Purpose driven business?

Written by Joseph Maas

Does the phrase "purpose driven" as it applies to business refer to a profit driven approach? Or does this imply a faith inspired approach? Both? Neither?

Capitalism in its most basic form is an exchange of one kind of energy for another; Currency in exchange for goods and services, and goods or services in exchange for currency, thus the age old mojo by which we all run our livelihoods. However, it may be most important to keep in mind that which really makes this system work is a good relationship between customer and merchant. (Naturally.) So if good relationships are key, then the next step would lead directly to an expanded and more qualitative field of communication. Of course the best form of this "next step" is one that is unrestrained by fear.

As George Harrison once said, "It's not really the yin, nor the yang, but it's the third element in this symbol, it's the line down the middle that we need to pay the most attention to."

Perhaps the "line down the middle" is the highway that stretches between and beyond all the classic, if not occasionally divisive polar opposites: Us and them, black and white, east and west, rich and poor, old and young, higher and lower (cast/sect), etc. Indeed, the transcendent line in the middle may be the best tool for an exquisitely balanced approach when it comes to any and all business ventures as well as every other kind of human relationship. Indeed a purpose driven approach could be a way of achieving this finer balance.

The internal process here is one where we begin to care just as much for the general human condition as for our own condition. It would follow that running an "environmentally conscious" business within this context as it applies to human affairs, is thereby transformed into a purpose driven approach.

In terms of a faith inspired approach, that great Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" also fits perfectly within the framework of a purpose driven business.

But of course, there are questions: Other than keeping up a good reputation with one's customers, how exactly can a purpose driven approach increase your bottom line? After all, the success of any enterprise is usually measured in terms of fiscal health. Is this not true? I suppose a good answer to this question is - The purpose driven approach would be entirely worthless if the world were flat. But thankfully the world is not flat. This is true both physically and metaphorically, thus, "What goes around, comes around." is an axiom that will probably always hold true.

It is demonstrably true that alleviating poverty elsewhere has a direct and long term impact on one's local economy. Even more so when it comes to empowering an

entrepreneurial work force in the developing world. With enough volume in this area, multinational trade imbalances can be brought back to equilibrium. When local economies are strengthened they begin to compete with multinational corporations who may have shifted production to under developed countries only for the cheap labor markets to advantage of.

A historic example of multinational re-balancing through the empowerment of a local entrepreneurial work force occurred in 1919 when Mahatma Gandhi became a leader in a complex struggle, the Indian campaign for home rule. At that time, economic independence for India, involving the complete boycott of British goods, was made a corollary of Gandhi's Swaraj (from Sanskrit, "self-governing") movement. The economic aspects of the movement were significant because the exploitation of Indian villagers by British industrialists resulted in extreme poverty and the virtual destruction of Indian home industries. As a remedy for such poverty, Gandhi advocated revival of cottage industries; he began to use a spinning wheel as a token of the return to the simple village life he preached, and of the renewal of native Indian industries. (ref - Resistance to Injustice http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/gandhi.htm)

Indeed there are some similarities between the activity of Kiva (and the TrueChange.net micro-lending team) and movements such as India's historic campaign for home rule, a "revival of cottage industries" which may in time have similar impact on local communities and perhaps even on larger national levels.

Pondering such stuff brings me to consider the importance of communication, and of language itself. Even on a rudimentary level, common phrases, e.g. some clichés probably became clichés because they are actually time tested truisms, "If you want to change the world, begin with yourself." Good one! As such I would like to ask all of the "selves" out there, "Will we continue headlong into a dog-eat-dog economy where all the dogs are eventually eaten? Or will we ride that curving highway between yin and yang to a more harmonious and ultimately united world where absolutely everyone can prosper?"

If we blog these sorts of questions until the cows come home, will it really help? Is there salvation within the exchange of ideas, within the words? After all, words are a big part of communication, are they not?

Here's a good one, "Utopia". Let's check wikipedia.org:

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Utopia is a name for an ideal community or society, taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempted to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature. "Utopia" is sometimes used pejoratively, in reference to an unrealistic ideal that is impossible to achieve, and has spawned other concepts, most prominently dystopia.

The word comes from Greek: οὐ, "not", and τόπος, "place", indicating that More was utilizing the concept as allegory and did not consider such an ideal place to be realistically possible. It is worth noting that the homophone Eutopia, derived from the Greek εὖ, "good" or "well", and τόπος, "place", signifies a double meaning that was almost certainly intended. Despite this, most modern usage of the term "Utopia" assumes the later meaning, that of a place of perfection rather than nonexistence.
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Hmmm, not much help there. Utopia or dystopia? Perfection or nonexistence? Take your pick. And yes come to think of it, making that choice then acting upon it is something we most definitely should do!

The phrase "purpose driven" does seem to indicate someone who has made a forthright choice, then proceeds to act vigorously upon that choice. This level of focus is common to most, if not all success stories past and present. And if this is true, then isn't it is also just as true that the greater the "purpose", the more pronounced the success will be?

What do you think of when you read the phrase, "greater purpose"? I think of the heros, the true heros who go well beyond self concerns in order to help another individual or group. Or the person that is ailing but who is able to shake off their problems by helping others in a similar predicament. Or management of a "service business" that finally arrives at the realization that "service" should always come before "business."

It seems to me that it does not require another Mahatma Gandhi or an advanced degree in macro economics to figure a way out of the world's economic woes. Could it be that true solutions to the world's most complex problems are so simple that a child can easily grasp? Maybe, just maybe, the only real solutions are the ones that we can see reaching back just as we begin to reach out across the chasms that have divided humanity for far too long.

-- Joseph Maas, TrueChange.net

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