Corporate purpose is the buzzword of the day. Last August, the US Business Roundtable radically redefined its statement of the “purpose of a corporation” to include stakeholders, rather than just shareholders. Larry Fink, who leads the world’s largest asset management firm BlackRock, wrote in a 2018 letter to corporate CEOs: “Without a sense of purpose, no company, either public or private, can achieve its full potential.”
The Coronavirus crisis has seen some incredible corporate responses. Google has pledged $800 million in ads and loans to help businesses and crisis response efforts. Unilever is donating €100 million of food and sanitizer, and guaranteeing the jobs of all of its 155,000 workers – including contractors as well as employees.
A purpose statement is meaningless unless it translates into action. For that reason, let’s explore five channels through which purpose can be embedded in an enterprise – strategy, operating model, culture, internal reporting and governance.
The idea that what we perceive is not an objective reflection of the physical world stretches back to the 1940s and the New Look school of psychology.
The idea that brands could make money from supporting causes, and not feel guilty about making a profit, was not always a common one.
