At the end of each year, I get to do my favorite thing in the world: finally read at least one book on my list. My book of choice at the end of 2021? “Net Positive.” The story revolves around one central idea: that running a business capable of leaving the world in better shape than you found it is not only possible but smart.
This idea struck me as powerful and beautiful. Why? Because the reality is that business in today’s world doesn’t work like this. The authors discuss how business leaders think quarter by quarter. They have to meet shareholder goals, and if things go south in the short term, that’s not possible.
But this plays it safe — or unsafe, depending on how you look at it. Leaders can’t be “visionary” if they only think in three-month increments, which means some of the most powerful people on the planet, some of the great corporate leaders of our time, aren’t fulfilling their potential to do something about the world’s problems.
The world doesn’t have time for the odds to even up and for businesses to change their ways, but I don’t believe it has to. The world is starting to even the odds itself — starting with the Great Resignation.
What the Great Resignation — or Great Epiphany — Means for Companies
For myriad reasons, people are consciously and deliberately taking stock of their lives and charting new paths. They've been doing this with their money for some time, but they're now realizing that their time and employment are similarly a commodity, a way to communicate their values. The effect might be a resignation, but the cause is an epiphany.
People have an appetite for real meaning and purpose. They’re looking for a way to be good citizens in the world — and that increasingly involves finding a workplace that enables and cultivates that desire.
What does this mean for companies (other than that many are losing their best talent)? Most immediately, they must move from a marketing-driven era of inspiring storytelling to an era of inspiring story-doing. People don’t just want to work for a company with a poetic vision; they want to work with a company that's doing the work and telling them exactly how it's done in their marketing.
TLDR: The urgent desire to make the world a better place is driving purchasing and career decisions, and this will force businesses to change themselves and commit to changing the world, too.
The Power and Necessity of Story-Doing
It’s not that morals and conscience are emerging in our corporate leaders; it’s a keen ear to the ground that tells them they have to have these things in place in order to remain relevant to the people who matter most — their current and future employees.
Think about it in terms of saving the planet. We’re seeing evidence of people making career decisions and changing their purchasing habits based on the integrity of a leader’s social conscience, the sustainability of the supply chain, and a company’s green policy. If this alone doesn’t indicate a shift in the balance of power from corporate leaders to the talent and consumers those leaders need to remain a success, I don’t know what does.
Organizations and their leaders will have to be specific about how they impact the lives of others and the world we all live in. They have to do this at scale, in an organized way that leaves room for people to tell their own personal stories of purpose, impact, and belonging so that they can make up their own minds as to whether they want to be part of that journey.
Ultimately, businesses alone aren’t going to save the planet. But they can be an instrumental part of doing it. Giving people a place to not just use their skills or spend their money but to belong and to impact the world around them is the single most powerful way to get through it. If that becomes a priority, it might save the world a little bit after all.
