The Race Is On
Organisations are clamouring to join the race to proclaim their higher purpose, raison d’être, new principles and supporting values and programmes. And imbed sustainability consciousness into their culture. It seems that business has awakened to the need to heal, sustain and nurture the environment, society and the economy; to adopt people, planet and profit bottom lines. There has been an accompanying proliferation of sustainability consultancies, service providers, academic papers and conferences.
Why Did the Race Start? What is Fueling This Frenetic Activity?
There has been a growing realisation and acceptance by stakeholders across all walks of life of the imperative to tackle the huge inter-linked challenges facing our planet, its inhabitants and resources.
“What is needed, then, is a renewed, profound and broadened sense of responsibility on the part of all. Business is in fact a vocation, and a noble vocation, provided that those engaged in it see themselves challenged by a greater meaning in life. I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it”.1 –Pope Francis
A significant portion of the corporate world is shifting its focus away from short-term selfish gain and towards sustainability of the longer-term common good. Examples are:
- Sounds true to disseminate spiritual wisdom
- Southwest Airlines we exist to connect people to what’s important in their lives
- Pirch, Atlanta to create inspired moments in people’s lives – Jeffery Sears, CEO
The shift has been well documented and some of the factors promoting it have been:
- Insight into the “Converging paths and interlinked destinies” and interests of corporates and societies – for example, is clear in an article by Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and SVP of Sustainability Kathleen McLaughlin, posted by consulting firm McKinsey.2
- Fear of legislated and other penalties for non-compliance being imposed by all levels of government
- Pressure from citizens/ customers/ potential employees (the new activists) who have adopted sustainability thinking
- Me-too-ism and fear of becoming uncompetitive in the marketplace
- Genuine desire to be culturally attuned to environmental and societal needs and to make a difference
- The economic possibilities inherent in being seen to be a sustainability champion
This latter motive has been fed by a plethora of sustainability networking conferences calling upon businesses to activate their purpose; opinion-leader, early-adopter and role-model talks; articles and publications:
- More Corporations Turn to Sustainability for Competitive Edge and Profits – “31 percent of companies say sustainability is boosting their profits and 70 percent report that sustainability has a permanent place on their management agenda.”3
- The title of an article about a Richard Branson’s book is a giveaway: Richard Branson: Screw Business As Usual, And Make Your (Huge Piles Of) Money By Doing Good.4
- As is the subtitle of Grow—“how ideals power growth and profit at the World’s greatest companies.”5
- And Green Giants: how smart companies turn sustainability into billion-dollar businesses.6
Powered by Regeneration
There is no doubt that a sustainability drive, supported by a clear purpose has bottom line and cultural development benefits. IBM has a Corporate Service Corps that travels the world. As part of leadership development, top employees are given a month to participate in Corporate Social Responsibility service abroad (on a project of their own choice).7 The programme fits with IBM’s aspirations to retain talent, build skills, improve market competitiveness, and promote Cultural Intelligence. And it fits IBM’s purpose of following a path of innovation, reinvention and a shift to higher value adding.
The stampede to purpose will gain even more traction by research findings that purpose-oriented employees are the most engaged and the highest performers.8 In addition to a new Workforce Purpose Index, a Certified Purpose Leader Program has been launched. It offers training in how to create a purpose statement, lead with purpose, harness the transforming power of purpose and develop the purpose-powered organization.
Sustainability is the dominant term, but Regeneration (although not new) is gaining ground, carries both biological and spiritual nuances, and suggests advancing beyond sustainability.9 We will see many more approaches, products and services in the months and years ahead.
Obstacles on the Journey
The most perfect organisational culture imaginable may be when a critical mass of employees aligns with an organisation’s higher purpose, displays desired virtues consistently and intrinsic motivation (where there is a sense of belonging and meaning, realisation of a higher purpose, a chance or experience of succeeding in this endeavour) kicks in. ‘Engagement’ then takes care of itself. There is a collective of like-minds and behaviours in order to ensure the sustainability of people, planet and profit. It approaches an “… attraction which seems to transcend reality, which aspires to elevate men by an interest higher, deeper, wider than that of ordinary life.”10
It would be nice to believe that this purity of motive is what drives business leaders today. And many consumers would love that too. A consumer opinion study carried out in 23 countries showed that consumers support and trust the relatively few companies that they believe have an authentic purpose.11 They believe that these companies are making a significant contribution to society. But having seen the many disconnects between stated values and actual on the ground practices, and the deceitful use of ‘cause marketing’ in order to bolster reputation and take advantage of gullible buyers, I am somewhat cynical.12
Christopher Jamison points to the basic greed that drives consumerism and how that is manipulated by the big Brands. He speaks eloquently and scarily of how true intent is masked:
“..they give people a ‘higher purpose’ through their brand. The companies may congratulate themselves that they are serving a higher purpose but this is basically the commercial exploitation of spirituality”… and “… has a corrosive effect on our understanding of personal identity and on our sense of the sacred. Even our souls are now consumerised, and marketing is destroying people’s spiritual imagination … great corporations now inhabit our imagination, the place where greed is generated.”13
This danger of consumers being manipulated by big corporations who latch onto the purpose effect is highly likely to increase. But inauthentic motives will inevitably lead to failure. Customers are wising up, and there has been a strong decline in their trust of big business.
Another obstacle is for organisations in service, education and care industries to assume that their road to authentic purpose will be any easier. Many of their employees are not purpose-oriented: “Our research showed that the majority of people working at non-profits aren’t primarily motivated by helping others and their own personal growth …”14
And getting caught up in the sustainability maze of processes, techniques, assessments, measures, stakeholders, systems, compliance reporting – and in so doing losing one’s way – is to be avoided at all costs.15
Advice and Encouragement
For those leaders who seriously and genuinely wish to pursue a triple-bottom-line endeavour, rally their people around a meaningful purpose, supported by solid, virtuous behaviours, I would counsel:
- Rigorously test purity of motive (yours and your advisers). Mindful caring, compassionate behaviours that properly and sustainably address poverty, environmental degradation, educational lacks and other human rights, ethical and economic-upliftment, must come from the inside out. They are not a function of a set of rules, polices, programmes …16
- Involve as many employees as possible in the design of a clear (higher) purpose statement. Get them to deliberate on three dimensions – span, depth and time:
- Span, or the scope of your stewardship (global, societal, country, region, community …)
- The unique, chosen values that apply to your area of concern and successfully convert into character virtues
- How far into the future you wish your impact to be felt 15
- Get out of the starting blocks quickly, learn as you proceed, and accept that if lasting sustainability is employee-driven and comes from the inside out, then working according to a solid psychology of sustainability is essential.17
- Become a contemplative in action as you pursue other-serving. “… contemplation is the only ultimate answer to the unreal and insane world that our financial systems and our advertising culture and our chaotic and unexamined emotions encourage us to inhabit. To learn contemplative practice is to learn what we need so as to live truthfully and honestly and lovingly. It is a deeply revolutionary matter.”18
- Remember that it’s not all uphill. There are marvelous interior rewards to be had on this journey.
Once in an old medieval city there were three bricklayers hard at work on the same building. A man walking past asked each of them what they were doing. The first man answered gruffly, “I’m laying bricks.” The second man replied, “I’m building a wall.” The third man looking up answered enthusiastically, “I’m building a Cathedral.”
What are your plans to introduce a powerful purpose drive that is unique, distinct, owned by employees, is and is seen to be authentic, and consistently builds a reputation that attracts?
References:
Illustrations by Tony Grogan
1. Pope Francis (January 2014). My message to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
2. McLaughlin, K. & McMillon, D. (April 2015). Business and Society in the Coming Decades.
3. Kho, J. (January 2012).Report: More Corporations Turn To Sustainability For Competitive Edge and Profits.
4. Ferenstein, G. Richard Branson:Screw Business As Usual, And Make Your (Huge Piles Of) Money By Doing Good.
5. Stengel, J.Grow: how ideals power growth and profit at the world’s greatest companies. Crown Business NY 2011
6. Williams, E. F. (September 2015). Green Giants: How Smart Companies Turn Sustainability into Billion- Dollar Businesses. AMACOM
7. Chong, R. & Fleming, M. (November 2014). Why IBM Gives Top Employees A Month To Do Service Abroad. Harvard Business Review
8. Hurst, A. (CEO of Imperative Group, Inc.) & Tavis, Dr. A. (Adjunct Professor of School of Professional Studies, NYU) 2015 Workforce Purpose Index: predictive indicators of US Workforce performance and wellbeing.
9. Wood, Dr. R. L. (2015). A Leader’s Guide to Thrive Ability: A Multi-Capital Operating System for a Regenerative Inclusive Economy. Author-House
10. Bagehot, W. (February 2001). The English Constitution. (Oxford World’s Classics)Paperback–Oxford University Press
11. Morris, J. (Globescan) & Vlahov, D. (June 2016). The Public on Purpose Executive Summary: insights from a global study on corporate purpose. Conducted by Globescan in partnership with Sustainable Brands
12. Williams, G.; Haarhoff, D. & Fox, P. (2015).The Virtuosa Organisation: the importance of virtues for a successful business.Knowledge Resources
13. Jamison, A. C. (2009). Finding Happiness: monastic steps for a fulfilling life. Phoenix
14. Hurst, A. (March 2016). Why Non-profits Need to Give Workers a Sense of Purpose. The Chronicle of Philanthropy
15. Varey, W. Good for business: Transforming sustainability: An integral leader’s sustainability framework. Journal of Spirituality, Leadership and Management
16. Williams, G. Compassion essential for sustainability.
17. Williams, G. with Rosenstein, D.(2016). From the Inside Out: the human dynamics of sustainability.
18. Williams, R. (May 17, 2016). Address to the Roman Synod of Bishops in 2012, cited by Richard Rohr Action & Contemplation:The Contemplative Mind Is a Mind Liberated from Itself. Daily Meditation