Business will be organized around three core principles – social purpose, personal and professional development, and social and environmental accountability. To this end, all businesses will sign up to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.[2]
Social purpose
Every industry and business sector will have a governing body that regulates the operations of companies according to an agreed list of universal human values and an overarching social purpose that supports the well-being of humanity and the planet. This governing body will be comprised of representatives from Employers, Trade Unions and Government.
Personal and professional development
Every organization (for profit and not-for-profit) in addition to having a social purpose will have a deliberately developmental framework of education [3] and training for personal development (soft skills) and professional development (hard skills) for all employees.
Social and environmental responsibility
Every organization will be responsible and accountable for its social and environmental impact – external costs that are now borne by society will be internalized. Businesses will recognize they are wholly owned subsidiaries of society, and society is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. Businesses will also recognize that they are agents for peace – bringing stability through wealth creation and contributing to the support of national welfare and wellbeing programs.
[1] Richard Barrett, The Values-driven Organization: Cultural Health and Human Well-being as a Pathway to Sustainable Performance (London: Routledge), 2017.
[2] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org
[3] Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization (Harvard Business School Publishing: Boston), 2016.
Book:
The Values-Driven Organization