Flourishing Exemplars
Some surprising companies that foster human flourishing
Continuing my discussion of human flourishing, after finishing and handing in the “final” draft of the book I decided this subject needed more attention. (That’s probably why I keep coming back to it here.)
In particular, it needed more and better examples of businesses who truly believe that they exist to help customers – and more than customers – flourish. So below is an excerpt from the “final final” draft of this chapter (which, when absolutely, 100% finished will be labeled at least “final final final final”. . . .). Think of it as beginning immediately after the final line of the last post, Collective Flourishing:
And it means you must recognize that profits are not the goal of your business; human flourishing is. Profits are the measure of how well you contribute to human flourishing.
Joe
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SC Johnson has exemplified this view since its founding 140 years ago. Now on its fifth generation of family leadership, the company’s stated purpose is “A Family Company at Work for a Better World.”[i] It fully articulated its longheld principles as a statement of “This We Believe” in 1976 and hasn’t wavered on them since:
This We Believe states our beliefs about the five groups of people to whom we are responsible and whose trust we must earn. . .
· Employees: We believe that the fundamental vitality and strength of our worldwide company lies in our people.
· Consumers and Users: We believe in earning the enduring goodwill of consumers and users of our products and services.
· General Public: We believe in being a responsible leader within the free market economy.
· Neighbors and Hosts: We believe in contributing to the well-being of the countries and communities where we conduct business.
· World Community: We believe in improving international understanding.[ii]
And SC Johnson is a household products company! Which, yes, fosters flourishing. How much more should transformation guiders be committed to working for a better world? To feel its responsibilities to customers, employees, communities, society, and the planet? To understand that fostering human flourishing is its reason for existence? And then act as if it truly believed it?
Even a household products company can, yes, foster flourishing!
SC Johnson has the luxury of being a privately held company. It doesn’t have to pay homage to Wall Street. Better than most investment firms, it and other companies focused on human flourishing understand business is not a quarter-by-quarter game; it’s a long-term competition. A competition less against rivals than against short-termism, greed, stagnation, and anything else that lessens the innovation required to increase the value of offerings to be worth more to customers than the money they hold. A competition to withstand the gales of creative destruction to, as my colleague and friend Kim Korn likes to say, resist the temptation to fall into mediocrity and eventually fail, but instead to thrive forever.[iii]
Business is a long-term competition less against rivals than against short-termism, greed, and stagnation
Among many other examples that could be cited is Truist Bank. It proclaims:
At Truist, our purpose is to inspire and build better lives and communities. And we do this through real, unwavering care. Care that creates more opportunities, lends a helping hand, and encourages people and businesses to thrive. By living on purpose—and bringing others along on the journey—we can make our world better together.[iv]
Perhaps the last kind of company you’d expect to embrace flourishing would be private equity, but in fact many such firms recognize that it’s not just about the money.
