“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
What is true of “men” in Edmund Burke’s famous quote is true of any social unit – communities, companies, governments.
I believe most humans are good, and the vast majority are not intentionally bad. With a few exceptions (step forward Enron, Exxon, etc) most businesses are the same.
But time and again, we see that that’s not enough. If we want the world to be better, being good people leading businesses that don’t intentionally do harm is a \*long\* way from enough.
We need to actively contribute to people and planet. Actively oppose destruction and injustice. We need to take those lovely values posters off the walls and our “about us” pages, and into how we do everything that we do.
Simply put, we need to intentionally build values and purpose into our companies.
It’s the question I always ask company leaders. How does the values statement in that wonderful ocean scene poster on your office wall translate into what Gina or Joe do in the office on Monday morning? If you can’t answer that, then you’ve not done the work to make the values you say you believe in count.
It can be done. It has been done. It is being done. Just not by anywhere near enough of us.
#leadership #buildbackbetter #values
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