The idea that corporations need a single purpose is based not in law, but in economists’ arguments that unless we have a single, objective, easily-observed metric to judge how well directors and executives are running firms, corporate “agents” will run amok. As the Harvard Business School’s Michael Jensen put the argument in a 2002 article, “Any organization must have a single-valued objective as a precursor to purposeful or rational behavior. . . It is logically impossible to maximize in more than one dimension at the same time . . . telling a manager to maximize current profits, market share, future growth profits, and anything else one pleases will leave that manager with no way to make a reasoned decision. In effect it leaves the manager with no objective.”