To have a purpose of contributing to society. Treat stakeholders equally. To have the company's leadership committed to the country's social transformation. Build a conscious culture that translates values into actions. What do these points have in common? They are the 4 drivers of a business awareness assessment of Conscious Capitalism, which is a global movement that exists to transform the world through the inspiration of conscious, sustainable and innovative businesses.
Younger companies see more clearly the purpose linked to the result and culture as an element of social transformation. In large companies, C-Levels have a greater vision of adherence to culture than the perception of other professionals.
Contrary to what many people think, the size of a company does not make it impossible to spread its values. All of this was evaluated by Visagio, which, in partnership with the Institute of Conscious Capitalism Brazil, analyzed more than 300 companies in relation to the maturity of each of these drivers.
A conscious company is one capable of generating long-term profits, with relationships of trust between the entire chain in which it operates and the full engagement of the leaders, who are oriented to the company's purpose.
Greater Purpose — Motivation over profit
Having a greater purpose defines the company's role for society. In a scenario of people who increasingly question their purpose, are not content with a good salary and professional stability, have a much greater ambition due to the impact on the world that they can generate with their actions, the search for companies in which the mindset of social transformation that fits this desire is increasingly common.
The company's purpose is key in attracting and retaining talent that is aligned with the organization's values and sees a role in daily social transformation.
Going to work thinking about the impact that deliveries will generate is one of the most inspiring experiences a professional can have.
Building that feeling in employees strengthens long-term business vision. In the survey conducted by Visagio, it was found that in only 26% of companies decisions are always made reflecting the greater purpose. Among the respondents, 40% do not believe that contributing to the improvement of society is one of the main reasons for the existence of companies. These data indicate the distortion of the vision of purpose in companies, calling into question the practice of conscious capitalism to the detriment of decisions oriented only to profit.
Stakeholder Guidance — The Mutual Benefit of Conscious Value Generation
Create a work environment capable of generating value for professionals through:
For shareholders, the relationship must be one of seeking sustainable and long-term growth of the organization, always with a sense of social responsibility.
Thinking beyond the walls of the company, the vision of conscious capitalism encompasses relating to customers and suppliers who have similar values and causing a positive effect on society. The relationship with customers and suppliers strengthens an environment for the harmonious exchange of products and services, avoiding conflicts resulting from antagonistic purposes. Business relations are increasingly based on the mutuality of benefits, with a valuation of the partnership to the detriment of being merely a sale of a product or provision of a service. The association of the image of two companies with misaligned purposes can alienate customers and stress the chain in which those companies are inserted.
Although 80% of employees believe that surprising customers is one of the company's goals, only 46% of them believe that the company can truly exceed expectations in the products offered or services provided. Adding to this the fact that 70% of companies have conscious culture and long-term partnerships as their last priorities when selecting suppliers, it is evident that there is still a long way to go in building relationships between companies to achieve a degree of maturity in orientation towards Stakeholders.
Conscious Leadership — The leader's role as a disseminator of company culture
Translating the greater purpose of a company into guidelines for the organization is one of the main strategic activities of leadership. Leaders must be concerned and careful so that their actions capture trust as transmitters of culture and purpose, inspiring, developing, and motivating people who will reflect in their deliveries the satisfaction and engagement resulting from the work environment. Above all, to be a leader is to serve the purpose of the organization by creating value for all its stakeholders, cultivating a Conscious Culture and allowing a motivated team to be capable of great things with a high impact on society.
In only 28% of companies there is a purpose aimed at generating value for society, reflected and experienced daily in their culture with leaders concerned with leaving a legacy for the world. On the other hand, 52% say they are careful about the impact that company actions can generate. These numbers indicate that there is a fear of negative repercussions on the organization's image, but there is not the same determination to build a positive legacy.
Conscious Culture — Conscious actions in their most genuine form
The full stage of conscious capitalism is having collaborators who are able to experience the organization's greatest purpose in their daily work. In this model, the company becomes a transformative agent in society through people who act oriented to values that end up spreading to spheres outside the company itself. The feeling that the company puts into practice what it proposes as a purpose promotes a relationship of full trust between employees in the company, as well as a differentiated engagement of people.
Although the existence of company values is common, in only 57% of them employees see that these values are actually experienced in everyday life. In 40% of companies, the values are not even decisive for hiring new employees.
The concept of conscious capitalism is a rescue of the concept of capitalism itself, which emerged with companies growing due to the leading role of their founders and lost that essence when company leaders distanced themselves from the values and objectives of their founders over time. When the machine created to generate efficiency becomes a tool for money executives to generate financial results for shareholders at any cost, society plunges into a scenario of suppliers being massacred, products being produced with lower quality to minimize costs, and various other mechanisms for making the business profitable without leveraging the chain as a whole and generating a positive social return. Bringing up the concept of conscious capitalism, fostering practices of social transformation in business, and spreading a conscious culture is a major step towards a more just world, in which stakeholders are treated equally.
About the authors
Marcus Sousa is a Visagio consultant, a specialist in projects focusing on management models, supplies and analytics in the retail, financial market, metallurgical industry and energy sectors. He also acts as the leader of Visagio's Research & Intelligence area, focusing on market research and analysis.
Rafaela Siquara is a Visagio consultant specializing in marketing, communication and design, process mapping, implementation of CSC and OBZ working in the energy, retail, services and fashion sectors.
Vitor Marques is managing partner of Visagio and has worked on Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain projects in companies in sectors such as retail, transportation, mining and agribusiness.