Lots of business leaders want their organizations to have a positive social impact. They’d like to pursue a purpose and do good, not just deliver financial results. So why don’t they? In our conversations with business leaders we have heard two recurring obstacles: a culture of short-termism and the fact that corporate law puts shareholders first.
How Laws and Culture Hold Back Socially Minded Companies
It’s the interplay between countries, capitalism, and purpose.
May 18, 2017
Summary.
What does it take for companies to actually be purpose-driven? Based on their recent research, the authors suggest that both culture — that is, the informal rules that rules that guide our behavior — and formalized laws play an important role. Many leaders want to build more socially impactful businesses, but when these conversations happen in isolated silos, it’s hard to implement real change. The author argue that to truly make a difference, leaders need to acknowledge the critical interplay between law and culture, and recognize that change in one domain is unlikely to succeed without change in the other.