The Heart of It: The Ten Pillars of Mindful Impact Investing

by Rick Segal

Overview

Do good to do well.

This phrase may be overused these days, but Rick Segal, the founder and leader of Rethink Capital Partners, is the ultimate example of its veracity. It is a rare thing to have the opportunity to learn from a person as successful and at the same time as socially impactful as Rick.

This book marries together two often-separate kingdoms: venture capital investors and entrepreneurs looking to improve the lives of even the most vulnerable.

Meet impact investing.

Meet one of its foremost leaders and practitioners.

As Rick says, “Do the wrong thing and there will be payback. Do the right thing and there will be payout.”

In addition to exploring the ten core pillars Rick uses to guide his firm’s operation and his investment decisions, this book also offers up the voices and key insights of several impact founders to illuminate how the entrepreneur/investor relationship should work at its most effective level: with partnership, respect, and all-in collaboration.

This is capitalism at its best, told from the perspective of a person who has made the one thing that matters most: an impact.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798891383029
Publisher:	Amplify Publishing
Publication date:	01/21/2025
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rick Segal was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rethink Capital

Partners. He is also an investment committee member for Rethink Food and Rethink Impact. Segal has served on the boards of many public and private companies, including Hudson General Inc., Air Express Int., Penn Traffic Company, Schoolnet, Civitas Learning, Wireless Generation, Smarterer, Vivvi, Knowledge to Practice, BEGiN, Orijin, Voxy, and Flocabulary.

Currently, Segal sits on the boards of various education technology companies, including Cinematic Health Education, Noodle Companies, and EnGen. Segal is deeply committed to creating better communities through his philanthropic engagements, which are primarily focused on health, education, and providing opportunities for low-income children and the arts.

He was a trustee of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, where he served as treasurer and chair of the finance committee. He also sits on the board of the New York Academy of Art, serving as treasurer and vice-chair, and is chair of the building committee and secretary of the Vero Beach Museum of Art. Additionally, Segal serves as a Life Trustee of New York Presbyterian Hospital.

He is president of the A. L. Mailman Family Foundation. He is also on the board of Plan A, a not-for-profit providing healthcare directly to underserved communities in Mississippi, focused specifically on women’s health. Segal received a bachelor of arts degree in English from Wesleyan University.

Editorial Reviews

2025-03-21
Segal offers a thoughtful and compelling guide to impact investing.

Partly a memoir but mostly an investment guide, this book weaves together the author’s personal story with his investment philosophy and case studies. That philosophy is “impact investing”—investing that generates both profits and positive social impact. The author had a traditional finance and venture capital career before finding his calling in impact investing, which led him to establish Rethink Capital Partners. The crux of the book is Segal’s “Ten Pillars of Mindful Impact Investing,” which include asking questions such as, “Does the Enterprise Serve All Stakeholders?”; “Is There a Compelling Origin Story?”; “Are You Fully Leveraging Technology?”; “Does the Investment Reflect the Population it Serves?”; “Is the Company a Good Citizen?”; and “Are You Investing in Women?” In discussing his pillars, Segal promotes sustainability, inclusivity, building brands, making societal change with investments (improving education and expanding health care access are used as examples), diversity when it comes to leadership teams, and groups like Rethink Impact, a fund focused, in part, on investing in female founders (Segal is an investment committee member of this fund). The author concludes that impact investing is more than a niche—it’s an evolution of capitalism. Bottom line? Impact investing is a way to restore trust in the financial system while at the same time driving real change. Though the concept of impact investing is not particularly new, Segal’s approach to the topic is refreshing. The standard elements are here, woven into his Ten Pillars, but he combines investment wisdom with storytelling, beginning with a 25-1/2-page memoir—a nicely written intro detailing the people and places that shaped his philosophy. This striking combination of autobiography and how-to makes this a must-read not only for investors but for any entrepreneurs who want to make a difference. Segal provides a blueprint for marrying investments with values, and he makes a convincing case that mindful investing can be both financially rewarding and socially transformative.

An economic how-to that’s also a good read.

Kirkus Reviews