It’s time to reset your purpose !

Business as usual belongs definitely to the past and our traditional economic model is undergoing profound change. Why ? Because we can’t continue to maximise profits for the sole shareholders, ignoring the collateral damages to people and planet. Today we urgently need to define new norms of value creation based on human, social and environmental capital. Not only as a consequence of increased regulation (17 SDG’s) or pressure from the entire society but also because a financially successful organisation is not viable any more without taking into account the interests of all the stakeholders. Companies who made this ESG shift tend to demonstrate that they do preserve people and planet while increasing their long term profitability. So how should you start ? By setting the purpose of profit-making: which profitable solutions do you want to create to the problems of your stakeholders and what is the right level of profit ? It’s the responsibility of the board to review the company’s purpose in this spotlight and to translate it into a strategic view. Simultaneously business performance should be measured by financial as well as non-financial reporting. Integrate sustainability in your business strategy is not only a matter of survival, but it’s also an opportunity to innovate ! It opens the door to new technological solutions, to motivated and qualified employees and to forward-thinking attitudes…