Welcome to the podcast that’s now called Investology. This new name reflects the changes that I felet were needed for 2025 onwards. A new year that feels like a new era in the investment world based on the news this January probably not the era we want, but we can learn to adapt and thrive.Many investment podcasts, that talk about macro, micro or predictions. This is not one of them.Here we think about investment management and what goes on behind the curtain of financial markets.With my guests, we will talk about tech and innovation but also the history, the narratives, the principles.And there’s no better guest to start this year with than Alex Edmans, a professor of finance author and expert in how we use and misuse data and evidence. We discuss his excellent book May contain lies in the previous episode. Alex is also a sustainability specialist and author of grow the pie How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profitand also wrote a recent paper called The End of ESG and they will be the subject of this conversation that helped me think about sustainable investind and I hope it helps you too.I wish you a great year in your personal, professional and your invetsing life!ABSTRACT from The End of ESG by Alex EdmansESG is both extremely important and nothing special. It’s extremely important because it’s critical tolong-term value, and so any academic or practitioner should take it seriously, not just those with“ESG” in their research interests or job title. Thus, ESG doesn’t need a specialized term, as thatimplies it’s niche – considering long-term factors isn’t ESG investing; it’s investing. It’s nothingspecial since it’s no better or worse than other intangible assets that create long-term financial andsocial returns, such as management quality, corporate culture, and innovative capability. Companiesshouldn’t be praised more for improving their ESG performance than these other intangibles; investorengagement on ESG factors shouldn’t be put on a pedestal compared to engagement on other valuedrivers. We want great companies, not just companies that are great at ESG. ABOUT ALEX EDMANSAlex's website: https://alexedmans.com/Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. His TED talk ‘What to Trust in a Post-Truth World’ has been viewed 2 million times and he has spoken at Davos and in the UK House of Commons. In 2013 he was awarded tenure at The Wharton School and in 2021 he was named MBA Professor of the Year by Poets and Quants. Edmans writes regularly for the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Harvard Business Review. His first book, Grow the Pie, was a Financial Times Book of the Year. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.USEFUL LINKS📩 Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3AxnyTY 🎧 Audio Version of the Podcast: https://pod.link/1511595070TOOLS (affiliate links)What I use for editing, DESCRIPT: https://get.descript.com/1ldhm44pyr0pWhat I use for multi-currency banking and payments, WISE: https://wise.prf.hn/l/w9gQYA9TIMESTAMPS

Introduction and Initial Reactions

Questioning ESG and Diversity Metrics (Based on a clip from HBO's Industry)

The End of ESG: A New Perspective

Understanding ESG Metrics and Qualitative Aspects

The Subjectivity and Potential of ESG