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Do you know how many Fortune 500 companies are run by women?

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If you spend much time with young kids, you're sure to encounter one question: "Can you tell me a story?"

For all except the most gifted storytellers among us, it can cause a moment of anxiety. "What story do I tell?"you ask yourself. You want to fill little heads with wholesome and encouraging ideas — damsels in distress and damagingly masculine heroes are all out of the question. But on the other hand, spinning a completely original tale on the spot is a pretty tall order.

This is one story that you might be able to tell kids is true just a few years from now:

This is what life could look like for women in 2025.
Posted by Upworthy on Wednesday, April 26, 2017

It's wonderful to imagine a world run by both women and men. But as of right now, it's still a fantasy.

In the first part of 2017, there were only 27 female CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies. What's worse? That's a record high. Women hold only 12% of board seats worldwide, and only 4% of boards around the world are chaired by women — which makes it even harder to set policies that allow women to rise to leadership positions.

Photo via iStock.

It's time for us — all of us — to end the gender inequality that dictates corporate culture.

It's in everyone's best interest to have more women at the executive level. Companies with female leaders tend to have policies that grant more generous family leave and make progress toward narrowing the gender pay gap. Research also suggests that female-led businesses are better at creating inclusive workplace cultures, meaning that gender diversity helps increase other types of diversity, too.

Oh, and also? Financially, companies with female leaders knock it out of the park.

Photo via iStock.

The Rockefeller Foundation's goal of 100 (or more!) women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies by 2025 means charting the path of progress toward a fairer, better world of work.

"100x25" may be ambitious, but it could — and should — become reality. With more women at the helm, we'll also see increased opportunities for people of all identities at every level. When the work world is fairer, it will be possible for everyone to write their own story.

So when that happens and you hear, "Can you tell me a story?" you'll know just which one to tell: ours.

An exercise in putting people before profits.

Prominent members of the business community looking to put people before profits spoke out against President Trump's immigration order this weekend — an unexpected but welcome part of the backlash to the ban.

On Jan. 30, 2017, Gillian Tett of the Financial Times appeared on CNBC to discuss the financial risks of businesses that face off against the president and how those risks leave many CEOs loathe to speak out against any individual policy, even if they oppose it on personal and professional levels.

"They are scared out of their minds about being attacked [by Trump] ... and what that's going to do for their business," she explained.

Those CEOs aren't wrong to worry, either. Since being elected, Trump has continually taken aim at companies that have criticized him, using his Twitter account to tank their stock prices.

In December 2016, after Boeing's CEO made an argument in favor of trade agreements, Trump fired off a series of tweets about canceling plans to use the company for the new Air Force One series of planes. As a result, the company's stock price fell by 1% before recovering. Trump's tweet about Boeing and a $4 billion contract was a bit of an exaggeration; the company has a $170 million contract, which a tweet cannot cancel.

Knowing that a Trump-fueled attack on their companies — and the value of their shares — could be waiting just around the corner, here are 15 companies and CEOs who took a stand against the immigration ban this weekend:

1. Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky offered free housing to people affected by the travel ban.

On a statement posted to its website, the company also offered a way for Airbnb hosts to volunteer help.

— (@)

2. Dropbox founder and CEO Drew Houston called Trump's order "un-American."

— (@)

3. Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson spoke out against the order and urged others to contact legislators and support organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union.

— (@)

4. Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted an essay to his profile sharing the story of his and his wife Priscilla's immigrant and refugee origins.

"We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help," Zuckerberg wrote. "That's who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla's family wouldn't be here today."

My great grandparents came from Germany, Austria and Poland. Priscilla's parents were refugees from China and Vietnam....
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Friday, January 27, 2017

5. Google created a crisis fund to support immigrant-rights organizations.

According to a statement provided to USA Today, Google has created a $4 million crisis fund for four immigrant-rights organizations: the American Civil Liberties Union, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, International Rescue Committee, and UNHCR.

"We’re concerned about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the U.S.," said the company. "We'll continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere."

Google headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images.

6. Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta donated $100,000 to the ACLU — and didn't stop there.

In a short Twitter thread on Sunday evening, Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta announced a $100,000 donation to the ACLU, the creation of "office hours" with immigration attorneys for employees and their families, and a pledge to expedite H-1B visas and green cards for employees in need.

— (@)

7. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner used Trump's ban as an opportunity to boost and expand the company's Welcome Talent program for refugees in the U.S.

— (@)

8. In a blog post, ride-hailing app Lyft's co-founders John Zimmer and Logan Green committed to a $1 million donation to the ACLU over the next four years.

"We created Lyft to be a model for the type of community we want our world to be: diverse, inclusive, and safe. This weekend, Trump closed the country's borders to refugees, immigrants, and even documented residents from around the world based on their country of origin. Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft's and our nation's core values. We stand firmly against these actions, and will not be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community. We know this directly impacts many of our community members, their families, and friends. We stand with you, and are donating $1,000,000 over the next four years to the ACLU to defend our constitution. We ask that you continue to be there for each other - and together, continue proving the power of community."

A Lyft driver in San Francisco. Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Lyft.

9. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings didn't mince words on his Facebook page, calling Trump's executive order "so un-American it pains us all."

Trump's actions are hurting Netflix employees around the world, and are so un-American it pains us all. Worse, these...
Posted by Reed Hastings on Saturday, January 28, 2017

10. Nike's president and CEO took a stand against the ban in an email to employees.

Looking to Olympian Mo Farah's statement on how Trump's ban would prevent the four-time gold medalist from returning to his home in the U.S., Nike President and CEO Mark Parker emailed employees, urging them to "[stand] together against bigotry and any form of discrimination."

— (@)

11. Postmates founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann — who also happens to be an immigrant — wrote a blog post skewering the Trump administration, saying, "I no longer believe it to be reasonable to remain silent."

He also pledged to match employee donations to the ACLU and International Refugee Assistance Project.

"The trade-off of these policies is obvious. In exchange for the guise of safety rooted in fear of those with different religious, ethnic and cultural backgrounds we will be abandoning the diverse melting pot of culture and ideas that has made the United States prosper. That is the bedrock that creative growing companies like Postmates have been built upon. Ignoring the dynamics of this diversity, which is distinctly American and has set our country apart from the rest the world throughout history is short sighted and damaging."

Bastian Lehmann at TechCrunch Disrupt London in 2015. Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for TechCrunch.

12. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff shared some poignant scripture and a well-known (if sadly ignored) piece of poetry, using the hashtag #noban.

— (@)

13. Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield delivered an impassioned argument against the administration's actions and shared his family's own story of immigration.

"My grandfather came from Poland between the wars, at 17, sponsored by an elder sister," he wrote.

"Two more siblings made it. Everyone else died. Their parents were shot in the streets and thrown in a mass grave (we believe). Their other siblings died in the camps. Every cousin (and really, everyone they knew) was killed. That whole branch of the family tree snuffed out. And now we want to do this to others. It's bewildering and confusing and terrifying."

— (@)

14. In a letter to employees, Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz unveiled a four-part rebuke to Trump's actions toward immigrants and refugees.

The plan includes supporting DACA, hiring refugees, building bridges with Mexico instead of walls, and committing to support Starbucks employees if the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

Schultz also pledged to hire 10,000 refugees in 75 countries over the next five years.

— (@)

15. Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey called the executive order "upsetting."

The day the order was signed, Dorsey shared a mini-documentary about Yassin Terou, a Syrian refugee living in the U.S.

— (@)

Long before his political aspirations took flight, Trump was a CEO, which makes the response from the business community even more powerful.

If he refuses to listen to the American people and fellow politicians, perhaps it'll be the judgment of the country's corporate leaders that sways Trump's opinion one way or another.

CEOs and business leaders who are willing to take a stand against some of Trump's harmful policies may be one of the more effective ways of communicating with him.

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This foundation is working to fight stereotypes and get more women into leadership roles.

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If you had to guess, how many of the top 500 companies in the United States are run by women?

200? 100?

The answer: 25.

Women make up just shy of half the labor force in many countries, but they're rarely seen in positions of senior leadership.

Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, puts it this way: "When you see that of the 22,000 publicly listed companies, 60% of them still have no women on their boards, then it’s understandable why it’s harder and harder to have women who rise in the corporate ranks." She continues, "The more women in leadership, the more role models there are, the more women will be able to envision themselves in that position."

The Rockefeller Foundation is advocating for 100x25: 100 women leading Fortune 500 companies by the year 2025.

Check out this video to learn more about it:

Who's her role model? This foundation wants to see 100 women CEOs in Fortune 500 companies by 2025.
Posted by Upworthy on Tuesday, November 22, 2016

"When the women speak, there’s a very different attitude in terms of listening than when the men speak."

We’ve all heard the story about a woman in a conference room. She makes a point. She’s overlooked. A man repeats her point. He’s heard and praised. We've come up with a name for this behavior: manterrupting. It’s been endlessly parodied, and more and more women have shared their stories. But not much has changed. In fact, studies have shown that women who speak up are perceived as aggressive, not assertive.

All images via The Rockefeller Foundation, used with permission.

Then there’s the matter of how women look. In the workplace, a woman’s appearance matters. A lot. And it shouldn’t.

The examples are almost too abundant to name. There's Nancy McKinstry, CEO of a Dutch publishing and information company. She held a strategy meeting to discuss the company’s direction. The press in attendance focused not on the ideas she presented, but on her outfit, commenting that the suit she wore was the same color as the outfit worn by KLM flight attendants. It didn’t matter that she was a woman leading a company. Her presentation was still reduced to the clothes she wore.

And there’s Hillary Clinton, the first woman to win a major party’s nomination for president. Regardless of where your political allegiances lie, that’s a pretty impressive feat. But throughout the election, her femininity and even the pitch of her voice were frequently fodder for debate and uncomfortably detailed observation by folks who were far more accustomed to seeing and hearing from men.

So what happens when, in spite of these roadblocks, women are given the chance to lead? They kick ass.

But first, they have to prove themselves. When a female CEO is announced, people get a little bit scared — one study showed that stock in a company actually drops. That’s sad. What many people may not know is that when given the chance, women-run companies perform well. In fact, they perform three times better, on average, than S&P 500 companies primarily led by men.

Take HSN, which is led by Mindy Grossman. She increased the value of her company’s initial investment by over 500%. Debra Cafaro at Ventas did the same. You can bet the people who held onto those stocks thank them.

Additionally, a study by the National Center for Women & Information Technology found that increased gender diversity leads to increased profitability and productivity, with team members experimenting more and fulfilling tasks more efficiently than companies with less gender diversity.

Why do women-run companies perform so well?

The answer is up for debate, but the women who make it to the top in spite of the roadblocks in their way are the absolute best, which probably has something to do with it. The women who make it have a lot to prove, and they understand the implication of their success (or failure) on future generations of women.

"That challenge, that risk, is almost what drives, I think, many of us to take the next step and to prove everybody wrong."

There’s no reason women shouldn’t be running at least one-fifth of the top 500 companies.

Imagine the possibilities if young women got the chance to see other women in positions of power. They'd expect the same and more of themselves. They'd shoot for the stars and they wouldn't miss, because they'd feel confident that their goals could be achieved.

Together, we can make it happen.

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Women make better leaders, study finds - Upworthy ›

In 2012, Jen Horn watched as local residents in Baguio City, Philippines, protested over pine trees.

It might not seem like a particularly obvious political reason, but when people tried to expand a mall and eliminate a large area of pine trees in the process, the residents were so concerned about the environmental impact that they organized.

Jen, who owned a successful design company in the Philippines, was inspired by their collective action. It raised questions she had about the ethical responsibility of a business to treat the world well.

In regard to her own business, Jen often found herself wondering what happened to the things her company helped create when people were done using them.

Was her business conscientious, she wondered. Was she making the world better with her work?

Finally, someone who is as excited about succulents as I am! All images via Muni, used with permission.

That's when she got the idea for Muni, a community and company dedicated to mindful, sustainable, creative living.

"[I] really wanted to do something with greater impact and start creating more learning and networking events for like-minded folks," Jen told Upworthy in an email.

The name of the company is derived from the Filipino word muni-muni, which means "to think, ponder, muse, or reflect." And the core of the organization's purpose is just that — to facilitate mindfulness, sustainability, and ethicality among entrepreneurs.

"I wanted to create a way for all of these great people to be heard more, to be connected more to other people who share the same ideals," Jen said in a TEDx Talk last year.

With the pine tree activists' efforts at the front of her mind, Jen started this organization by uniting her personal values of sustainability and mindfulness with her business.

Because it wasn't just about her vision for the whole world. It was also about what was going on in her own backyard.

So, what exactly does Muni do? Well, a lot.

Muni brings awesome events to communities across the globe, like a series of talks in Manila, Philippines, a sustainability festival, and an upcoming "camp" for start-up founders to come together and learn from each other.

A Muni Meetup in the Philippines.

Jen hosts Muni Market Days for local creators, artists, and performers to showcase their talents to the community — kind of like a farmers market but for makers and creatives. People subscribe to Muni's Facebook page and get notified when they put up a new event.

"I wanted to create a way for all of these great people to be heard more, to be connected more to other people who share the same ideals." — Jen Horn

With this upswing in female business leaders, like Jen, there is also an upswing in sustainability.

Research has shown that female business leaders are more committed to corporate sustainability and creating businesses that function in harmony with the planet.

Why? One reason may be related to how female board directors and executives tend to be better at planning for the future and communicating a broad vision. A stronger reason is how diversity of all kinds always make the world a better place.

Including a diverse mix of voices in the decision-making process reveal smarter and surprising ways to make things systemically better at all levels — and sustainability is undoubtably a core area for that.

Unfortunately, only a fraction of Fortune 500 companies have women at the helm. It's clear that we need more Jens to lead the way.

The Muni community hosts Market Days to showcase local makers.

Jen's advice for other Jens out there is simple but effective:

"The goal is to be more mindful in your business or in your life every day, and the only way for us to figure that out is if we’re in the process, doing it, talking to people who are also trying to do things in a different way."

Every action to better our community can be a source of inspiration — and in this case, it planted the seed for a company that actively seeks to improve and protect the world.

As Jen says in her speech: "At the end of the day, your world is your choice."

Reflecting on our roles as consumers, producers, and stewards of the planet is something we can all definitely get behind.

Listen to Jen's talk about starting a mindful business and see if you're not inspired to make some changes of your own!

Let's even the playing field a bit and celebrate the ladies of business.

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For a lot of history, business has been the sphere of the bros.

Much to-do has been made of the fact that many panels, business boards, advisory committees, venture capitalists, CEOs ... the list goes on ... are dudes.

And with good reason!

This is a board for a philanthropy organization in 1918. Two ladies! Frustratingly, at the top of many businesses, it's looking like even 2018's will still look a lot like 1918. Image via Center for Jewish History/Flickr.

Among 500 top-ranked companies in 2015, only about 14% of the highest leadership positions were held by women, and just 4% of the businesses' CEOs were female.

Because the odds are not so hot that you'll learn about a fantastic, inspirational lady boss today, we're gonna fix that!

Here's a sampling of some of our favorite female entrepreneurs and lady bosses.

1. Sara Blakely

Image via Gillian Zoe Segal/Wikimedia Commons.

While trying to get a little-bitty undergarment company called Spanx off the ground, Blakely was rejected a LOT. Good thing she persevered, both for the sanity of us ladies in formalwear and for her net worth: She is now a billionaire. Female-centric products might not always meet open financial arms at first, but that doesn't mean they're not "every celebrity on the red carpet wears them" viable.

2. Diane von Fürstenburg

Image via David Shankbone/Wikimedia Commons.

Aside from just seeming really cool, von Fürstenburg's wrap dresses changed the clothing game. In a time when most ladies' clothing was burdened with zippers, buttons, seams, bows, and ruffles, von Fürstenburg created a jersey wrap dress. It might not seem like a huge deal, but think of the simplicity of the men's suit and how this wrap dress affords ladies the same level of workplace dress sophistication coupled with ease. It makes that wrap dress feel pretty dang liberating.

"What I think I sell with my clothes is confidence, so hopefully all my dresses, my accessories, are friends to the women. When you open the closet, and your eyes are swollen, and you don't like the way you look, you go to your friends." — von Fürstenburg to the Wall Street Journal

3. Madam C.J. Walker

Image via Scurlock Studio/Smithsonian Institution/Wikimedia Commons.

The first child after the Emancipation Proclamation to be born in her family — many of whom had begun their lives as slaves in pre-Civil War America — this woman rose to business heights at the helm of her hair-care line and manufacturing company, Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. She was unafraid to promote herself and even rebranded herself, changing her name from the delightfully American Sarah Breedlove to intriguingly French-sounding Madam C.J. Walker to give her hair-care products a more sophisticated vibe, thus making a more marketable brand. Her instincts were right; she was the first black and female self-made millionaire in America.

4. Lizzie Magie

Image via U.S. National Archives/Wikimedia Commons.

In 1935, Magie sold her patent for her game, The Landlord's Game, to Parker Brothers, and in 1939, the Monopoly board game was the result. Her role in this game's creation only recently surfaced. Ironically enough, Magie cared the most about economic fairness for women and for workers, and out of that passion she created — and patented — The Landlord's Game to teach people the perils of a monopolistic society.

5. Ayah Bdeir

Image via Ayah Bdeir/Flickr.

Bdeir is the founder of LittleBits, modular electronics that snap together with magnets. Think: electronic Legos that move. She's also a major supporter of the open hardware movement, an initiative mainly focused on keeping technological knowledge open to everyone. Bdeir created a product that teaches tech and supports a movement that keeps knowledge flowin' (and LittleBits has more than 65,000 followers on Facebook, so it's clearly doing something right). Cool!

"We are hoping ... littleBits will make electronics sexy, and when you see how empowering it is, then you will want to learn more, as opposed to thinking it’s too hard and boring," she told the online magazine We Make Money Not Art.

6. Nely Galan

Image via Richard Sandoval/Wikimedia Commons.

Galan, a first-generation immigrant, always worked in TV, and for many years, she struggled to get by. She kept up her hustle, consulting for networks, managing a TV station, and starting her own production company . And her perseverance and patience (and no doubt, ingenuity) paid off. When she was appointed president of Telemundo, she became the first Latina president of a U.S. television network. She's now the founder of the Adelante Movement, an organization committed to empowering Latinas in every way imaginable. Talk about paying it forward!

7. Robin Chase

Image via Paul Downey/Wikimedia Commons.

Chase is a cofounder and former CEO of the ride-sharing company Zipcar. Through her wildly successful startup venture that disrupted transportation as we once knew it, she's helping create a world with fewer cars, less pollution, and a greater sense of shared responsibility.

"Zipcar believes that you really can do well by doing good. ... Most people who own cars do not really need a car full time, especially if they take public transportation to commute to work. Zipcar allows people to live car less without being car free." — Chase to FastCompany.

As you can see, many of these lady entrepreneurs and bosses have created products and businesses that aren't just successful (because that's a duh), they've created ecosystems of commerce that take advantage of their potential for impact.

They raise voices, fill needs, empower, and represent.

Soon there will be a day when all businesspeople, both ladies and dudes, will not be singled out for their gender. And that will be an awesome day.

But until the playing field is a little more even, we'll be over here cheering for the smaller but mightier team of ladies in business.

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How often do stories about CEOs leave you with that warm and fuzzy, thank-God-for-them feeling?

If you're like me, you're probably already channeling a pissed-off Clark Griswold.

GIF from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."

Between the massive CEO-worker pay gap, the lack of accountability of many top executives, low employee engagement, and an obvious need for more companies to adopt sustainable practices, maybe our vitriol isn't so misplaced.

But is it fair to assume the worst of all of them?

2015 wasn't an entirely bad year for CEOs in the news.

From my goodness-seeking perch, I spotted a number of stories of business leaders making efforts small and large to do some good this year. Here are nine examples:

1. Aetna CEO acts on reports of employees on food stamps.

Photo by D Dipasupil/Getty Images.

Health care company Aetna is #49 on the Fortune 500. Last year, it logged over $2 billion in profits. But success wasn't "trickling down."

Employees in Aetna's call centers were so underpaid that they needed food stamps and Medicaid to get by. That's not fair, especially given that Aetna's financial position was in part bolstered by public investments through Obamacare.

Instead of fighting to keep workers poor and profits higher, CEO Mark Bertolini raised the company's minimum wage to $16 an hour, which benefited 5,700 employees.

2. Virgin CEO steps up for moms and dads.

Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images.

Having a kid should be a joyful time in parents' lives, but many quickly face the cruel reality of having to maintain an income to support their growing families. And parental leave policies vary widely throughout the world.

As a new shared parental leave law went into effect in the U.K., offering parents of newborn or adopted children a portion of their salary for up to one year, Virgin CEO Richard Branson decided to take it even further.

In his London and Geneva offices, he introduced a policy that moms and dads of newborns or adopted children can share a full year of parental leave at 100% pay.

3. Netflix CEO approves parent-friendly policy.

Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair.

Netflix's Reed Hastings approved a policy offering up to a year of fully paid parental leave. So should a "Netflix and chill" night lead to parenthood — or a decision to adopt, anyway — a lot of Netflix employees are resting assured the company has their backs.

"What we're trying to do is earn loyalty and trust — that they really care about Netflix, in addition to caring about their family," Hastings said at The New York Times' Dealbook conference.

Like the Virgin policy, Netflix's only covers a subset of the company. It applies to employees of their streaming division, not their DVD division, which is a bummer. But it's a start.

4. Patagonia CEO calls for "radical" environmentalism.

Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.

At the helm of outdoor clothing and equipment company Patagonia, Rose Marcario is continuing founder Yvon Chouinard's legacy of sustainable business practices and finding ways for the company to be even more eco-friendly — even at the expense of sales.

In addition to sending a portion of its sales to environmental causes, Patagonia set up the largest garment-repair operation in North America and offers customers home-repair tools and channels to donate or recycle their worn Patagonia gear.

The White House named Marcario a "Champion of Change" for her leadership on sustainability. Despite the presidential nod, Patagonia said "thanks but no thanks" to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement championed by President Obama.

Marcario wrote that the deal "advances the interests of big business at the expense of the environment, workers, consumers, communities and small businesses."

5. Columbia CEO lends a ride to three proud moms.

Photo by Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia Commons.

When American travelers Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, and Spencer Stone bravely subdued a gunman on a train to Paris, their families back home were relieved they were safe and thankful that they could save so many lives.

The French government announced they would honor the men with their highest award for heroism, the Legion of Honor — something a mom would obviously want to be there for. Unfortunately, theirs didn't have the means to travel for the occasion.

Then along came a CEO. At the thoughtful suggestion of his personal pilot, Doug Perrill, Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle swooped in with a generous offer for the three proud moms: a free ride to Paris on his private jet.

6. University head donates six-figure bonus. Again.

Photo via University of Cincinnati, used with permission.

For the third year in a row, Santa Ono, president of the University of Cincinnati (not technically a CEO, but same difference), forwent his bonus, opting to send that extra cash to programs supporting first generation, LGBTQ, and low-income students, as well as local high schools and community groups.

His 2015 bonus was $200,000 — almost four times the country's median household income and 38% of his more than half-a-million-dollar base salary, which would have grown had he not also refused his raise. And who can argue? The man knows he's got it good, and he wants to pay it forward. Cheers to that.

7. CEO sells big without forgetting who made it possible.

Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images.

Nevzat Aydin built his online food delivery company, Yemeksepeti, over 15 years. He sold it this year for $589 million. (Apparently, Turkish foodies like home delivery as much as Americans do.)

But Aydin knows he couldn't have done it without his 114 employees. "Yemeksepeti's success story did not happen overnight and many people participated in this journey with their hard work and talent," he said in an interview with CNN Money.

So he put his money where his gratitude was, doling out $27 million in bonuses (an average of $237,000 per employee), which must have been life-changing for many, considering most of his employees earned just $12,000–$24,000 a year.

8. CEO uses psychological research to invest in employees.*

Photo by Dan Price/Wikimedia Commons.

Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, read a Princeton study that looked at the impact of salary level on emotional well-being. The researchers identified a salary level at which participants exhibited peak happiness: $75,000. Price decided it was worth a try.

He initiated a plan to raise their minimum salary to $70,000 over two years, funding it in part by cutting his own exorbitant salary of $1.1 million to — you guessed it — $70,000. "I want to be a part of the solution to inequality in this country," Price told CBS News.

*However, this sunny story of Price as a Robin Hood for Corporate America is now overcast with legal intrigue, calling into question his motives for the salary decision. Regardless, a lot of Gravity employees are in much better financial positions than they were a year ago.

9. CEO of outdoor sports retailer blacklists Black Friday.

As most U.S. retailers corralled people in their doors to kick off the holiday shopping season, Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) CEO Jerry Stritzke and the cooperative's leadership urged us to go outdoors.

The company closed for Thanksgiving and Black Friday so their employees could be with family and friends. And they launched #OptOutside, an anti-marketing campaign encouraging customers to enjoy nature and inspire others to do the same by sharing their experiences on social media.

It worked on me — and at least 1.4 million others.

Red Rock Canyon on Black Friday 2015. REI also happened to be the first retailer I visited for holiday shopping.

It's encouraging to see business leaders doing some good in the world, but we should expect more.

Hopefully we'll see more of them in the headlines for the right reasons in 2016. As for us, here's hoping we push back when companies act against our interests. There's a resolution worth sticking with.

GIF from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."

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