Last week, I wrote about why I think all businesses would benefit from being purpose-driven. This week, I will add a little idea to that, which is that business is a neutral technology that can used for both positive and negative purposes. When I say that all businesses would benefit from being purpose-driven it is on the one hand because organizations will be more effective when they are organized around a uniting goal. However, a purpose can also be rather bad for society. The reason I recommend a purpose for all businesses is that I have basic assumption that people are generally good and want to do good in the world. Therefore, I believe that the act of engaging in the definition of a purpose will bring out these good intentions. It may not always be so!
So, to expand on the idea that purpose is important, let’s try to look at it a bit more critically. I would like to do so by talking about a few businesses that I absolutely despise. These are for example gambling companies that fulfill people’s needs for instant gratification and ruin their personal finances and lives at the same time, quick loan businesses that do marketing towards borrowing money to use for consumption, which indebts people with no financial understanding and reduces necessary self-moderation, and which ultimately puts people on path to personal ruin that can destroy families and lives. Now, these are just the businesses that came to mind, and I guess my associative memory had me thinking about personal finances. In these cases, I bet most of the companies do not really have purposes, but let’s assume that is the case! Then the businesses would define a purpose that is for the sake of their own winning and disregards the outcomes for customers and society. In such cases, some social accountability would be called for, which is exactly why I find the CSR-paradigm great. It seeks to increase focus on the responsible business and increase transparency. That is absolutely great for businesses that are not inherently working to make the world a better place. However, the point I am trying to make here is that business is simply a technology and a way of organizing. A tool that can be used for whatever purpose – good or bad.
Now, with this in mind we might ask ourselves, shouldn’t we then as a society push for more regulation or demand that every business is a social venture? I don’t think so. I think that people engaged in social ventures try to put themselves on a moral high-ground that is unfounded and a devaluation other businesses. Now, I think social ventures are great – don’t get me wrong. I just believe that we should also appreciate businesses that are creating value for society in different ways. We all appreciate that we can have our products delivered to us, or that we can buy toilet-paper at the store, although we would hardly fit businesses engaged in these fields social of nature. They may be considering ethical aspects of their businesses and working towards taking care of various concerns, e.g. environmental footprint in the case of transportation, but I don’t think we ought to demand that they are a social venture first because it diminishes the value of the core business.
My idea of purpose is not a solution that solves everything, but I do find it a good starting point. It needs to exist between the duality of exploration of business opportunities and ethical business. As a side note, I believe most companies end up in the very middle of this duality, not really doing anything extraordinary. These are the businesses that pursue arbitrary goals like market share, revenue and the like. These are important measures for sure, but just like the business itself they do not hold any inherent value. That is also why it may exciting for some to simply grow a business or be part of a great team, but I doubt that you will get that deep-felt sense of meaning that you get from being part of a mission-driven organization that pushes the boundaries for what is possible.