How to Build Conscious Capitalism in Your Business

9 snips

Mar 2, 2026

Curtis Hite, founder and CEO of Improving who scaled a global software firm and champions trust-driven leadership. He tells how a CEO summit sparked a mission to change IT’s image. Short takes on making trust actionable, defining conscious capitalism as a big-tent philosophy, and balancing profit with purpose during crisis through shared sacrifice and accountability.

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INSIGHT

Trust Behaviors Are The Competitive Advantage

Trust is the primary lever to change industry perception, built from 13 specific behaviors like keep commitments and clarify expectations.
Improving centers its brand on trust first and technical delivery second, using those behaviors companywide.

ADVICE

Use Weekly Trust Pods To Institutionalize Behavior

Run weekly trust pods where employees study and practice the trust behaviors to internalize them.
Improving has hundreds of pods and reports employees apply the behaviors at home and at work, deepening culture.

INSIGHT

Conscious Capitalism Is A Noncoercive Big Tent

Conscious capitalism is a 'big tent' philosophy combining classic and stakeholder capitalism while rejecting coercion.
It emphasizes inspiration over checking boxes and seeks common ground companies can agree on to act responsibly.

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Are you building a profitable company — or a business that actually proves capitalism can be a force for good through conscious capital?

As a CEO, you feel the tension every day: grow the business, deliver profit, develop your people — and do it in a way that's socially responsible and sustainable. Meanwhile, capitalism itself faces a perception problem. Your employees want meaning. Your customers expect integrity. And the market punishes anything that smells short-term or exploitative.

In this episode of The CEO Project, you'll explore how conscious capital isn't about soft ideals — it's about building a company that earns trust, scales profitably, and strengthens its moral authority to exist.

By listening, you'll learn how to:

Build a high-growth company rooted in trust behaviors that actually change stakeholder perception
Balance profit and purpose without falling into coercive "check-the-box" stakeholder models
Lead through crisis with accountability and culture intact — even when tough financial decisions must be made

Press play now to discover how conscious capital can help you grow your business and elevate its impact — without sacrificing performance.

Check out:

06:45 – The Perception Problem in Business Curtis shares the eye-opening CEO summit moment that exposed the trust gap in the IT industry — and why changing perception became his company's mission.

18:30 – Conscious Capitalism vs. Stakeholder Capitalism A powerful breakdown of classic capitalism, stakeholder models, and the "big tent" philosophy of conscious capital — including why inspiration beats coercion.

32:15 – Leading Through Crisis Without Losing Culture A real-world example of navigating COVID, protecting profitability, and strengthening trust when 90 executives voluntarily gave up compensation to keep the company strong.

About Curtis Hite

Curtis Hite is the CEO of Improving – an international software consulting and training company which he founded in 2007. With a focus on Conscious Capitalism, the company has grown to 2000+ employees across 19 offices and greater than $280 million in revenue. Improving has been named 15 times to the Inc. 500/5000, consistently being recognized as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the U.S. The company has also received more than 100 local and national best place to work recognitions.