business. Another Business Leader surveyed adds that a business can have the best ESG programs, but it can quickly lose a lot of goodwill if it is caught up in a ‘movement’. Some of the Survey Participants note that if a business wants to have the public perceive it to be a positive contributor to society, its efforts better be real. John Bragg remarks that business leaders need to be authentic in their efforts and consistent in their actions, “You won’t build it overnight. You need to be consistent. Don’t try to build your own image or the image of the company. Just tell the truth.” Michael McCain believes being purpose-driven can be a competitive advantage for a business, but that “it better be real” as an inauthentic purpose can have an “adverse effect”. He strongly advocates that when it comes to purpose “nothing is better than a fake one”. Paul Klein, the CEO and Founder at Impakt explains the need for a business’ purpose to be something that is “relevant to the business, leadership, and employees” and argues that concentrating on an authentic purpose is crucial for a business to make sure its efforts to link profit with purpose will be real, “It needs to be more than just communications”. Quite a few Survey Participants believe that stakeholders of a business should be able to effortlessly decipher the purpose of the organization. To that end, Paul Genest, Senior Vice President of Power Corporation of Canada, submits “We shouldn’t just be chasing after sixteen different policy priorities, there should be a general message.”
3) Future Prepping “I think over time, people will choose to buy from and work for companies whose values match their own, and that’s more important now for young people.” – Michael Denham, Vice-Chair of National Bank The concept of ‘future prepping’ is one in which a business makes decisions to change not just based on the requirements and pressures of today, but also those of the future. Some Survey Participants who believe there is currently limited pressure on businesses to create and share value with stakeholders through the linkage of profit with purpose still acknowledge that it is hard to deny that changes loom for the role of business in society. “The pressure might be generational,” notes Helen Antoniou.
i) Generational Shifts “The sense I have, the younger generation coming up, need a more balanced workplace. Yes, they want to work, [they want to enjoy life], but they also want to know that when they’re working that they’re doing something meaningful.” – Bernard Lord, CEO of Medavie Rarely did Survey Participants speak of the pressures being felt by the business community to be more purpose-driven without bringing up youth or younger generations. It is the strong belief of the vast majority of Survey Participants that the pressures stemming from employees and customers will intensify as millennials and Gen Z take up larger percentages of the workforce and consumer market. Adam Legge points to recent data that shows how younger
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