Blueprint for better business

Blueprint for Better Business gives companies a 'get out of jail free card'

Corporations have lost their moral compass and need to return to a core sense of purpose if there is to be any hope of creating a sustainable society, according to a new initiative launched today. Blueprint for Better Business (BBB) springs from the belief that the corporate sector must come back to the overriding importance of our common humanity. The project, inspired by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and supported by Paul Polman, chief executive of Unilever, calls for each person to be recognised “as a social being, dignified by relationships and seeking the highest fulfilment in the service of others”. While the initiative highlights the disastrous impacts of short-termism, profit maximisation and a shareholder centric view of the world, will an approach based on faith teachings and moral philosophy succeed in transforming businesses in a way that many other more practical sustainability initiatives have failed? The basis of BBB’s analysis is spot on. The worst of selfish business behaviours have also shaped narrow-minded personal behaviours. To restore trust means re-embedding business within a social contract. This requires corporations both big and small to ask themselves some pretty deep questions, such as why they exist and what is a fair return for responsible investors. BBB also correctly points out that companies must enable and welcome public scrutiny if society is to trust their actions are aligned with their purpose. But where the initiative struggles is in losing some of its deep and meaningful philosophical and religious underpinnings by feeling the need to translate everything into the straightjacket of business-friendly language. A get out of jail free card Spiritual principles are reduced to more prosaic notions of being honest and fair with customers and suppliers, a good citizen, a responsible and responsive employer and becoming a guardian for future generations. This is a mistake as it gives companies a get out jail free card by giving the impression that existing corporate responsibility programmes embrace what BBB is expecting from them, with perhaps a little tinkering at the edges. The fact is that most directors are in denial and are desperately seeking to shore up their belief that they are on the moral high ground. To give an example, a recent private meeting of chairmen from major companies, organised to talk about their responsibilities to society, quickly descended into bitter complaints by the grey-haired business leaders that they and their peers are not appreciated or recognised for the jobs they create and the taxes they pay. The reason they think this way is that ethics, like the environment, tend to not have a voice at the top of major corporations, with the exception of a few rare cases. The financial collapse showed us what has really been going on in boardrooms. As long as there is money to be made vaguely on the right side of the law, then anything goes. Not much has changed since then, with the Bank of England warning only this week of continuing “deep rooted problems” in the City that are undermining public trust in the financial system. I interviewed the former chief executive of Tesco, Phil Clarke, just before he was shown the door, who waxed lyrical about the retail giant’s commitments to behaving responsibly, and yet just a few months later the board is in disgrace. A culture of secrecy prevails Other concerns are that BBB does not yet have a comprehensive methodology that companies can follow, although there are plans next year to run “ deep immersion “ courses for individual companies. Also there are no formal requirements for companies to post progress reports or any meaningful sanctions if companies sign up and then do very little. What is required to become a member of the movement is drawing up a purpose statement and holding a board discussion at least once a year to review progress. I hope I am being overly cynical, because I would love nothing better than to see leaders in both business and finance stand back from their day-to-day work and contemplate who they are and how this relates to what they do. Done honestly this would lead to a revolution. But I am not holding my breath. An expert who coaches senior executives pointed out to me only this week that while those he works with understand only too well the language of money and competition, they get completely flummoxed when they enter the terrain of moral philosophy or spirituality. They can’t even conceive how to connect this to their day job. Given BBB is based on faith teachings, the power of redemption is missing from their analysis. We have seen many examples in recent years of how forgiveness can allow the past to blossom into a more positive future. One is the success of the truth and reconciliation commission in South Africa set up in the wake of apartheid. But corporations, which thrive on their sense of power and control, hate nothing more than having to say sorry unless they are forced to do so because they are squirming on the end of a hook for doing something particularly reprehensible. Even then, they rarely mean it. BBB talks of the importance of inviting civil society in to see how they work from the inside but corporations have repeatedly shown they value secrecy and all to quickly turn to the courts, political lobbyists and their army of PR advisors to block any inconvenient truths. The corporate sector will be able to move into a new age only when it deals with its hidden guilt and shows the humility, vulnerability and open-heartedness that are the fountainhead of trust. Disclosure: Andrew Miller, chief executive of Guardian Media Group, was on the steering committee which helped develop Blueprint for a Better Business Read more stories like this: The values-led business hub is funded by SC Johnson. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled advertisement feature. Find out more here. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox