Historically, many businesses have taken rather than given. Regarding the Earth itself, land has been enclosed, the planet’s resources have been used without any thought of replenishment and the oceans have in some parts been fished to extinction.

Regarding people, business owners have extracted from their workers, in the past physically forcing them to work longer hours, and more recently psychologically expecting them to work even longer hours. We even have departments within our companies naming people as resources rather than people: human resources. In fact, both people and the planet have been commoditized by business.

The general public has had enough. According to research by B Lab in 2020, 72 percent of the public in the United Kingdom think businesses should have a legal responsibility to the planet and people, 76 percent think business has a responsibility to protect the natural environment, and 76 percent again believe that capitalism isn’t working or is harmful.

The time has come for businesses to emerge that leave a footprint that enriches the planet and the people they impact.

The business case for giving back

One of the best ways of measuring the impact of a business has been the B Impact Assessment created by B Lab, the charitable organization behind the B Corp movement, which in the United Kingdom now has over 2,500 certified members. We were one of the first B Corps in the United Kingdom in 2015 and through the positive influence of many wiser leaders than me, taking our company on the B Corp journey has meant that the last 10 years have been the most fulfilling and most enjoyable of my business life.

We have grown revenue and profits more than ever before too. This is a common experience it seems. Between 2019 and 2022, 76 percent of B Corps in Europe reported revenue growth, compared to 60 percent of ordinary businesses. Thirty-five percent of B Corps in Europe experienced workforce growth exceeding 25 percent, compared to only 23 percent of ordinary businesses.

Essentially B Corps are generous businesses, giving more away in profits to their people and charities, while being careful to give back to the land, sea and air, and they spend money to ensure that this giving back happens up and down their supply chains.

Since the early days of business, founders such as John Cadbury and other employers realized that if they were extravagantly generous to their people, providing good working conditions, leisure activities, housing and education, the people stayed longer, worked more productively and had fewer days off sick.

We don’t have data to prove it as The Sunday Times ‘Best Places to Work’ survey wasn’t around in those days, but I suspect they were happier than average too. It’s never been difficult to work out that if you give generously to your people, create great working conditions and give them plenty of time off, you will have a happy, successful business.

Yet too often we have operated from a scarcity mentality rather than an abundance or generous mentality, thinking that if we give away time or money it comes off our financial bottom line. Well, it may do, but you will have added to your bottom line the lack of churn of people, the voluntary extra time worked by your team and the goodwill and creativity within the business. It’s not a zero-sum game.

Forces for good

I used to talk about balancing people, planet and profit, seeing them as the three circles of a Venn Diagram intersecting in the middle. But the danger of this model is that if times are tough (and where haven’t they been for the last few years?) then the entire focus becomes on profit, and we are in danger of taking from people and planet again.

James Timpson, wrote a commendation for my first book, Forces for Good, as follows: “The successful businesses of the future will be those that put our colleagues, customers and community first…when you get these principles right, profit will follow.”

I’m still in the process of shifting my mindset, but I am convinced that this is the right way to go. Do the right thing and take the risk. Put people and planet first and trust that the profits will follow.

The Hindu tradition talks of abundance, one of their seven laws, which is the ultimate place of living with no thought or worry about how giving to others might result in leaving ourselves short.  Now, I am not advocating fiscal imprudence, but there is a wonderful freedom in a business that is proud that one of the measures of their success is the positive impact they have made on the world around you.

Every year, we produce an impact report for both our businesses, which last year ran to 24 pages of positive impact we have had on our people, our local communities, carbon emissions, charitable giving, charitable volunteering, under-served communities etc…  Yes, of course, we need profits to be able to have impact, but we are proud that even in tougher financial years (and last year was one) our existence makes many people’s lives better.

In fact, each May, when I receive the Impact Report for a final proofread, it is always one of the best days of the year, as I see some of the impact we have had on the world around us.

This is what I get out of bed each day for: to lead a successful, giving business making a difference in people’s lives. It’s an old cliche, but when people get the end of their lives, rarely do they wish they had made more money, but they do sometimes regret what they could have done to make other people’s lives better.

Opinions expressed by The CEO Magazine contributors are their own.