Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam

Although I bought this book shortly after it was released it was not a high priority for me to read and it sat on my shelf for many months. My original feeling was that it was likely to be just another book trying to cash in on the anti-woke backlash. I now wish I had read it earlier since it is definitely first rate.Vivek Ramaswamy's greatest strength when analyzing the growing influence of wokeism, including ESG, on corporate America is his ability to distill what is going on down to the most fundamental assumptions and discuss those assumptions directly. Ramaswamy has a background in biology and he has been a founder and CEO of the pharmaceutical company Roivant. He also has a JD from Yale Law. The combined backgrounds in business and law make him particularly adept at providing legal arguments against rising wokeism in corporate America.Early on Ramaswamy recounts his experience growing up in America but making periodic visits to the village his father grew up in back in India. From these visits Ramaswamy witnessed first hand how quickly capitalism brought some parts of India out of poverty. He credits capitalism with essentially destroying the caste system and takes this as an example of how capitalism has the power to transform much more about society than its wealth. Not all of this transformation is destined to be good, however. For example, Ramaswamy describes how capitalism led Indian families to live and grow apart and to more consideration about who owed what money to whom within a family. In general, Ramaswamy's recounting of personal experiences throughout the book make it clear how he ties anti-woke theory to his personal experiences.Ramaswamy's central thesis is that businesses should just aim to maximize profit rather than look for a tradeoff between that and also working toward social good. Ramaswamy thinks it is up to the democratic process to decide social good not c-suite executives or Black Rock retirement fund managers. Ramaswamy writes that LLCs are given a tremendous legal advantages in society in which owners are shielded from liabilities resulting from a corporation's actions. Think of the Sackler family. Ramaswamy argues that since this does not apply to regular members of society, without anything acting to check to this power corporations would risk having too much power in society beyond their business areas. Ramaswamy argues that this was recognized when LLCs were first conceived and back then there was the understanding that the way to check this danger was that corporations would just focus on maximizing profit in their limited line of business. Ramaswamy describes how corporate charters were at first narrow but have generally now expanded to include any legal business activity. Ramaswamy also describes, in detail, how corporations are now gaining undo societal influence by moving focus away from profit maximization.Key to Ramaswamy's notion of undo corporate influence is his notion of a "managerial class" which is becoming increasingly powerful. Ramaswamy argues that these c-suite managers generally have less ownership in the companies they work for than its founders and shareholders and, as such, their interests are misaligned. Rather than having their primary interest in maximizing profit their interest is in maximizing their reputation and, hence, power in society and their long terms careers. Ramaswamy discusses how people in this class will typical move fluidly between corporate management, public service, including the military, non-profits, and government. Ramaswamy argues that wokeism has provided corporate managers with unique opportunities to make it unclear exactly what their goals are: If it is not to maximize profit they can say that the interests of some stakeholder in society is more important. Since there are multiple stakeholders it is generally unclear which stakeholder's interest is of greatest interest and the managerial class can use the ambiguity to do what they want and which is best for their long term careers.Ramaswamy argues that "stakeholder capitalism" gives corporate leaders a tool to do something they were previously much more limited in. Once you are Mark Zuckerberg you have, practically, infinite money but that money, or even getting more of it, will not win you reputation and, hence, power outside of your company. Wokeism, however, allows you to become a champion of social justice to enhance your reputation and gain that power.Ramaswamy also argues that wokeism allows governments to get corporations to do what they would like to do but which legal restraints prevent them from being able to do. For example, censoring conservatives on social media sites. Because of the incestuous relations between non-profits, government, and corporate elites, wokeism gives cover to "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" situations. A particularly maddening example Ramaswamy's cites is how corporations were fined billions of dollars arising from the global financial crisis but were able to donate to Democrat approved charities, have a multiplier greater than one applied to those payments, and gain reputation and tax deductions along the way. Sometimes the charities agreed to were even the prosecutors' and judges' own alma maters!The strongest parts of the book are Ramaswamy's arguments that wokeism can be fought through existing laws. One example is using legal rulings that corporations must put maximization of profits ahead of other concerns. Ramaswamy also argues that social media companies have a duty to protect free speech to extent that it protected by the first amendment and they cannot argue that they can be more restrictive due to the fact that they are private companies. Ramaswamy bases this on legal rulings that governments cannot use private companies to get around constitutional restrictions including through the threat of legal/regulatory action. For folks who hate corporate DEI seminars there is good news: Ramaswamy also argues that wokeism meets the legal definition of a religion and, hence, businesses cannot force their employer to attend these seminars.If you take "the best of" this book it is definitely 5/5 stars. There were, however, some problems. For example, I found that some examples that Ramaswamy used were not good. For example, Ramaswamy repeatedly invokes the notion that Goldman Sachs was "bailed out" during the global financial crisis. During Senate testimony, however, Goldman Sachs said that they did not feel they needed a loan but were forced to take one anyway. (During the Great Depression loans were not required of all banks. Investors and short sellers then took this as a list of which banks were the vulnerable ones. During the global financial crisis Hank Paulson wanted to avoid this.) Indeed, Goldman argued that their riskiest bets were insured and, in some cases, even double insured should one of insurers itself go bust. Another poorly chosen example was when Robinhood restricted buying of Gamestop stock but continued to allow selling. Ramaswamy scoffs at Robinhood's claim that it had no choice due to margin requirement laws: if there really was a problem why not halt all trading? But what would have happened if Robinhood had also halted selling as the stock plunged? Would there not be complaints that stock holders could not get out? To believe that Robinhood's actions were the main cause of the drop seems to give its customers more market power than they have. More likely is that buying in, at that, point would have got even more late comers burnt. It is also clear that allowing selling but not buying would alleviate margin problems while a general halt to trading would not.Another problem with the book is that Ramaswamy, although <i>generally</i> presenting the woke position fairly, does not <i>always</i> provide the best counter arguments to his views. For example, he believes that employers should not be able to discriminate based on political beliefs. A good example arguing for allowing such discrimination would be to ask if employers should be allowed to refuse to hire out in the open KKK members?A final problem with the book is that the potentially negative implications of corporations focusing only on profits are not explored. Would this mean greater government involvement in regulating the free market if corporations did not self-regulate? What negative consequences would that have? Or does he think that the free market will tend to find good solutions when left to itself and just maximizing profit? It is unclear where Ramaswamy stands on this question.After reading this book it is clear to me that Ramaswamy is going to be one of the key players fighting wokeism going forward. Indeed, he recently opened up an anti-woke ETF now actively trading. I am looking forward to his future books and keeping up with his future battles against wokeism.

Author Vivek Ramaswamy wrote in the Introduction to this 2021 book, “As a young twenty-first century capitalist myself, the thing I was supposed to do was shut up and play along… applaud diversity and inclusion, and must on how to make the world a better place at conferences… The most important part of the trick was to stay mum about it. Now I’m violating the code by pulling back the curtain and showing you what’s really going on in corporate boardrooms across America. Why am I defecting? I’m fed up with corporate America’s game of pretending to care about justice in order to make money… It demands that a small group of investors and CEOs determine what’s good for society rather than our democracy at large. This new trend… [is] dividing our country to a breaking point… Wokeness has remade American capitalism in its own image… These days, white progressives have appropriated ‘stay woke’ as a general-purpose term that refers to being aware of all identity-based injustices… Being woke means waking up to these invisible power structures that govern the social universe… Basically, being woke means obsessing about race, gender, and sexual orientation… even though generations of civil rights leaders have taught us NOT to focus on race or gender. And now capitalism is trying to stay woke, too. Once corporations discovered wokeness, the inevitable happened: they used it to make money.” (Pg. 4-5)Of the January 6th riot, he comments, “When I watched it, I was ashamed of our nation. It made me want to be a better American. But I grew even more worried about what happened after the Capitol riot… Silicon Valley closed ranks to cancel the accounts of not only the people who participated in that riot but everyday conservatives across the country… It was a Soviet-style ideological purge… except the censorship czar wasn’t big government. It wasn’t private enterprise either. Rather it was … a frightening hybrid of the two.” (Pg. 8)He states, “I believe even honest woke capitalists fail to see how much additional harm they do to American democracy when business elites tell ordinary Americans what causes they’re supposed to prioritize… So that’s my disagreement with sincere woke capitalists. But my bigger beef is with the INSINCERE woke capitalists. Here’s what the sincere guys miss: when they create a system in which business leaders decide moral questions, they open the floodgates for all their unscrupulous colleagues to abuse that newfound power.” (Pg. 29-30)He says, “I’m not arguing that CEO’s or directors should be legally prohibited from using corporate resources to support their own pet social causes… I’m just saying CEOs and directors shouldn’t be protected by the BGR [business judgment rule] if a shareholder sues them for doing so. Why? Because using the corporate dime needed to fund your favorite social causes is no less a conflict of interest than a classical FINANCIAL conflict of interest.” (Pg. 98-99)He asserts, “this new corporate practice of feigning wokeness INDIRECTLY wins favors in return from the government over the long run---favorable legislative treatment.. and other forms of corporate welfare. During Republican administrations, big companies used to gain political advantage by lending their alumni to occupy powerful government positions… Now corporations have simply come up with a new trick tailored for a Democrats: they lend corporate power as a tool to implement radical agendas that Democrats could never pass in Congress.” (Pg. 121-122)He summarizes, “Wokeness and capitalism simply tolerate each other because each feels it can use the other. They will turn a blind eye to each other’s faults as long as they themselves can still benefit. But a marriage in which each side secretly has contempt for the other cannot end well.” (Pg. 140)He notes, “It sounds great to some people when woke capitalists support causes they like, like BLM… foreign authoritarian nations … ruthlessly leverage their stakeholder status to selectively determine which causes woke capitalists throw their weight behind. The NBA can put ‘Black Lives Matter’ on all its courts because the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] isn’t threatened by the message. But the Communist Party would never allow the NBA… to breathe a word in support of Hong Kong, Taiwan, or the Uighurs…” (Pg. 168)He argues, “this broad wave of deplatforming didn’t just happen to prominent politicians… It happened to ordinary Americans too… Well, doesn’t the free market provide a solution? It did… in the form or Parler, a Twitter alternative popular with conservatives… Ultimately, it paid a hefty price… Following the Capitol riot, Parler was blocked from being downloaded from Google’s Play Store, was suspended from Apple’s App Store, and lost access to Amazon Web Services… This isn’t about silencing conservatives. That’s just how they get you on board with the idea of censorship… whatever speech powerful interests dislike becomes hate speech.” (Pg. 199-200)He observes, “opposing the Black Lives Matter movement… in the Church of Diversity… makes one automatically anti-black… The Church of Diversity … has decided to begin punishing all the nonbelievers. A democracy nay thrive on dissent, but a theocracy can’t tolerate it.” (Pg. 222-223) He continues, “wokeness is the new orthodoxy, the new religion, one that disguises itself in secular clothing. Because its disciples worship the secular force of identity rather than any supernatural one, it’s much easier for the Church of Diversity to infiltrate the workplace.” (Pg. 231) Later, he adds,“it's evident that wokeness plays a religious role on one’s life, and therefore is really a religion… Under the woke worldview, being born white, straight, make, or… all three is an original sin that one must spend their life atoning for.” (Pg. 257)He explains, “I propose a new movement to resist the enforcement or race- and gender diversity, in response to intellectual movements such as critical race theory and critical feminist theory, which spawned this narrow conception of diversity… This new movement aims to more effectively achieve three essential objectives: (1) define what types of diversity of thought are important to an organization, (2) measure diversity of thought in an organization, and (3) select for diversity of thought when hiring leaders to scale an organization. I call this ‘critical diversity theory.’” (Pg. 267)He asserts, “it’s no surprise that those kids later grow up to be woke capitalists. It’s rooted in a guilt complex for never genuinely having helped other people… they try to mix up their profit-oriented pursuits with making up for their past… That’s what woke capitalism is all about: companies performatively one-upping each other to show that they’re the good guys, and consumers are falling for their tricks.” (Pg. 309)He concludes, “In the end, American isn’t a place at all. It’s an idea. We call it the American DREAM for a reason. It’s not a destination that we reach; it’s a vision we aspire to… But over the last decade, something scary happened: WE WOKE UP. And once you wake up from a dream, you forget what it was all about. That’s the real danger of wokeness.” (Pg. 327)This will interest readers seeking critiques of the so-called ‘woke’ movement among progressives.

Finally a valid explanations for what is happening. We need to Return to decency and stop firing our most experienced leaders and leaving kids who spend their days manipulating data and drawing charts that make no sense and target ing the company sage. I never understood how the Human Resources Department could go along with this nonsense. Instead of protecting talent and helping the deeeb deal with a bad performance report. The Young kids cannot deal with disappointment and take it out on the leadership clases, while they hide behind their dithering screens andvrefusebto engage face to face, something else Human Resources allows.

Great book! I hope many people read this important book.

Proposes and explores some of the seriously self-destructive agendas overtaking and western world. It's ironic that the freedom of Speech previously enjoyed in the west is being used to enslave the world globally into an "only approved" speech and thought controlled society. At the same time the wedges and divisions are being driven between communities and people on all manner of topics. The question is who is driving it ? and for what purpose? is individualism over Community compounding this?Weak corporate "leaders" - more like spineless, image conscious followers seem to be only to eager to avoid controversy or personal attacks, and fall in line with the reverse hate speech, discrimination and exclusion polices of the D&I dictatorship agenda narrative.

Author brings some interesting new views to the subject of Wokeness appearing in most of our corporations (not just an American phenomenon). He discusses the recent history, the firing of employees who do not March to the correct script and the problems with identity essentialism.The chapter on Wokeness is actually being a religion (in the legal definition) is intriguing but needs some new case law to follow it up. One implication would be that Critical Pedagogy would need to disappear from public schools due to the establishment clause.Overall, worth reading for the new ideas!

1/2 done. Well written. I am learning a lot.

The Woke movement is tearing our society apart. If we don't stop it soon, we and our children will pay a heavy price. We will lose the democracy and freedom that our ancestors fought so hard to achieve and protect.To stop the destruction of our world by hateful Woke ideologues, the first step is to understand their thinking, and how they have co-opted our institutions and corporations. This book explains all that. It's filled with useful insights, and it's also easy to read.Actually, I skipped the first few chapters about the author's childhood life in India, but I found the rest of the book just excellent. I highly recommend it.