Doing Good For Business' Sake
Those of you who have had the questionable honor of spending a lot of one on one time with me already know my feelings on this topic. For those of you lucky enough to have avoided such an occasion I'll try and summarize my views:
- As transparency into companies increases, the underlying tone and culture of those companies becomes more critical to its success
- Integrity, ethics, and social responsibility should be rewarded where in existence, strived for when needed, and demanded by management and the consumer
- The notion that "Doing Good is Good For Business" should be a core part of the business culture
- The consumer should accept that it is ok for a business to both do good and benefit from those actions at the same time
- With these elements in place, a great deal more funds can be made available, particularly for smaller charitable initiatives, than currently occurs through the donation/sponsorship environment
Let's start with a few simple universal truths.
Universal truth #1: Companies are in business to make money.
Universal truth #2: They are also filled with people who would like to make a difference.
Universal truth #3: If you can find a way to combine the first two truths you have the opportunity to create a great deal more funds to apply towards making a difference, and the incentive for the company to do so.
All too often we as consumers criticize anything which benefits a business (or person for that matter) while in the process of being charitable. There is this benchmark of pure altruism being applied. And while honorable that may be, there is only so much of that that a company can do before the impact on the bottom line issues a cease and desist order.
From my humble perspective, I would much rather see companies finding ways to leverage these efforts to sell more products or services. The flow of funds outside the company at that point has no finite end point.
Should we really care if the Pepsi Refresh project ends up selling more soda for them? If it does wouldn't that mean they'd be more likely to continue funding good initiatives? Do occasions occur when a company is using a charitable initiative as a sleight of hand tool to distract you from some less than savory facts? Of course, but is that really the norm?
Cynicism where big enterprise is concerned has spun out of control. Take them to task when warranted, but a company garnering benefit from a charitable activity should not be one of those times to be critical. It is in no ones best interests, particularly those who could be helped.
Cheers,
Matt Ridings - @techguerilla
