The One Thing I Know

Last month someone asked me if I really thought humans could impact climate change. 

Can we stop climate change? Eradicate poverty? Drive peace or increase gender equity? Accomplish any of the Sustainable Development Goals? These are huge goals... and if I'm being honest, I don't always know if we can really pull them off. 

But there's one thing I know for sure.... I'm not willing to stop trying.

Ryan Holiday's book, Courage Is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave, reminded me recently: “Leaders are dealers in hope. Nobody wants to live in a world without a tomorrow, without a reason to continue, without some dot on the horizon they’re aiming at. And if we want that, we’re going to have to make it.”  

I think that's why Sustainable Development Goals inspire hope: they give us a collective dot on the horizon. 

I also think it's why the idea that business as a force for good is so hopeful. 

Most leaders I know are looking for ways to bring meaningful value to all of their stakeholders:  employees, customers, partners or suppliers.  And it's a win-win that this also drives profit:  by engendering greater consumer loyalty, accessing new forms of capital and reducing long-term risk.  Making the world better is just the icing on the cake.

Are you here with me?

Dora

IN THE NEWS

Don't just take it from me... from the cover of HBR's November issue:

"When you align your organization’s values with both your strategy and the values of your employees.. you reap all sorts of benefits: higher job satisfaction, lower turnover, better teamwork, more-effective communication, bigger contributions to the organization, more-productive negotiations, and, perhaps surprisingly, more diversity, equity, and inclusion." 

See the article here.