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7thWave AI Assistant

It is easy to paint a negative picture of business.  Cutthroat business men (and women) set upon eliminating their competitors by cutting corners and thus wrecking the environment, impoverishing workers and their communities, de-valuing democratic standards, avoiding paying taxes by using havens overseas, lobbying and bribing politicians, circulating lies and rumours through the media …

And yes, there is ample evidence this sort of thing goes on although I hesitate to call the people who do these things businesspeople.  The business people I know understand the need for integrity and that criticism for bad practices is deserved. 

Here are some positive contributions businesses make, businesses of any size:

• The freedom to set up in business is an essential foundation for any democracy.
• Businesses pay taxes.
• They employ people.
• The presence of businesses, especially but not exclusively retail, builds community infrastructure.
• Cause money to circulate in the economy in multiple ways, eg by spending it, paying employees, paying taxes …
• Provision of goods and services that people need or want.
• Building a market for innovative products and services.
• Production and distribution of products efficiently and with minimal side effects such as pollution (sometimes)

I’m sure there’s more!

So, what’s goes wrong?  Usually, we lose sight of the difference between outputs and outcomes.  Outputs are easier to measure and understand.  If you make widgets, you can measure how many you produce, at what cost and the income they generate.  The problem is outputs are tied closely to the financial aims of a business.  To maximise outputs can become the sole purpose of the business because that’s how the business survives.  Profit can be stashed overseas or paid to shareholders without regard for other implications of the business activities.

Outcomes describe and sometimes measure the impact a business has on its environment.  They are harder to measure than outputs. They frequently must be described because they cannot be measured.  The business aim is meant to address this but business aims are much harder to identify than financial aims.  Indeed, many businesses adopt their financial aim as their business aim.  Here’s the problem.  A manufacturing business takes great pride in reducing its environmental impact, supporting its employees and local community, and paying fair taxes.  Great, sounds ideal!  Except this business produces weapons systems for sale to the highest bidder, often oppressive regimes.  I understand that some people would argue this is OK.  However, this is not a point about weapons systems.  It’s hard to achieve consensus around what defines a positive business aim.

Do you see the dilemma?  I’m a lifelong pacifist and so I would like to see weapons manufacturers closed down and I don’t believe they are anywhere near as perfect as the hypothetical business in my last paragraph.  Except that I am aware of the situation in Ukraine.  If the price for no weapons is a successful invasion of Ukraine by Russia, is that acceptable? 

The truth is that pacifism is an ideology and like all ideologies pays no attention to the reality of the world.  Most politics and business deals are best conducted in a spirit of compromise.  The ideal is rarely possible and sometimes not even desirable.  Business aims will always be a guideline, they cannot be tied to a pre-ordained set of beliefs.  On the other hand, if the business cannot answer the question: “what benefits are you offering to your market?”  then it is in danger of losing its moral compass. 

The business aim is a navigational aid; it cannot provide certainty.  We aim for quality and often fall short perhaps settling for quantity.  That happens because we are mostly better at numbers than stories.  Stories are our navigational tools when we sail through a sea of numbers.  They work because they appeal to our hearts, our emotions and our sense of irony.

This is the third in a sequence of posts about business storytelling.  The first post was Marketing: Art or Science?  The last post was The Art of Entrepreneurship and the fourth post will be The Business of Art.

To try out one of your business-related stories and receive feedback from me plus other business owners, please comment below for an informal conversation.

Minerva tells me she knows all about a sea of stories.  She is standing at the helm of the boat as a commanding figure, a female deity of wisdom and strategic warfare. The reason you can't see her is apparently "a nod to the historical figure of Minerva but deviates by showcasing features unique to this reinterpretation".  I think she means a few owls are chasing the boat!