READY TO TAKE CHARGE.

You've done the hard work, paid your dues, taken one for the team, pulled your weight, buckled down, leaned in, cut your teeth, given it 110% and gone the extra mile.

Now it's your turn. It's your time.

Master the art of management.

Cheick Bally MBA ‘23

LESLIE K. WILSON

MANAGING EDITOR

JORDAN MCNAMARA DESIGNER MEGAN GREEN WRITERS WRITEBRAIN KATIE KRIES

RUSSEL GUAY

NIKAYLA HOFFMAN

MOLLY WELLS

Please send comments, suggestions and ideas to: unibusiness.editor@uni.edu

UNIBiz is published annually by the University of Northern Iowa College of Business.

The University of Northern Iowa does not discriminate in employment or education. Visit uni.edu/ policies/1303 for additional information. ©2023 University of Northern Iowa College of Business

Many wonder whether they can do that through a major and career in business.

Remember the course, Legal and Social Environment of Business? In some form, this course has been part of our curriculum for over 40 years. Business does impact the world. That impact can be positive or negative, sometimes depending on your perspective. What is the level of social responsibility that businesses should assume? What metrics should drive business decisions?

There are those that question using profit as the sole measure of business success. Milton Friedman, economist and Nobel Prize winner, advanced the notion the business’s only social responsibility is to maximize shareholders’ profits. It is up to the shareholder to distribute those profits to the causes they want to support, not the firm.

Others now argue that focusing only on profit results in short-term decision-making creating longer- term risks. Instead, the long-term success of the firm requires balancing the four P’s – people, planet, purpose and profit.

Along those lines, some investors are seeking to invest in companies that share the same social responsibility perspectives as their own – the people, planet, purpose trifecta. We see this in the rise of ESG reporting by public firms and ESG investing.

Beyond ESG reporting, businesses have responded to the push for purpose by articulating the greater good served through their products and services: Build tractors vs. feed the world. Sell insurance vs. protect families. Produce pharmaceuticals vs. help people live their best lives. As an employee benefit, more companies are providing paid time off for volunteer activities and matching their employees’ financial donations. Businesses are listening and responding.

Our role as a business college is to help provide insights into the push and pull of the various perspectives for managing a firm from a people, planet, purpose and profit perspective. Our faculty do that through their research and integrate what is learned into the curriculum and experiences designed to ensure graduates are prepared for the challenges of today’s workforce.

I’d love to learn more about how your organization has responded to the call for business decision-making that recognizes metrics beyond profit.

Purple for Life!

Leslie K. Wilson, Dean University of Northern Iowa College of Business

leslie.wilson@uni.edu linkedIn.com/in/UNIBizDean @LeslieWilsonUNI