A growing movement
There are a growing number of companies who recognise that they need to do more than comply with existing rules and regulation and that they should seek to be more responsible – seeking to minimise the harm they do and to use some of their profits to have a positive impact through corporate social responsibility or sustainability initiatives.
The increased focus on ESG and the increasing number of reporting frameworks has helped to shed some light on the impact companies have and more companies are reporting on this impact. Other companies go further than seeking to be responsible, going further than CSR or sustainability programmes and seek to be a ‘force for good’ through their core business strategy.
As Paul Polman discusses in this interview in HBR (paywall) – business leaders need to ask themselves – How can a company profit from solving the world’s problems, not from creating them? Is the world better off because your business is in it, or not? Just seeking to reduce harm is not enough:
…most people or most companies are in the CSR space, corporate social responsibility, which is being less bad. But when we overshoot these planetary boundaries so much, less bad is simply not good enough anymore. “I used to murder 10 people, now I murder five people. Am I a better murderer?” I don’t think so.
For a more detailed exploration of the difference between being purpose-led, CSR, sustainability and ESG see:
- What is the relationship between purpose, CSR. Sustainability and ESG
- The role of ESG in business and how it relates to purpose
A growing movement
Blueprint is one of a growing number of organisations whose purpose is to help businesses on their journey to being a force for good. It will take a shift in the entire ecosystem for lasting change to happen and there will be different levers needed to help the system to change.
Others in this broad movement include:
The approaches of these organisations and what they offer varies. Some focus on the need for legal and regulatory change, some offer leadership or other programmes and others offer certification programmes which help businesses to signal their aim to have a positive impact, and demonstrate that they are meeting a certain set of standards.
Organisations, including the following, provide benchmarks to challenge companies to meet the UN Sustainable development Goals:
And a number of others, many of whom are part of the Capitals Coalition are seeking to redefine and change how we think about, measure and report value, to help transform decision making and to facilitate greater transparency and accountability.
Attempts have been made to map the role the organisations listed above and others play in contributing to purpose-led businesses. These include:
PAS 808
In July 2022 a number of these organisations, as well as representatives from some businesses such as KPMG, JLL and Anglian Water were convened by the BSI , and Prof. Victoria Hurth, to create PAS 808 for purpose-driven organisations to provide guidance to governing bodies and executive managers on what purpose is, how a purpose-driven organization (PDO) approaches decisions, and how it acts. the PAS outlines the worldviews, principles and the associated behaviours and activities of a PDO and establishes common terms and definitions related to purpose. Click the links for the executive summary and the full PAS
Blueprint’s focus and approach
Our approaches and areas of focus vary but ultimately we are all seeking to facilitate and enable better businesses that have a positive impact on people and the planet. Law, regulation, certification and better more comparable metrics, measures and benchmarks are all an important part of the change needed. But we believe that it is also important to change the assumptions and beliefs investors and people in business have about the purpose of business and about people. Our approach at Blueprint, therefore, focuses on stimulating and energising a different way of thinking and behaving in business. This is explored further in Introducing the Blueprint Principles and Framework and the other courses in the Inspiration section of this knowledgebase.
Our current focus is working with a small number of large companies on the journey to become purpose-led and to share the learning from these rich experiences more broadly, including through the courses in this knowledgebase, to contribute to the movement of purpose-led business. The thinking is totally scalable to all sizes of companies, and indeed to different types of organisation including charities, NGOs and public sector organisations. We also convene forums and events and work with investors and influencers from wider society, including NGOs, academics, business schools, coaches, consultants and advisors, to help create the environment for purpose-led business to thrive.
Our approach is set out in more detail in: Blueprint’s theory of change