A Prophet Ignored: Remembering Robert Monks and the Warnings We Failed to Heed

In a time of growing anxiety about the future of capitalism and democracy, the recent passing of Robert Monks invites us to reflect on a man who, as Financial Times columnist John Plender rightly observed in his obituary, was “well ahead of his time.”

Monks was not merely a shareholder activist or a thorn in the side of corporate boards. He was a conservative in the truest sense: a Republican who believed in conserving institutions, guarding long-term prosperity, and stewarding both economic and civic life. His life’s work now reads as a prescient warning that has gone unheeded—with consequences we are only beginning to fully understand.

Plender’s obituary captures the essential paradox of Monks: a capitalist who warned that capitalism could destroy itself. He was, as Plender noted, “one of the first to articulate clearly the systemic risks posed by unfettered corporate power and a failure of governance.”

Monks’ insights, now decades old, could not be more urgent today. They were prescient, powerful, and, sadly, largely ignored.

The Key Insights of Robert Monks

Plender’s account reveals the remarkable foresight Monks brought to bear in diagnosing the weaknesses of corporate governance and modern capitalism. Among his key insights:

• Corporations have more power than governments, and their dominance in policymaking erodes democratic accountability.

• Institutional investors have failed in their fiduciary duty, becoming passive enablers rather than stewards of the enterprises they own.

• The absence of corporate accountability is a systemic risk, not only to financial markets, but to society itself.

• Without reform, capitalism would lose its legitimacy and risk triggering social, political, and economic collapse.

Most strikingly, Monks issued this stark warning:

“If capitalism is to survive, it must innovate governance and accountability structures—otherwise it will implode under the weight of its own excess.”

This was not the cry of a radical outsider. Monks served as President Ronald Reagan’s appointee to the Labor Department, ran for Senate as a Republican in Maine, and co-founded Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS).