It\u2019s clear, it\u2019s obvious, it\u2019s blatant: the capitalist system is under attack. It has been framed as the main cause of the social, environmental and economic problems we are facing, and it has flourished for years at the expenses of the rest of the community. The social acceptance of companies has fallen, in this last decade, to levels unseen in recent history. This distrust, recently strengthen, and this skepticism towards the business world is inducing the rulers of the different countries to put in place indiscriminate economic policies that are undermining the competitive force of the companies, which is the life-blood of the economic growth, at its roots.<\/p>\n
Being part of a company, I had the pleasure to meet and get to know the representatives of many businesses besides my own and I was able to ponder how a great share of the social problems we\u2019re facing may also lie in the companies themselves, in their leaders and top managements, all trapped in a comfortable cell with three unassailable bars on the windows: 1. The absence of a long-term Vision, that light that allows us to answer to the question \u201cWhere do I want to go?\u201d, is often the cause of the disorientation, or worse, of the accidental orientation of a company. 2. The lack of sharing a Mission capable of correlating the daily business practices to an intimate, aspirational and sincere objective, contemplating its own good, the company\u2019s good, but also what is good for the entire community.<\/p>\n
The ability to always answer, in a coherent and conspicuous way, to the question: \u201cWhy do I want it?\u201d is the real solution in uncertain times, when doubt creeps in our mind, and in times of weakness and vulnerability. 3. Lastly, there is the obvious incapability to re-invent ourselves. Not only the system was not able to support the generational changeover, but not even the representatives of the new generations have been able, up until now, to validate themselves as future leaders. It serves little purpose to ask ourselves if things are like this because they haven\u2019t been educated and oriented towards this possibility by those who have preceded them. \u201cTo improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.\u201d \u2013 said Churchill \u2013 and all around me I don\u2019t see the will to change. Instead, I see (and hear) an increasing inclination to complain about everything, without anyone suggesting any solutions.<\/p>\n
We have to find the strength to abandon the illusions and vulgarity of the Iron Age and let ourselves be lured into the light of the Golden Age. We must abandon the outskirts and all our dependences and go back to the core, at the Center of Everything, where there is no \u201conly me\u201d but \u201cme and the whole of which I\u2019m an integral part\u201d.<\/p>\n
Companies have to ask themselves how to reconnect the success of the company\u00a0to social progress. The real value to pursue is not (only) the social responsibility anymore, philanthropy or even the mere sustainability, it is the identification of a \u201cnew\u201d way to reach that economic success necessary for the company\u2019s survival and for the production of a surplus (profit) that, once it\u2019s put back into recirculation, will generate additional wealth for everybody.<\/p>\n
We have to dismiss the Time of Build-up and contribute to launch the Time of Sharing. A growing number of renowned companies, such as GE, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson&Johnson, Nestl\u00e9, Unilever and Wal-Mart, have already undertaken significant efforts to create the shared-value and thus contribute to reconcile the intersection between civil society and corporate performance. Yet, the development curve of this sensitivity path undertaken by many companies is still very low. Maybe because those that should promote it are the same that have more to lose from its acceptance?<\/p>\n
We should strongly request that the executives and the administrators develop new competences, acquire new knowledge and develop a greater sensitivity to identify (and possibly anticipate) and meet the needs of the society. The companies of tomorrow will have to develop a greater understanding of the new-real basis of corporate production, and will have to examine the possibility of co-existing in the society, by tearing down the barrier that still defends the boundaries between profit, no-profit, low profit and\u2026right profit.<\/p>\n
The government, for its part, will have to learn how to control and regulate the processes that will allow us to share this new-value. Capitalism is a vehicle equipped with an unparalleled force to satisfy the human need, to enhance efficiency in general, to create workplaces and richness, with consequent increase of life quality; and capitalism can make a difference in transforming the vision of a man with a good soul from idea to substance, generating tangible wealth for many. The companies, as such, far more than charity donors and philanthropists, are the most power force we have to tackle the pressing issues we have to face every day throughout the world.<\/p>\n
Now is the time to rethink capitalism. Corporate Goals need to be redefined in order to guide the business in the creation of a value that has to be shared and not built up anymore. This, above all, will facilitate the next wave of innovation and the growth of productivity of global economy. For the entrepreneurs, for the managers, executives or clerical workers, learning to create shared-value will be the best opportunity to validate their business, as well as giving their own lives sense and meaning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Companies need a vision: differences between profit, no-profit and right profit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,72,74,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy-0-0","category-humanovability-en","category-spherical-economy","category-marketing-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n