't always mean "old-school." Today, we're joined by the team from Monadnock Paper Mills, Inc. Their work is a gold standard example of a company who has built sustainability into the DNA of its business. With a passion for the environment and ingenuity, Monadnock is turning ideas into reality.
A special crossover episode with our sister podcast, Office Baggage. As companies around the world cope with the ramifications of a global crisis, it's more important than ever to ensure our company's leaders and future leaders feel engaged and supported and have the tools necessary to future-proof your talent and succession strategy. There needs to be a massive shift in how we are training and building successful and sustainable workforces at every level of seniority. Partners Kirsten Ramos, Elevate Performance Solutions and Sophia Ruffolo, femmebought, and Marcy Twete, MT Consulting, are sharing their new program - Upskilling Remotely, Building Talent and Trust for the Future - inspiring companies to invest in managerial trust, preventing "diversity drain" and more.
For many CSR and sustainability professionals, we are entering the dreaded "reporting season." For many of us, sustainability or CSR reports are one of the most important aspects of our roles. So why do we hate these processes so much? Why are they so frustrating and headache inducing? Today's solocast from host Marcy Twete gives you four actionable pieces of advice that can help make your reporting process run smoothly.
In today's VUCA world (short for volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous), businesses around the world are asking what skills and traits are necessary for those leaders who will weather the storm well. What does it mean to be resilient during disruption? Today's guest Henna Inam answers those questions and more in her new book "Wired for Disruption." She highlights in our conversation five types of agility necessary for leaders to weather today's storm and the storms of the future, and how ESG issues are at the forefront of the future of business and its ability to remain agile and resilient.
We've all probably heard about LEED Certified buildings, but mostly related to commercial buildings. Your home can also be LEED Certified. But most of us have some common misconceptions of so-called "green" homes - that they're wildly expensive, that the process takes years of planning, that they're out of reach for most of us. Our guest today, Aaron Stash, and his family, built a LEED Platinum home in the suburbs of Chicago - a home that continues to inspire his family to lead a more sustainable life. Tune in to see how this process might inspire you as well.
In 2008, only 358 companies globally were producing a sustainability report in accordance with GRI standards. Today, more than 30,000 companies use the GRI framework globally. As sustainability reporting has grown these last 10 years, another like-minded framework has risen simultaneously – the notion of integrated reporting and more deeply integrated thinking. The founder of the U.S. Integrated Reporting Community, Mary Adams, joins Table Stakes to dive deep on integrated reporting - what is it, how does it work, what are the barriers to adoption and how is it different and similar to sustainability reporting?
The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis earlier this year spurred a national movement toward racial justice different than any in recent years. Months later, many of us are asking ourselves: "What now?" How can we continue to invest in racial justice, help to spur the much needed change in our society, and ensure those actions are catalytic rather than performative in nature? The YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago's CEO Dorri McWhorter joins us to talk about their new initiative to move the needle on anti-racism - The Racial Justice League. With their campaign "Until Justice Just Is," and the resources they provide, the organization gives us all action steps to move forward.
Google "B Corp" and you'll find: "Certified B Corporations are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit." But what does that really entail? We're diving deep on B Corp certification with B Corp business owner Emily Lonigro of LimeRed. What is a B Corp? How does it work? And are there flaws in the B Corp system?
For those invested in sustainability, we are often thinking about how our purchasing patterns are connected to our values. We know the importance of reduce, reuse, recycle. We've had all the difficult conversations about "fast fashion." But have we considered how some of the largest purchases of our lives - for instance, our wedding rings - are syncing with our values systems? Joined by gem expert and founder of All the Brilliants, Melissa Dusenberry joins the podcast to open our minds to the world of sustainably sourced, thoughtfully designed jewelry.
Today's episode is a special "crossover" between Table Stakes Podcast and Office Baggage Podcast. In the environment of COVID-19, the issues surrounding employment and change management are affecting everyone whether through layoffs, furloughs, working from home, or training and safety for essential employees. All of us are dealing with both macro and micro economic issues as we consider a return to work and continued change and transformation in our work. CEO of the Prinz Law Firm, Kristen Prinz, and The Parker Avery Group's Kathi Toll join us with expert commentary.
Joined by Beth Santos, the CEO of women's travel platform, Wanderful, we are tackling the topic of responsible, sustainable travel. Safety for women, environmental sustainability, social impact, and many other key ESG topics in travel play directly into success for leaders in the travel industry. As all of us expand our horizons and travel the world, we have a duty to ensure our travel leaves the world better and not worse. And as we consider going "back" to travel following a global pandemic, how do we evaluate the values and practices of a company we may patronize in our travel?
Jobs in corporate responsibility, social impact and ESG are notoriously difficult to find, and even more difficult to "get." If you're interested in a role in this field, today you'll learn from host Marcy Twete and guests Margaret Skrmetti (Morton Salt) and Elizabeth Okey (Wintrust) on their paths to roles in this field. We tackle the possible paths to a role, the issues with finding a role, and the ways our industry can become more inclusive and open to new ideas and new people.
When Barie Carmichael and her co-author the late James Rubin wrote "Reset" just two years ago, corporate trust was at an all time low. Consumers' access to information about the companies they buy from and work for was at an all time high, the expectations of stakeholders growing rapidly. That trend has only been exacerbated with the onset of the #MeToo movement, COVID-19, and the recent protests surrounding racial injustices. How can companies respond to a public who doesn't trust them and how do you "get it right" socially in today's ever-changing environment?
In May, I was delighted to host a Coffee & Connections Event with the Executives Club of Chicago on responsibility and ethics in COVID-19. Today's solocast is a replica of that presentation, highlighting two major trends in ethics and responsibility affecting business during COVID-19 and the dos and don'ts of operating and communicating during a time of uncertainty and crisis.
Some of the most interesting issues in business responsibility are those that rarely involve the corporate responsibility departments - where corporate leaders make high stakes decisions that affect all stakeholders. We're launching the podcast with one of the hardest decisions a leader will ever have to make - declaring bankruptcy. Joined by Bloomberg reporter Katherine Doherty, we're breaking down the who, how and what of bankruptcy filings in the corporate sector and the ethical hot spots in the process. Where are the ethical issues of bankruptcy black and white? And where are they grey?
Table Stakes is debuting June 1, 2020! Here's a sneak peek into your host, Marcy Twete, and the "why" of Table Stakes. Share your thoughts and ideas with us at www.tablestakespodcast.com.