I had an interview with a group of graduate students last week that was interviewing a “business leader” for their academic program.
I love that stuff...
They were very organized and formal. I tried to respect the former and challenge the latter.
Their first set of questions made me think.
The topic,
“Does your company have a social cause?”
There were lots of questions around that topic, and my initial reaction is always... “No, DANG IT, and we really should.” Then I quickly go into, “I need to up my game as a leader. I can and should be better than this. We should have a social cause.”
And, then I can settle in and see if I can think beyond it and figure out what I REALLY THINK, once my guilt and inadequacies are fully acknowledged and addressed.
“We do not!” Was my short answer. I spent a little time reflecting on my time at P&G and how I felt imposed upon by having to contribute to United Way, despite feeling like I had no money to do so. (United Way is a great cause, and I certainly had money to do so... but at the time my $10,000 in credit card debt felt insurmountable, and I was completely on my own).
It felt wrong that I was being asked to contribute a certain amount based on my salary, despite the fact that other new hires that were being asked the same thing were in a completely different level of financial stability.
So, there was that... I struggled with the imposition of that. I was at P&G to learn, to make money, not to spend it on their charity of choice.
Here is where I land on “Having a Social Cause” as a company!
1. You need to know your mission.
For me at EMG, we were a “turn around” initially. We were trying to “right a ship” and create a consistently profitable company that was stable and could be around for decades. Giving money to charity as a company was not part of our mission, nor our strategy. We were, for many years, putting every dollar that we could into trying to diversify and grow the company, and where possible invest in technology and initiatives that would help the company achieve its objectives.
Having a major charitable focus as a company, “never felt like a priority.” Our priority was becoming the “most trusted provider of technical assessments and project management services in the United States.” And, we were trying to sell the company to someone that could take it forward. Neither of those objectives (turning it around nor selling it) made giving a meaningful % of our profit to charity.
2. You need to know the mindset of your organization.
Maybe I am wrong, but the mindset of our organization is that we have a lot of employees that feel like they are compensated just about enough. And, enough who feel like they are not paid enough. This is not unusual for the vast majority of companies in the market. Part of it is human nature, part of it is a ferociously competitive industry. Part of it is where we are in our evolution of differentiation.
If we had asked our employees to “give in a meaningful way”, I believe we would have seen a fair amount of resentment and imposition.
3. Just because we don’t have a “social cause” doesn’t mean we are not a “responsible and thoughtful and generous group of people”...
When a fellow employee died last year, the “Gofundme” that was established in her name raised nearly $20,000. So many individuals gave, and so many gave large meaningful sums to help our late employee’s grandchildren with their expenses. The money helped fund getting her grandchildren custody by her daughter and keeping all the grandchildren together.
We have given to special causes through the years, Katrina, Sandy, etc. And, the company and the employees all step in. They are rallying events and it helps a level of awareness and consciousness.
We give to charities along the way. A group of employees arranged a group to help build a playground for one of our affordable housing clients, and we give money yearly and participate with a large corporate client to help build houses, both financially and by providing some labor.
As I thought about it more and more - I came down to two pillar thoughts regarding my true feelings behind “Do we have a social cause as a company?”
A. Running a thoughtful, successful company IS a social cause!
We have 600 families that depend on our company, our strategy to provide for their families and for the community. The BIGGEST contribution we can make to our society and our communities is to run the company well... to create a place where people have the opportunity to learn, to grow personally and professionally - to have a place where they feel valued and appreciated. The more we grow, the more our employees grow both in number and in financial where-with-all and that ends up benefiting the community in many different ways.
Growing a company profitably and successfully... a company that is thoughtful with its people and its strategy... IS a social cause. In my opinion, its an absolutely meaningful one. We create opportunity, and the more we grow the more opportunity we can create.
This is what society has wrong... it’s not only by giving to NON-PROFITS that you show you care. It’s by running FOR PROFITS with heart, with purpose, with value and respect that you create the masses that support all of the non-profits out there.
B. I WANT to run a company with a social purpose, AND I feel like to do that in the right way for the employees, it needs to be part of our deliberate mission FROM the onset.
This is not a cop out. I plan on creating a mission driven company in my next chapter. (No idea when that will be.) And, in that chapter, people will join the company BECAUSE of our social mission. They will self select as people who care about that mission (and it very well may be tied to harmony).
I do believe in non-profits and social causes. I am CRAZY inspired by companies like Toms, and Warby Parker that have a meaningful cause as part of their initial mission and purpose. I just believe that they need to be deliberate, thoughtful and part of the original expectations set for the company and with employees for to be worthwhile. And, I don’t think its fair to demand or pressure employees to a social cause if it was not part of their hiring criteria.
Lastly, it all goes back to “checking the box”. I HATE “checking the box”. I see SO many companies claim that they have a social cause simply because they have picked one. The employees aren’t into it. The company itself isn’t really into it - they just read somewhere that they should have one. In many cases, they treat their employees without much thought or care, they are stagnant or shrinking... but they have checked the box of a “social cause”... I’ve got no interest in that!
It needs to be deliberate.
It needs to be meaningful.
It needs to make sense as part of the collective IS of the company, AND the collective WANT.
Social purpose is AWESOME... and there are many ways that social purpose is delivered. Social purpose is PEOPLE purpose... and, in my opinion, EVERYTHING is about people.
We do have a social cause at our company. In fact, we have many. But, my top priority for social causes is each and every person in our company. When I feel like we have taken care of them in the appropriate and thoughtful way, we can then start a conversation about having a collective cause as a company...
And, maybe then,
It will feel more right to me...
And, I suspect, to all the wonderful and caring and thoughtful people with whom I have the pleasure of working...
In harmony,
Nestor
P.S. I don’t think that was the answer my young graduate students were expecting. And, in some regards, I am surprised that as business majors, it was the FIRST set of questions they asked. Maybe its a generational thing... I am getting old ;-)