Business as a force for good – or having your cake and eating it too
Are we at an inflection point in the way business is conducted? That is the premise of the Business Philosophy’s 21st Century Inflection Point.
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that the commercial world could be much different to the way it is now. Sure, maybe it could do with a little tweaking around the edges – but the foundation of “enlightened self-interest” is a golden rule – almost Platonic in its purity, right? Bryan Welch points out that our idea of free enterprise developed less than 300 years ago, in the Industrial Revolution. There are plenty of other “certainties” that have come and gone – divine rule of kings, the geocentric planetary system, etc.
The inflection point that Welch talks about is the concept of business as a force for good – a large and growing movement of consumers, businesses and investors who want to “harness the power of markets to create positive change”. This means expanding the concept of “return” to include non-financial measures. It also means the ends don’t justify the means – the journey is actually more important than the destination.
This movement is spontaneous and bottom up. In my view it reflects the best aspects of the human spirit. Given a choice we naturally prefer to do good rather than evil. It doesn’t need to be legislated – we just need the opportunity.
The B Corp movement is an exciting development in this direction. Businesses voluntarily undergo an assessment which addresses impacts on customers, employees, community and environment. Those scoring above a certain threshold may designate themselves as certified B Corps. This provides a means for consumers and businesses to identify other businesses that are trying to make a positive change.
As the number of B Corps grows a network effect is kicking in. It is becoming increasingly easy for B Corps to buy from and sell to other B Corps – and for consumers to direct an increasing share of their expenditure to B Corps. This will eventually create an environment where businesses will be unable to succeed without generating adequate social returns.
Imagine an economy where a broad based concept of doing good supplants financial metrics. I believe it will happen – and when it does, we’ll look back at the financial age in the same way that we regard other unfortunate periods in human history.