海角大神

Welcome to your Monitor Daily.聽Today's stories include the seemingly impossible wonders of the ocean deep, a fracturing of alliances in the Middle East, the limits of ingenuity for an industry struggling under tariffs, the importance of perseverance when combating such persistent challenges as homelessness, and the power of music to make immigrants feel at home.

But first: This week the power of business executives聽鈥嬧�� and the question of their obligations to society聽鈥嬧�� surfaced for some well-earned discussion.

David Koch, who died Friday, symbolized that power and its role in U.S. politics. He鈥檚 been lauded by some for his proud bankrolling of a libertarian economic agenda. In the process, Mr. Koch and his brother also stirred deep controversy over the rise of money in politics聽鈥嬧�� fodder for聽 as well as Monitor news coverage. Those questions will persist.

But earlier this week, the role of business leaders came into focus on another front: The question of how they influence the economy and all its participants, day in and day out.聽

The Business Roundtable, a group representing leaders of many of America鈥檚 biggest corporations, issued a seeking to reframe the idea of corporate purpose.

While lauding the free-market system as the best way to generate jobs and 鈥渙pportunity for all,鈥� the CEOs acknowledged that 鈥渕any Americans are struggling.鈥� And they pivoted away from a profits-as-purpose view toward what鈥檚 known as a stakeholder model of corporate obligation. Those stakeholders include employees, communities, suppliers, and customers, not just shareholders.

Don鈥檛 expect an overnight change or the disappearance of to shareholders from corporate mindsets. Critics are fair to say what counts will be action, not just words. But the statement points to a shift in corporate boardrooms that some leadership experts .