Sustainology UK Limited
Delivering sustainable change for lasting business success
How The IPCC Report Demonstrates The Need For Purpose Led Businesses
The Creation of Opportunity for the Purpose Led Business
On the 9th August the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) delivered its most hard hitting report on the causes of climate change and the potential effects going forward. Whilst the report repeated warnings from previous reports the language changed and it was definitive in that climate change is being driven by humans.
The report was published in advance of COP 26 in Glasgow. Despite the dire content of the report, it is unlikely that COP26 will deliver anything near what is required for life on the planet to have any chance of a relatively normal existence going forward.
Governments work to short term goals and simply seek re-election if they are democracies or pursue their own objectives if they are planned economies. The level of trust in politicians is low and so trusting them to solve the impending crisis is not a universally held view.
So, without a political lead who can be trusted to do the right thing?
This is where the purpose led business comes into its own. Recently, brands have become visibly more active in social issues notably Black Lives Matter and LGBT+ rights.
The Rise of The Social Issue & The Business Dilemma
In the US, since the murder of George Floyd, Corporate America has been forced to tread a tightrope. American society is shifting with the two parties presenting starkly different views of the world.
With the Senate evenly split decisions and compromise is the exception rather than the rule. The inability of political leaders to show leadership has left a power vacuum in terms of social issues.
In the UK, the drift of one of the parties to the right, combined with voter empowerment following Brexit has shifted the UK political spectrum. Since 2016 however society has moved on.
Attempts by the political class to move with the times has resulted in some embarrassing out of touch moments. Notably, Priti Patel being unable to read the room following the racial abuse of 3 members of the English national football team & Boris Johnson appearing to ignore isolation rules when pinged by NHS Test and Trace.
The inability of the political systems in the US and UK to keep pace with the social changes currently at play has enabled socially savvy businesses to make statements that reflect the views of the majority of the population and in effect steer the social agenda.
The Political Void On Climate Change Becomes an Opportunity for Purpose Led Businesses
All these events and the trend for distrust of politicians in general has led to the business community making stands on social issues that suggest that businesses are active with renewed purpose.
As seems likely that little progress is going to be made internationally at COP26 it seems that there is a great void for the business community to step into in terms of showing leadership in the areas of sustainability and climate change.
For the more socially attuned businesses this void will create significant opportunities to demonstrate social leadership and create brand identity / customer loyalty. Through recognising the cliamte issues raised by the IPCC businesses can act more swiftly and decisively than political leaders and can thus demonstrate leadership.
By taking the leadersip role, businesses may also be able to steer the legislative agenda and thus keep ahead of any new laws that come into play.
The benefits of leading through a purpose driven agenda outweigh the costs as can be seen below.
The Benefits of Embracing the Challenge
By embracing sustainability as a social issue many businesses can demonstrate purpose through their actions and initiatives providing leadership at a time when the need for direction is critical.
The size of your business is irrelevant when demonstrating purpose. Effective communication of your purpose reinforced by your actions will clearly resonate with your customers and even your competitors. The biggest social issue we face is climate change and the IPCC report demonstrates the urgency with which it needs to be addressed. There is no greater purpose than this.
By ensuring your business embraces the challenge and works with purpose to address the issue however it possibly can it will be recognized by its customer base for standing for values and given the changes in customer demographics will be rewarded by greater customer loyalty and being a highly desired place to work.
One example of this is Unilever who outlined their 10 year plan to address sustainability over a decade ago and was at one point the 3rd most desired place to work at for millennials ranking behind Google and Apple.
State Your Purpose & Act Upon It
Recognizing the void creates an opportunity. As a business owner ask yourself how you can address this void and what does my business stand for?
Develop that purpose so you can develop a strategy that delivers upon it.
Communicate your purpose to stakeholders and set targets to demonstrating your progress in meeting your purpose.
Becoming Purpose Led Delivers More than Just Profits
The void that has been created by a lack of political leadership is allowing Businesses who act with Purpose and Drive to fulfill a role. They attract higher brand loyalty and deliver social good and have also generated higher returns than those businesses without purpose.
Customers, who are attracted to the purpose that the business defines, will have a higher level of loyalty.
So, define your purpose and deliver upon it.
The greatest challenge facing the planet right now is that of climate change and sustainability. Choose that as your purpose and society will be supporting your challenge.
