I have worked in the corporate world for 20 years as a journalist and in public relations. Much of this has been in the financial services industry, both reporting on listed companies, working for big asset management companies and for listed companies themselves.

This blog was born of a desire to start a public conversation about who really owns the large listed companies around the world that are increasingly shaping our world: how we work; how we consume; and how we live.

These companies do listen totheir biggest shareholders, who are institutional investors, but these investors don’t own the money they invest . We do. Institutional investors are professional asset managers, such as superannuation funds, pension funds and other mutual funds, who manage the money on their clients’ behalf. We are the clients.

So, if we want companies to start acting differently and reviewing their priorities, then we have to start asking the institutional investors who manage money on our behalf to behave differently and become active shareholders with our values at heart.

Step one is to get people thinking differently about the power of their investment savings to shape the world.

Susan O’Byrne