Beyond purpose (ENG)

How brands are working on the economy of the 21st century.

Kim Cramer Alexander Koene

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INTRODUCTION In this article, we will discuss the phenomenon "purpose", a term that is increasingly used to describe the meaning and inspiration of an organization.

More and more organizations are now busy searching for and activating their purpose. A worthy calling is sought to make a positive contribution to society.

Purpose is hot.

FiA EMBRACES PURPOSE A new campaign #PurposeDriven ”was launched in July 2020 for the global motorsport community. The FiA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) will act as a catalyst and guide for the purpose and ambition of sport to responsibly accelerate a positive contribution to society in all sectors, including health, safety, economy, environment, education, inclusion and diversity.

Jean Todt, Chairman of the FiA, invites all members of the motorsport community to sign a Purpose Pledge and take concrete actions.

This search for meaning seems like a good start, but how do you ensure that it does not end with a fleeting piece of communication? How are brands really going to work for a better world?

We deepen and explore the social context. We share with you how we see the purpose phenomenon and what our practical experience is about this as brand and culture consultants.

Happy reading!

Kim Cramer PhD Alexander Koene

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BEYOND PURPOSE HOW BRANDS ARE WORKING ON THE ECONOMY OF THE 21st CENTURY

PALMS ON THE DUTCH COAST

In recent months, major business strategy platforms such as McKinsey Quarterly, Knowledge@Wharthon and strategy+business, have brought the importance of corporate purpose to the fore.

If you manage an organization, there is a lot to be said for bringing purpose-driven spirit to life in your company.

In 2020, we will face global disruptions from the pandemic, social limitations and protests about it. Furthermore, the lack of equal opportunities due to exclusion and racism is increasingly recognized, we see political polarization and there is economic malaise in many sectors. Moreover, we are on the verge of the consequences of what is probably the greatest crisis: that of the climate and the consequences of global warming.

Palm tree by the sea The KNMI predicts that we will have the Bordeaux climate in the Netherlands by the middle of this century. With long warm summers and winters where the mercury will rarely drop below 10 degrees Celsius. That doesn't even sound unattractive. More worrisome is the rising water, which is presumably associated with global warming.

But also the increase in the population, due to the massive flight from Africa where life will become impossible.

All this disturbing chaos prompts us to rethink the relevance of organizations and the value they create for people.

It concerns philosophical and ethical questions such as: are we really busy with things that matter? Are we delivering the products and services that people really need? Should we encourage people to consume less?

The climate crisis and the emotional effects of major changes, such as now during the Covid-19 crisis, may well make people dare to think differently in the end.

And: how can organizations make a positive impact on the lives of people, communities and the planet, to really contribute to happiness and health for all. What is good?

But also the fine arts, popular music, theater, cabaret, spirituality and even advertising have the power to open doors to ordinary people and the leaders of our organizations and institutions.

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THE CALL FOR PURPOSE COMES FROM MANY SIDES

That would be the domain of politics and NGOs. If you are going to deal with these kinds of topics as a company, you have to seriously consider that you are going to lose an important part of the market simply because they disagree with your political views.

Purpose thinking has probably gotten your attention before, before Covid-19 turned things upside down. It is no longer just the activist, change-minded part of the Western world population that demands systemic change. Also a big capitalist like Larry Fink, CEO of investor BlackRock, stated in his 2019 annual letter annual corporate governance letter: “Serving all stakeholders and embracing purpose are becoming increasingly central to the way organizations play their role. in society. "

But for us it always remains a strange phenomenon that, because you run a company, you put your (political) color far away. You don't let what you as a human being sympathize with or even believe in, no longer apply when you put on your commercial hat. After all, for the company it's all about profit. However?

Subsequently, the Business Roundtable also released a statement signed by 181 CEOs of large corporations who jointly stated that they will run their businesses for the benefit of everyone involved - customers, employees, suppliers, communities and (lastly) shareholders. With the introduction earlier in 2020 of the Enacting Purpose Initiative (EPI) of, among others, Said Business School of Oxford University, Berkeley University and Brighthouse, another major step towards 'stakeholder capitalism' has been taken as a counterpart to 'shareholder capitalism'.

SENSE IS NOT NEW Purpose sounds like a new phenomenon, but isn't it true that long before the neoliberalism of the last century, it was the foundation of our modern Western civilization?

Many organizations and institutions were founded on the basis of the possibilities of technology and the idea that it will benefit society.

Or would it have been mainly self-enrichment that encouraged Anton and Gerard Philips to set up their light bulb factory in 1891? And was Albert Plesman driven by money when KLM was founded in 1919?

Purpose has now become standard subject matter at the leading business schools and has been embraced by the more progressive part of the business community for some time now. We see that the business community now feels called to contribute to a better economy as a very positive development. Until not so long ago, there was a widespread idea that commercial organizations should not be concerned with political issues.

Albert Plesman, oprichter Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, 1919

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In the television series Vliegende Hollanders (okay, romanticized drama) Plesman seems mainly driven by connecting nations and preventing war. At the time, entrepreneurship was mainly about using technology to develop prosperity and well-being for customers, employees, their loved ones and the whole of society. At that time religion was still at the heart of society and organizations not only had a social goal in mind, they also had a moral compass to determine what was right and wrong.

Ten years later, Friedman had become the hero of a new generation of politicians, investors and businessmen who embraced the motto "maximize shareholder value", sparking a stock market explosion that continues to this day.

Friedman's essay is now one of the most influential publications of the second half of the 20th century. It is seen as the foundation of neoliberalism, also called Thatcherism or Reaganomics.

PROFIT IS GOOD It

is great that organizations today are increasingly driven by purpose. Namely, for a long time everything was fine, as long as it was in the financial advantage of shareholders and - if it comes down - also within the law.

That period began in 1970 when Milton Friedman declared in The New York Times that the social purpose of an organization is to make a profit.

A Friedman doctrine, New York Times, 1970

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From the pursuit of profit to a noble triple bottom line, where financial profit is no longer the sole goal of our organization, but goes hand in hand with social, economic and ecological responsibility.

In recent years, neoliberalism has been steadily losing popularity. The unimaginable consequences of the climate crisis in particular, but also the ever-widening gap between rich and poor, plus the negative effects of the introduction of market forces for essential parts of the economy, are becoming unsustainable. In this way we gradually let go of shareholder thinking and step by step we end up in post-capitalism.

What we need is renewed thinking about the usefulness of our organizations, how we want to treat people and how we interact with our environment. It seems high time that we had to redefine the foundation that lies at the basis of an organization.

TIME FOR NEW THINKING

If the boards of directors and management teams do not dare to take up this discussion, then not much is likely to change in the way they operate their companies. After all, if companies really want to engage in sustainable entrepreneurship, then we have to go further than formulating a noble purpose statement. They will therefore have to be prepared to overhaul their primary business processes. Large multinational B Corps such as Danone, Natura and units of Unilever have already succeeded in this recently, so it should be possible.

Friedman's essay is now one of the most influential publications of the second half of the 20th century. It is seen as the foundation of neoliberalism, also called Thatcherism or Reaganomics.

In recent years, neoliberalism has been steadily losing popularity. The unimaginable consequences of the climate crisis in particular, but also the ever-widening gap between rich and poor, plus the negative effects of the introduction of market forces for essential parts of the economy, are becoming unsustainable. In this way, we gradually let go of shareholder thinking and step by step we end up in post-capitalism More and more organizations are now engaged in transformation to use their expertise as a force for good.

Our own company BR-ND People is a B Corp and when we got certified in the course of 2017, we had, among other things, to change the objective of our company in our official articles of association at the notary.

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FULL

Behavior 3. Whole

Degree of purpose orientation

Entire organization contributes to economic, social and ecological goals

NOT

Communication

Examples

Powerful/Convincing Activism/Progressive

2. Partial

Modest

Multiple internal processes contribute to economic, social and environmental goals

Introverted & Development-oriented

1. Limited

Woke washing

Processes make limited contributions to economic, social and ecological goals

Opportunistic & Breast throbbing

Figuur 1. Purpose in relation to behavior & communication

PURPOSE IN RELATION TO BEHAVIOR & COMMUNICATION We see different communication strategies for each of the three levels of purpose drive.

Degree of being purpose-driven Not every brand is driven by purpose to the same extent. Many brands are at the beginning of purpose development. The SDG Impact Manager or the B Impact assessment of B Corp can be used to determine whether there is a positive contribution.

3. Whole A purpose-driven organizational philosophy controls all primary and secondary business processes. Purpose communication is authentic, credible and stimulates activism internally and externally.

In this overview we distinguish three levels of purpose-driven behavior for the sake of convenience: 1. Limited, 2. Partial and 3.

Complete.

2. Partially A purpose-driven organizational philosophy already directs several business processes.

Purpose communication is modest, modest and stimulates further development into the future.

Informal behavior and the primary and secondary business processes determine the degree of positive impact and are adapted to the purpose.

1. Limited The organization is at the beginning of purpose development or is not doing it yet.

Better no communication about purpose.

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There is more reason than ever before to ensure that you not only ring out a valuable, inspiring and relevant right to exist for your organization, but also - and above all first activate and live. Sending about purpose without action is hypocritical. Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever: “Purpose is one of the most exciting opportunities I have seen for this industry in my 35 years of marketing. If done the right way and responsibly, we will restore confidence in the business , unlocking more creativity in our work and growing our brands, which we love. But ... woke washing is starting to contaminate our industry. "

WOKE WASHING As long as companies stick to just a purpose statement, they run the risk of unintentionally participating in so-called woke washing. The brand is then promoted and legitimized with a virtuous advertising promise and campaign. #woke washing ~ English term When individuals, companies and brands promote ethical values in their promotion but only do so to make more profit. What they don't do is live these values in their business models, supply chains and in the products themselves. They continue to harm groups of people and/or the living environment.

We need more transparency and accountability, and less woke washing.

PURPOSE IS NO ADVERTISING SLOGAN BUT AN ORGANIZATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

In this way, companies abuse people's trust by cashing in on their so-called idealism through quasi-purpose-oriented communication, while averting questions about ethics or failing to account transparently for their own wrongdoing.

Companies should act first and then shout. In practice, however, it usually happens the other way around. And even if you would like to, it is an illusion to think that you can change a company by simply writing down a nice purpose, sharing it and advertising it in a great way.

Advertising about positive impact and purpose can go completely wrong. Just think of Rabobank's 2017 spot "Growing a better world together", in which they suggested solving the world food problem. A wonderful advertisement, made by good agencies, but such a virtue pot was not credible at the time and even shows self-righteousness.

What we need much more within organizations is a continuous dialogue between employees, suppliers and customers about the purpose that connects people. It's a process, not a fill in the blanks.

The traditional approach in which a purpose statement is determined top-down and rolled out over the people by means of internal communication, roadshows and town halls is really outdated.

The fact that all kinds of scandals were going on in the background, from money laundering to interest fraud, did not help much either. A pity, because it gives an organization a logical setback despite good intentions.

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In the old world, boards of directors or management teams - or worse, just the marketing department - go through a process to determine the purpose together, write this in a statement with catchy texts, a nice movie and a new section. the website.

SOME GOOD EXAMPLES There are now plenty of examples of successful purpose-driven organizations. Organizations that appeal to our imagination with their purpose and where the purpose goes beyond a nice slogan. The purpose statement these brands use is not necessarily the same as the slogans they use in their advertising campaigns. And these are almost all claims that concern the breadth of good for people and the planet.

Then one or more of the leaders stands in front of the troops during a town hall and shares the purpose with anticipation. There may be a few more debriefings afterwards, but after that everyone will get back to business as usual. And so the promise implodes into what it actually is: the foul air of opportunistic woke washing. Before you know it, it evokes negative reactions, cynicism and scepticism when you impose it on people. The purpose statement is seen as a business exercise that had to be ticked off and that the management of the organization does not even fully support.

Adidas - With sports we have the power to change lives.

ANWB Reizen - Everyone better off.

Bernhoven - Out of love for people, we create the very best healthcare together.

Ben & Jerry - Dedicated to a sustainable corporate concept of linked prosperity.

People still know from the past that mission, vision and core values were rolled out over them. For them, a top-down purpose approach is exactly the same, maybe just with different terms and a little more urgency. They know very well that these kinds of things have no value and disappear as soon as there is new management after a few years.

Danone - Bringing health through food to as many people as possible.

Natuurmonumenten - We love nature.

Nature lets us live, we let nature live.

Natura - To promote the harmonious relationship of the individual with oneself, with others and with nature.

In itself, it is nice that there is growing attention for purpose as the philosophy of organizations. And of course, it is very good to write something down as a starting point for communication and activation. At BR-ND People we also have a story about our purpose, but if we are honest we really do not literally know it by heart. We do know very well what our intentions are. And we make sure that our team members know it all well; we talk about it all the time.

The Body Shop - To fight for a fairer, more beautiful world.

Patagonia - Saving our home planet.

Suntory - To create harmony with people and nature.

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Our website states: “We are committed to making brands contribute to the wellbeing of people. Happy, engaged people make positive cultures and attractive brands. We believe such brands can help solve the challenges of the 21st economy.�

For sure it is a good idea, even a condition, that informal and formal leaders keep talking about purpose over and over again and continue to express that they really care about it. But they may give it their own twist, it would be laughable if they all keep telling the exact same story.

In this way, we express internally and externally what we believe in. We give it a clear direction. A line on the horizon. We've defined it with our entire team, we talk about it a lot and if we think it needs to evolve, then we'll do it. We do not believe in a single, centrally determined purpose statement that is the only correct, uniform slogan for all time.

Purpose is not static, it continues to evolve.

Because the context develops quickly. It is precisely the intention that employees continue to think about purpose and keep talking about it with each other. During lunch, the walk or the zoom session. The discussion about what is important in life and work does not stop. The intention and ambition are growing.

But of course, it is most powerful when the leaders of the organization set a good example first. Marjon Kaper, director at ANWB Reizen, uses public transport to travel as much as possible and comes to the office with a folding bicycle. Marjon does not have an office of her own and works as much as possible on the work floor. It is only when you engage in such behaviour that you can humbly begin to talk about a calling and belief related to sustainability and social equality.

This has everything to do with the shift from an old mentality of control and control to a new mentality where it is better to let it go a bit.

The pursuit of a single, static purpose statement is to choose consistency over dedication. Many communication and branding professionals have a thing for consistency because they have learned that it is important to quickly build a brain position with advertising. If you keep calling out something different, it can be very confusing. But we are not talking about communication and sending, but about stimulating the vocation and enthusiasm of people.

LETTING GO OF DIRECTION AND CONTROL Top managers have traditionally learned to look primarily at the efficiency of resources and the financial results. They have learned that rational thinking is the only and right way to organize things, but that is now getting in the way of them becoming truly purpose-driven.

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After all, it is not at all the case that an inspiring piece of purpose text that comes straight from a management team 'why' session or 'purpose discovery' session makes everything cake and egg. The challenge is and remains to invite, inspire and facilitate people to exhibit sustainable behaviour themselves and to organize business processes differently.

If we want to make the step towards an authentic calling of the organization, we really need to let go of that rational thinking a little more. Moreover, many scientists have convincingly shown that people are not at all that rational in their thinking and acting. We are particularly good at rationalizing our feelings afterwards with hard arguments. But our rationality and beliefs are strongly influenced by the economicpolitical frameworks in which we live and have grown up. To break out of this may even require a horrific crisis, as we have now with Covid-19. And that is reinforced by the climate crisis that we will be dealing with in the coming decades.

PURPOSE IS OWNED BY EVERYBODY Which managers spontaneously refuse their lease car and travel by public transport or bicycle?

Which supermarket buyer will stop purchasing industrially produced unhealthy foods?

Let's not forget that organizations also consist mainly of people, not machines.

Many of our management beliefs and principles come from the industrial age and treat people as one of many means of production. Management is mainly developed to maintain the status quo and to be able to predict and control changes. We have learned that we can orchestrate the success of organizations through milestones and multi-year plans. And we assume that success is a result of the strategic decisions of organizational leadership. But if you ask most employees, many organizations quickly get the impression that successes happen despite the actions of the top.

Which fund manager at banks or pension fund will naturally stop financing the polluting industry?

There is a tendency in management to link purpose to all kinds of hard performance indicators. As if you can force the organization from purposeless to purposeful in this way. But the literal purpose statement and the associated KPIs don't really matter at all. What does matter is the dialogue.

Because the purpose is not of the leadership team, not of the managers, but of the people themselves. It only flourishes through a process of awareness and if you can give it your own interpretation. During conversations about purpose, a connection is created between people and understanding of each other's views. So you must do everything you can to ensure that employees see themselves as co-owners of the purpose. And that doesn't work if people are not themselves part of its formulation.

In the new mentality of letting go, it is better to approach the business philosophy and processes from a broader and inclusive way of thinking in which everyone who wants, may participate.

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It's time for female empathetic leadership.

You also see in politics that female leadership is increasingly being elected.

Consider the popularity of Kamala Harris and Alexandra Ocasio Cortez in the USA, Jacinda Hardern in New Zealand and Sanna Marin, Finland's 35-year-old leader who has assembled an all-female coalition.

You can assume that people already have a good dose of purpose in their thunder. That's what people are for.

FROM CONTROL TO AMBIGUITY

In business, we will have to rediscover that making a profit is good, but that it is a result of the conviction of the organization and the quality of our services and products. You will have to touch people's hearts first by doing the right thing, and only then receive the reward.

Coping with uncertainty

Organizations have probably not done things right in the past, and that has left wounds that need to heal with time.

The world is complex, we are all part of a transparent network that is in a permanent state of change. This unclear time is a bit messy, and it might hurt to find out that what used to be "good" is now no longer. We think it would be good to just acknowledge this. If we avoid talking about this because we don't want to hear it, because we don't want to worry ourselves and our employees unnecessarily, then we are not preparing our organizations properly for the new future. In this ambiguous context, we will have to learn to live with uncertainty, adventure and creative solutions.

Our banks have financed polluting industries and our government and pension funds have financed and stimulated for decades what has caused the climate crisis right now. The oil industry with Shell and Pernis was part of our national pride not long ago, and now sentiment is turning against it.

Purpose thinking is therefore not only about honesty and recognizing what is out of the question in society. It is also about dealing with conflicts, which provides a great creative space and an important impulse for entrepreneurship, decisiveness and meaning.

This requires a great change in power from our leaders. Because instead of being arrogant, omniscient and pretending to predict the future, leaders need to become more humble, empathetic and social. They will have to listen much more to the people who run the business hands-on.

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7 VALUABLE PRACTICE LESSONS

But we have discovered the building blocks of a successful transformation. The optimal design of a change process depends on many things, such as the size of the organization, the extent to which a sustainable ideology already exists, the current culture and leadership style, the available budget, the expectations of the client, the need to to go fast, and so on.

We believe purpose-driven organizations are the future. Ultimately, it will become the norm in the 21st-century economy. The question is whether you want to lead the way or wait for it to be mainstream?

The point is that you have to do things differently yourself. That you become fully aware that the future must be different from the past. Once you have seen that new reality, you cannot go back. Only intrinsic personal awareness creates new values and behaviour. But new behaviour is damn difficult because we are such creatures of habit. We repeat what we have done so many times. Changing your diet, exercising more, sleeping more, less on your screen, these are all resolutions that are difficult to convert into permanent new behaviour.

We have learned several lessons and which we always try to take into account in our approach. And we use tools that help to support awareness and decision-making.

Recently, more and more companies have decided to undergo a sustainability certification such as that of B Corp. To be successfully certified, you must be truly purpose-driven and have demonstrably implemented this in your business processes.

We believe the best way to become purpose-driven is to become a B Corp yourself. But before you can do that, you must already have a good idea of what it means to be purpose-driven and what it takes to do so.

If we're struggling with ourselves like that, how on earth are we going to make the people around us change?

At BR-ND People we have been engaged in transformation, repositioning, rebranding and cultural development at our clients for over 15 years. We do our best to really bring valuable meaning and connection to life.

Over the years, we have developed, applied, evaluated, adapted, further developed and further developed our approach. We still learn in practice, we study what is discovered in the behavioural sciences, and we share our experiences with other professionals. It is not the case that we now have a standard approach that we can apply to all clients.

To help you on your way, we share 7 points that we think are important in discovering and developing the purpose philosophy in your organization.

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Being purpose-driven is not a project, it is a philosophy, a "way of working". As a leader, don't be tempted to show your quick scoring drive and intelligence on the content. It is better if you show your confidence by finding the process important. The right content will surface automatically if you involve people and give ideas time to mature.

1. EXPLORE Begin an exploratory quest with the top team, but suppress the urge to roll out the content across the organization as a fait accompli.

You can already tell internally that a process is being started, explain what will happen and why that is important. And above all making it clear that all employees can think and act. Be vulnerable, state that you are thinking about it, and that you are curious to hear from your employees what they think about it.

4. VISUALIZE Don't assume that text is enough. Writing things down alone can get you through, but a lot of people don't read, and if they do, they often won't interpret the words properly. You also want to touch people emotionally, so that they get moving. It is therefore much more effective to visualize ideas with images, graphic design, video and the layout of physical spaces.

2. INVENTORIZE Involve as many employees as possible during the process. Ask them to think individually and in teams about their personal motivations and how they envision sustainability for themselves, their team and the entire organization. Look for the richness of ideas first and don't be tempted to immediately disqualify the "bad" ideas and quickly go to the solution. Do not avoid conflicting ideas, but make use of them.

Open up to those who think differently, try to learn from them and discover how the ideas could be related.

5. VALIDATE Collect as much feedback as possible based on the reactions of your internal employees and do not hesitate to test it with your existing and potential customers, partners and investors.

6. ACTIVATE After the purpose philosophy has become substantively clear, the transformation work only begins "really". You will have to challenge individual employees and their teams to change processes and learn to deal with the consequences. If the employees are sufficiently involved and motivated, they will automatically change their behaviour. This process is accelerated if the leadership team continues to show exemplary behaviour. It also helps if there are clear changes in the physical work environment that arise from the (re) new vocation.

The 17 United Nations SDGs are very useful to find out which social themes generate the most traction. Furthermore, the emotional dynamics can be indicated by retrieving responses with the 23plusone method.

3. MATURING Allow sufficient time for the entire process, think months or years rather than weeks. By periodically staying busy, taking small steps, and celebrating milestones, you keep the process and commitment alive and active.

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7. DO NOT ADVERTISE YET You will probably find that the Marcom employees and advertising agencies tend to propagate the purpose philosophy with the danger of woke washing. It is better to wait a little longer with this until the purpose has passed the stage of the future dream. Only when the primary and secondary business processes have been sufficiently adapted and there is credible evidence in business operations, can you carefully and appropriately propagate your purpose more externally.

For example, the Bernhoven hospital moved a few years ago from multiple locations to a new location on the edge of the Maashorst nature reserve in Uden. The architects of the hospital have used 'healing environment' principles, in which nature provides all kinds of inspiration for the design and decoration of the building. The glass windows and doors provide a maximum view of the greenery.

This creates an environment that contributes to people's mental well-being, which in turn contributes to healing.

The new story was taken into account in the development of the graphic house style and logo, whereby everything can be traced back to the calling why they do what they do at Bernhoven, namely “Out of love for people, we create the very best healthcare together�.

Here you can read more about it on their website (in Dutch).

If you are fully purpose-driven, you can become more activist, in the hope that more organizations, also in your own market, will follow.

These 7 practical lessons increase the chance of sustainable positive change in your organization so that you can contribute successfully to a better world.

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THE TIME IS NOW

You must do everything you can to ensure that employees see themselves as co-owners of the purpose. This only works if people themselves are part of its formulation.

Forced imposition is not an option, it leads to a culture of mistrust and indifference. Let's start treating each other as mature people who want the best for each other. With confidence, dedication and creativity you prevent people from dropping out.

Organizations that fail to put the interests of people, society and the planet first will increasingly be seen as selfish and anti-social. It may hurt for many companies in these unclear and messy times to discover that what used to be "good" is no longer. We think it would be good to just acknowledge this. If we avoid talking about this because we don't want to hear it, because we don't want to worry ourselves and our employees unnecessarily, then we are not preparing our organizations properly for the new future.

The sentiment in society and the desire for the new economy could well accelerate. We see that young people are now much better informed and are starting to make conscious sustainable choices. At school and university, our children are told about social abuses, the climate crisis and new technological opportunities. More and more people are becoming aware and changing their purchasing behaviour and more and more companies are changing their offer. Such trends usually move from the big city to the province. We cannot look into the future, but the sustainability trend in social, technological and ecological fields seems to be unstoppable.

The Enacting Purpose Initiative explicitly states that the "purpose of business is to profitably solve human and planet problems and not cause problems". You don't have to have a lot of imagination to think that a "real" purpose should go much further. It is not limited to troubleshooting. It is not just about recognizing what is no longer right in society.

It is also about dealing with conflicts, which provides great creative scope and an important impulse for entrepreneurship, decisiveness and meaning. With that in mind, wouldn't it be better to change the question and create new opportunities?

The question is whether you as a company will participate in the new economy of the 21st century?

If the answer is yes, then you will have to learn to live with a degree of ambiguity and uncertainty rather than predictability.

Organizations will have to adapt more quickly and the top-down greed for management will have to decrease considerably.

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LOOSE FLODDERS The climate crisis has everything to do with our eating habits. We eat way too often and way too much meat, which not only causes unnecessary animal suffering but also most of the CO2 and nitrogen in our living environment.

At the end of 2020, the financial stock markets will again be at a record high as if there was no global crisis at all. Investors are richer than ever. Fortunately, impact funds are growing faster than traditional investments.

More people in the Western Hemisphere die from overconsumption than from starvation. About 50% of all Dutch people are overweight. In the US, 70% are overweight, 30% have morbid obesity.

The 1.1 trillion euros that will be invested in Europe in the Green New Deal of Frans Timmermans, will provide a strong acceleration of the sustainable economy.

While waiting for a system change, it is best to start with yourself. By voting with your own wallet you can reinforce the change. Buy locally and buy socially.

It is estimated that 15-40% of plastic waste ends up in the sea: about 8 billion kilos. All these different types end up in a large, floating garbage dump: the plastic soup.

When plastic breaks down, it breaks down into smaller pieces and can release toxins.

The biggest polluters of the old economy, such as Shell, BP and ESSO, will at a moment near, accelerate the implementation of innovations if you and we, customers and investors ask for it.

More than a million Dutch people use opiates for pain, the number of overdoses rose sharply in the past year and the number of people who ended up in rehab due to addiction has tripled in six years.

The election of Joe Biden and the appointment of John Kerry as the climate envoy of the United States gives confidence that the 3 largest economies in the world (US, CHINA and EUROPE) will work together intensively on the new clean economy.

More than 2,000 billionaires together are richer than 60 per cent of the world's population - that's 4.6 billion people. In the Netherlands, 10% of the population will own more than two-thirds of the total private capital in 2020.

Companies that do not participate in the new economy will find it increasingly difficult to attract new young talent.

Our government allows multinationals to evade about 100 billion in tax via the Netherlands.

The entire political spectrum is rapidly shifting towards sustainability. The election VVD program is already greener than the previous GroenLinks program.

A mega stable with turkeys provides just as much nitrogen as the reduction of the maximum speed from 130 to 100 km / h.

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Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by the United Nations

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Foto: Janiek Dam

Foto: Janiek Dam

Alexander Koene

Kim Cramer PhD

Alexander is a creative optimist who believes in human progress. After an international career as a marketer in food, beverages and tobacco, he started his own business in 2000 and has now supported dozens of organizations with branding, innovation and cultural development.

Kim is a social animal with a love for environments in which people can live and work together positively. She wants to let people experience for themselves how things can be improved. After studying communication science and social psychology, she obtained her PhD at the University of Amsterdam on the subject of brand portfolio management. Since 2005 she has worked as a consultant, inspirator and entrepreneur, and has helped many organizations with branding and cultural development.

Since 2005 he has been working with Kim, with whom he developed the 23plusone method.

Alexander is the father of several children, adventurer, ski instructor, hockey trainer-coach, sailor, handyman and mechanic. He lives in the center of Amsterdam. If he is not there, he is on a high mountain, yacht or tropical island. In real life or in his dream.

Kim has two sons and is married to her great high school sweetheart. She likes to perfect her skills, but also likes to throw herself in the deep end to learn something new. She exchanged her career as a show dancer for an attempt to learn to skate on speed skates.

23plusone

BR-ND People

23plusone is a scientific method to create connections and stimulate positive action. It affects behavior, both business and private, based on positive motivations. It bridges individual and collective motives and stimulates organizations to grow based on common values. People intuitively and unconsciously strive for happiness in life by following 24 fundamental drives, activating the broad spectrum of these drives evokes happy feelings and encourages positive behavior.

BR-ND People is a consultancy that supports organizations with strategic transformations through "emotive branding". We make the world a better place by developing culture-driven brands that contribute to a better world. Such brands direct positive behavior and lead to innovation and responsible growth.

BR-ND People is a B Corp.

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1st edition - 2020

BR-ND People | Emotive Transformers Amsterdam | The Netherlands welcome@br-nd.com www.br-ndpeople.com

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