Practical perspectives on reporting #16: Business with Purpose – and pizza, beer and cake

By Tamara O’Brien, TMIL’s roving reporter

Here in the UK, the race is on to find us another Prime Minister. Amid all the debate and commentary, you occasionally hear mention of ‘cakeism’. I’ve only recently worked out the origins of this neologism – which refers to some politicians’ enthusiasm for low taxation coupled with high government spending.

When I taught English as a foreign language, ‘having your cake and eating it’ was one idiom guaranteed to baffle students. Once explained, of course, people the world over instantly grasp its meaning – and appreciate its wry summation of the human capacity to overlook inconvenient truths in the cause of self-interest.

So I was eager to hear how today’s Trust me, I’m listed discussion might reconcile the apparently contradictory expectations that investors, government, all of us, have of UK listed companies: that they compete profitably, in a hostile and morally murky world, with transparency, integrity and purpose.

To discuss it we had, as Claire said, ‘our most eclectic panel ever’. Charles Wookey, now a consultant, is a Marco Polo of sectors ranging from accountancy and government to academia; he is also one of the founders of the charity A Blueprint for Better Business. Professor Anna Rowlands is a bona fide philosopher, political theologian, Thought For The Day[1] regular, and Claire’s bestie. Steven Fine, CEO of investment bank Peel Hunt and founder of the NED Awards, is a ‘purpose’ convert with a stimulatingly contrarian outlook.

Put ‘em together and whaddaya got? A fascinating discussion on what business is for, that’s what.

So what is business for?
Claire believes it’s crucial to bring together thinkers who are exploring the same ideas from different perspectives. Humanity-sized problems like climate change and social inequality will need collective solutions. And with global companies having more economic heft than some nation states, the influence of corporates on human flourishing, in both the short and long term, is too great for such states to carry alone.

Anna kicked off the discussion by stating that actually there’s a long tradition of business having a moral role in society, and it’s only relatively recently – in a process that began in the Enlightenment of the 18th century – that we’ve considered our work lives as being separate from our personal lives.

The financial crisis of 2008 was a moment when we began to see that this was not a sustainable way of thinking. The ecological crisis and realities of living with pandemic(s) have forced further questions about what business and work is. Why are we saving the planet? What ends do we want our business to serve?

Which might all sound airily philosophical, but is in fact the starting point for pragmatic business planning. Why do we work, how will we work, what kind of processes and workplaces will we need… businesses that see the connection between activity and purpose are the ones getting it right.

A lot of this is down to the language we use. Language is power. It shapes cultures, gives us a sense of ourselves… and it can also betray us, giving away what we really think. That’s why precision is so important – as anyone who’s worked with Claire and Falcon Windsor will testify.

Keeping it real
Precision isn’t just about accuracy. It means making brave choices about declaring who you really are to the world. The newly-listed investment bank Peel Hunt made that choice when they brought a surprising element to their communications. Falcon Windsor helped them create their first annual report, and Claire found herself ‘astonished and quite moved by how real their purpose is, at every level of the company’.

Nevertheless, it’d be wrong to think that the path to purpose is all rainbows and candyfloss. At first, CEO Steven Fine was sceptical. What did ‘purpose’ mean that ‘mission’ didn’t? But digging into it, and the values that Peel Hunt espouses, he and the team were able to articulate their purpose: Guiding and nurturing people through the evolution of business.

Initially, ‘nurturing’ caused some sharp intakes of breath. It’s hardly a word normally associated with investment banking. Which was kind of the point, and Peel Hunt’s point of difference. Gloriously, the word itself was given spontaneously by more than 90% of employees, when asked for a word beginning with ‘n’ to describe the company (along with words for the other seven letters in the company name). And thus a true, distinctive, actionable company purpose was born.

‘Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything’ [2]
Charles, along with some likeminded others, set up A Blueprint for Better Business in 2012, to help corporates deliver clear benefits to society as well as sustainable performance. In one early seminar, the Chairman of one of the UK’s largest banks admitted that when making investment decisions, his firm asked only two questions: is it legal and is it profitable?

For Charles, the fact that the industry mostly went about its business in that narrow way is what created the global financial crisis a few years previously. Even the noble aim of ‘restoring trust in the City’ was really only looking for more ways to make money. The deeper issue was, what is the point of the financial services sector?

The question is just as valid today. Every business needs to ask itself how it benefits society as a whole, and the people whose lives it touches. And it's not about slapping a new strapline on unchanged behaviour; a purpose-led approach has to be led from the inside out. What should our strategy be, and what culture do we need to have, in the service of benefiting society?

On the question of whether reporting about purpose actually changed minds, Charles urged caution. More reporting and disclosure doesn’t necessarily convince anyone. Evidence of hard thinking, dialogue and reflection just might.

Looking at mindset change from an investment perspective, Steven declared himself something of a cynic. For a few years up to about the end of 2021, environmental, social and governance issues, or ESG, was the only game in town. It was all about ESG funds, strategies, investment. Then times get tough, and suddenly people are worried about food security, defence, fuel. There’s a rush to invest in oil, critical minerals and products that help drive economies. Markets are dynamic, and investment flows from one place to another as it sees appropriate. Geopolitics will always be a powerful influence on mindset, at least in the short-to-medium term.

And finally…
Dear reader, I myself am conscious of not delivering on the promise I made in my headline, in the matter of beer and pizza. Thank you for your patience; all can now be revealed. The final question from the audience to the panel was, ‘How do you solve the problem of “participation deficit” – ie, in the corporate context, getting your employees to take part and give their views?’

SF: Bribe them! (Ed’s note: although not in the financial sense, clearly.) Fill in our questionnaire and there’ll be beer and pizza after.

CW: Find groups who want to collaborate, set up events along the lines Steven describes(!) and there’ll be a ripple effect from that. Make sure that change results from these engagements.

AR: Firstly, self-interest – find out what that means for your people, through one-to-one conversations. Second, find out what people know about your workplace, and enable them to share that knowledge. And third, make sure people see there are real outcomes to this sharing – a common project that grows out of what they’ve said.

In short, the classic comms principle: understand what would motivate the audience to do what you’re asking, and base your approach on that.

[1] Thought For The Day is a much-loved daily slot on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
[2] George Bernard Shaw.