Do all CEOs “only care about profit”? No..

“Yes, being all about Purpose, People and Planet is all very well, but CEOs only care about profits!”

When talking to people about the new triple bottom line and putting Purpose, People and Planet first, over and over I hear this type of response.

I mostly hear it from people who are passionate about one or more of encouraging business leaders to shift focus from Profit to Purpose, People, Planet.

The problem with those conversations tends to be (as I have heard regularly) that they explain why CEOs should focus on Purpose, People, Planet rather than Profit.

This sets up a conversation where one focus is in opposition to the other, so the two parties are not having the same conversation at all.

There is a gap.

Now, how to close that gap?

I’ve found a powerful way to do that is by showing real living examples of companies and other organisations (including charities and governments) that have chosen to put Purpose, People, Planet first and paramount AND have made Profits.

As the diagramme above shows, this” Both/And” focus creates a righteous flywheel of more and more impact by reinvesting those profits to do more, achieve more, have more impact.

If you are in the space of one or more of Purpose, People, Planet, I encourage you to find real examples of success stories to give CEOs evidence that this does work and has worked over long periods of time. Feel free to start that research by searching the posts on this site under these sorts of terms, I’ve written about multiple such success stories.

I work with leaders of companies that do put Purpose, People and Planet first. Yes, they are absolutely focussed on Profit but do so by shifting their emphasis to these three higher-level drivers and realise and see evidence that Profit is an outcome achieved by and through such focus.

If you are on that journey, I’d love to listen to your story and, perhaps, see where I can speak from my own experience in this space to support you on the path. A half-hour call may help you get what you need at this stage faster and more easily than you could on your own.