We want to do more good things. But we’re not a charity, we’re a business. So what can we actually do to help?
Before you get all fired up with suggestions, let’s make one thing clear. We’re not talking about the extra things we can do to help. Donating to good causes, giving time to charities we support, promoting initiatives we think are honestly helpful for free: these are all things we do already.
What we really want, is to find better ways to integrate doing good into the everyday framework our success depends on.
How can we make sure the corporate, social, responsible things we do are inextricably tethered to our business purpose, not just well meaning bolt-ons we might (albeit reluctantly) jettison when times are tough. It’s easy to be corporately responsible when the economy is booming. The trick, surely, is to make sure you can be corporately responsible when it’s not.