#principled

My good friend (well online friend but a good one with a sharp mind, an open heart and a strong conscience) Bruce McTague provided a provocative post on Principles over Purpose found here.

In Bruce’s well-constructed argument, 70m people voted for someone who to many (me included) is devoid of principles except those that are divisive, self-serving and inflammatory. Who has distorted a purpose for their indoctrination in others to reject inclusive, humane and fairness in the name of ‘safety’. Safety from the invasion into your life of ‘others’ who will do you harm. Economically, socially and even spiritually.

Someone who has a purpose to conquer an enemy that isn’t really there but to be prejudiced about ‘them’ anyway.

Whose purpose is to tear down things that aren’t of his doing because they were someone else’s — whether those things were good for people, society and the planet anyway. Whose purpose is to deny expertise, science, physics, the law, and even mathematics itself.

I have no tensions with Bruce’s post as he’s trying to show us that the world of business has corrupted souls and minds to believe that as long as you’re winning, that purpose is justified by how you win, even if using malevolent tactics. And that’s more than made its way into politics in the return of far-right leaning conservatism. Labelling left-leaning inclusive people as an enemy of their righteous purpose.

Bruce argues instead, that principles (and intentions as he says) are the way to craft something more powerful as a ‘thing’ rather than some stated, transcendent message. I’d say one of Bruce’s points is that the conflation, abuse and distortion of an encapsulating purpose is why there were many rational, sensible and compassionate people who have ended up voting for a demagogue in the ‘land of the free’.

We live in soundbites, memes and catchphrases. Hell, the UK knows this from the Vote Leave: Take Control frame that delivered Br*xit.

The Marketeer mind has taken over the political agenda. And with it, they have bastardised and poisoned purpose so that now it becomes the touchstone for evil to have its way — by force or by stealth — with people who really didn’t know they believed this way until they latched onto the slogan.

Ok, it’s not just Marketeers, that’s not right to blame everyone who just happens to promote things to others. It’s also those who understand human psychology and behaviours, linguistics and rhetorical tools, political persuasions, mob rule, crowd-sourcing and network dynamics.

In finding out what motivates us (cue Dan Pink: Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose) we’ve seen how to motivate people in alternative ways to worthy causes, wholesome missions, and positive intentions.

We’re not helpless though but we are confused, polarised, off-kilter and thereby manipulable.

• Record levels of poverty removal offset against the payday-to-payday living.
• Emerging careers against multiple gigs earning lower than minimum wage.
• Abundant luxury goods and yet scant regard for the environment we plunder, and people we subject to harsh working conditions in order to produce them.

Now I talk about - because I believe it’s possible - conscious business. I’ve seen and read and been drawn to ‘purpose over profit’. It’s become another slogan but this time, it appears, for good.

Of course, when market forces direct people’s attention and assets towards buying into said businesses, then others will (in a mocked-up sense) follow suit. They’re like the fake LV Bags sold in street markets. Look like the real thing but likely to fray and wear out in superfast time.

They’ll use purpose as some vanguard action to draw attention to the virtuous nature of the statement and not the actual principles of operating that deliver that. Just because you say in your purpose ‘Sustainably powering the homes of millions’ doesn’t mean you don’t pollute.

So this is where I can concur with Bruce. We need to see and know more about the principles of operating before we can get truly excited about the purpose.

Here are PTHR’s principles. Yes, we had them before Bruce’s post, but we’ve not publicly declared them with any fanfare.

Have we done our due diligence on the companies who approach us to work with us? We have as far as Google searches will let us. We have declined 2 clients in the last 4 years based on principle 3 and 10.

We’re hardly saintly, as I used to accept invitations that meant I flew to many European, African, American and Middle Eastern destinations adding a lot of carbon. This year we were planning on offsetting measures and COVID-19 somewhat enabled that. Now we’re a remote, virtual first operation we won’t be adding our carbon footprint as we were.

We have also submitted our accreditation to become a B Corporation Certified organisation. Not because our purpose is to be a B Corporation, but because we wanted to measure our principles against the framework BLabs has created, and to see if we were as principled as we believed we were. We’re hopeful of being certified having scored 96.3 on an 80 pass mark in our self-assessment.

Whilst our purpose Better Business for a Better World has spoken to our intentions, it is our principles that will hold us true and to account for and in that.

We ‘teach and service’ self-management, business project efficiency and agility, transforming the people profession for the 21st century working needs of people, and we help create learning-based, leaderful organisations where people are energised by their work, fulfilled by it and thereby flourish. We believe in business as a force for good and thereby, help society become more inclusive, enriching and (I nearly said purposeful) sustainable.

Our purpose does have a positive emotional pull tested only yesterday on the team. But it’s our principles that define us more. And those principles manifest in everyday interactions, gestures, deeds and appear in the opposite of disengagement, letting people down and failing to deliver.

So with this, I agree with Bruce somewhat. Tell me your purpose but prove to me that your commitment to that is via your principles.

In a smart twitter exchange the smart and wholesome Zach Mercurio raised a good point:

Maybe purpose AND principles is the right way to balance this, but Bruce’s point is principles over purpose, and I’m not against that.

So in Business, does your purpose come first and then you show the principled way you live, develop and deliver that?

Or do you converge in principles and you then develop the purpose from that as an overarching statement on intent built on those principles?

Businesses are not a house, where you see the land space, architect the house with the purpose of safe and comfortable living for a family of 4 and then with safety principles in mind, set about building that house brick by brick.

Businesses start from a need. To solve the problems of people who will buy your product or service to serve that need. So an all-encompassing purpose does seem to come from that. And then build your principles of operating that will deliver that.

If, like DuPont, in the case highlighted by the movie Dark Waters, you pollute and try and cover-up, your principles are shot and your purpose did not justify those unprincipled acts.

So, the purpose — once identified by the problem you’re trying to solve with a business venture — is set, I’d suggest we must immediately turn to our principles to provide foundations and construct and build to that, to stress-test that purpose.

Then the purpose is shaped and becomes only the outer facade that is then purely based on your principles. That you and others can hold to account and validate and actualise that purpose.

Purpose still has a part to play in my view. And is our shorthand identifier of a noble pursuit and statement of intent. The intent is then manifested in every day acts, deeds and gestures that are principles-led and founded in principles that we hold as truths and guiding energies.

There is a dualism here but I see it more as a rhythmic flow between the identification of a worthy venture to solve problems, into a clarifying statement of purpose, and then tested and enabled by principles.

We’ve all seen and experienced the problem-purpose stage becoming the trendier front end of many a start-up, community, and app builder.

What’s held the venture to success is often a mixture of clever marketing, affiliations and description of need. Uber’s purpose sounded fantastic. It’s principles, somewhat if not hugely, lacking and thereby Mr Kallanick as founder, was ousted as the architect of those lacking principles. The overall purpose remains despite many questioning the ethics, feasibility and operability of it.

What we hope will power an ethical, sustainable and virtuous way to conduct business, politics and life is where the principles become that guiding force.

Principles that are scrutinised, tested, and deliver a positive, unifying outcome for founders, employees, customers, communities, stakeholders, society and of course the planet.

Let’s see beyond the headlines and into the body of reporting, the evidence, the context, the facts and the solid deductions of worth, value and yes, the ‘right’ principles that are just, fair and inclusive.

Do read Joshua Cooper Ramo’s book The Seventh Sense for more on the power of networks and their impact on business.

Bruce may well like my closing quote from Mary Parker Follett.