Robert A. G. Monks was born into a wealthy and powerful family, but instead of passively enjoying a leisurely life of luxury, Monks used his fortune and status to wage a guerrilla war against big business. He posed a fundamental question to the modern corporation: Is big business inherently destructive to the public interest, or is there a capacity within each company to promote the common good? As he became increasingly concerned with how large corporations treated both shareholders as well as the public at large, Monks created and nurtured the shareholder activist movement which is now an integral part of modern investing and corporate governance.