Purpose Eats Profit for Breakfast
Good people want more choice, more fun, a better work life balance and most of all real purpose.
Most companies are not driven by purpose. They are driven by the quarterly results. Their goal is iteration and not purpose. While it is important to set goals and targets for your company, it can’t be the only thing that drives your business.
There is a change of mood. Employees are asking about the purpose of companies... So if you want to recruit talent, you need to be able to articulate this in a clear way... Your customers want more transparency, they want to be able to see what it is you're doing.
People in big corporations in particular are starting to realise that the current model based on shorter profit maximisation brings more harm than good.
Financial measurements on their own are not good enough indicators of success in today’s corporate world. Never before has good ethical behaviour been so important to a company’s sustainability. Earning high returns for investors should no longer be the primary objective of a company.
For too long, organisations have relied on accounting systems that prioritise financial flows at the expense of other metrics. Accounting has become our principal measurement of success. As a standalone reporting mechanism, this is no longer fit for purpose.
A business for good has a vision of success that looks very different to the current dominant business model. We need to look beyond financial performance and look at the impact we are making in the world and the impact we are making on the next generation of employees. This is why at YesTax we give 2.5% of our turnover to children in poverty and we have transferred ownership of the business to the employees – the very people that have helped us to become a Business for Good. We want to secure the long-term success of the company and ensure that future generations continue to be driven by purpose not profit.
YesTax. Positively Better.