Media Making an Impact
Positive Sum
How Zero-sum Thinking Broke Capitalism - and How We Can Fix It
By Roy Swan - Director of Mission Investments at Ford Foundation, recipient of the 2025 Awards Gala’s Investor Impact Award
In his new book, Roy Swan offers a practical framework for building inclusive prosperity through positive-sum economics. Through Positive Sum, Swan questions the outdated economic theory that for someone to win, someone else must lose. The book presents concrete investment strategies that have delivered proven 28% returns, while advancing inclusive growth. Swan reveals why Zero-sum thinking has cost the American economy an estimated $50 trillion over the last 30 years and continues to cost businesses $600 billion annually, and offers a practical roadmap for recognizing the economic power of fairness to create broadly shared prosperity.
Available July 21, 2026. Book Website →
Roy Swans’ Reflections on Democracy
For The People
For Ford Foundation’s News & Stories
“In 1939, after witnessing the democratic collapse of the Weimar Republic, Peter Drucker wrote The End of Economic Man. His diagnosis: Economic alienation is the precondition for democratic erosion. The same pattern toppled democracies across continents and eras, driven by the same engine: widespread economic despair looking for answers and someone to blame.
Democracy needs voters. Voters need a country worth voting in. Economic opportunity is the bedrock of hope. Hope is the bedrock of democracy.
…
Patriotic Capitalism is the response: an investment philosophy that prioritizes country, democracy, and the common good. It is positive-sum, not zero-sum. It treats people as assets to develop, not liabilities to diminish. It widens economic opportunity beyond the technology and finance professionals on the coasts to working families everywhere. If economic alienation is the precondition for democratic erosion, Patriotic Capitalism is the oxygen that gives life to people, families, and the republic itself.”
Read the full piece here →
More Works From Remarkable AAI Honorees
By Jim Ovia, Founder of Zenith Bank and recipient of the 2017 Gala’s Business Leadership Award
Africa Rise and Shine is the story of Ovia’s business and banking success and how he was able to create one of Africa’s largest banks. Spanning decades of both world and Nigerian history, Africa Rise and Shine dives deep into the events that led to Ovia’s triumph.
By Dr. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, the recipient of the 2020 Gala’s Corporate Responsibility Award
Structured trade finance (STF) is a highly specialized area of trade finance that has evolved directly from practice. As it grows and becomes more complex in an increasingly risk-based regulatory environment, there is a need for more detailed guidance on the subject. Now in its second edition, Foundations of Structured Trade Finance provides exactly this.
By Issa Rae, Actress, Director, Writer, and recipient of 2020 Gala’s Arts & Culture Award
In this comically insightful collection, Issa Rae charts her journey from digital storyteller to cultural force, redefining modern success. Through refreshingly candid essays, she takes readers behind the scenes of building her creative empire, sharing hard-won wisdom about staying true to your vision while navigating Hollywood’s ups and downs.