It would also join together two chronic underperformers. Last year Deutsche's return on equity, a puny 0.4%, was its first positive figure for four years.
Together with Andrew Winston, a writer, he has produced a book on his approach, defining " net positive" , the catchphrase of the title, as " a business that improves well-being for everyone it impacts and at all scales" .
For instance, take a look at this little grid of values which involves some positive numbers on the left and some negative numbers on the right, which I'll color with blue and red respectively.
Al Smith himself told me that none of these things would ever have come to pass if he hadn't worked hard sixteen hours a day to turn his minus into a plus.
The 1st number tells you how far to walk along the x axis, positive numbers indicating right word motion, negative numbers indicating left word motion.