Acknowledgment + gratitude = greater impact

I love the holidays. It’s my favorite time of the year for many reasons: one is that all my children are home on school break and KPMG’s shutdown the last week of December lets me unplug and end up, as the meme says, “Confused, full of cheese, and unsure of the day of the week.” It’s heavenly.

It’s of course the season of gratitude. Showing gratitude lowers our stress levels, improves our happiness, and generally makes us better humans to our families, friends and coworkers. ?But, as we’ve all experienced, when #gratitude feels more like a setup for an Instagram post than a true reflection of thankfulness, it risks ringing hollow.

I had an interesting and weighty conversation on Sunday with a friend who expressed her feeling that it all tends to work out in the end. While I desperately hope that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice eventually, that doesn’t mean that justice will prevail for every individual or that justice will always arrive in time. Whether you look at current events or history, it doesn’t take an exhaustive Google search to see the breadth of inhumanity in our local and global communities.

So how does this fit with gratitude?

I’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude in the context of the work I get to do. I am grateful to drive the “S” strategy in ESG — environmental, social and governance — for KPMG U.S. and to connect with so many people who care deeply about these topics and work to make real change in our communities. I’m grateful to be in the middle of deeply intimate and strategic conversations with our clients as they tackle these issues. A strong Social pillar meaningfully blends purpose, mission and business strategy and provides value to society and organizations - and I’m grateful to be a part of it.

But the thing is, just as slogans and hashtags can feel like a glossy oversimplification of the complexities of the human experience, the gratitude I feel to be able to work on social impact depends on first acknowledging the real and legitimate concerns that led us to focusing on the “S” in the first place.

It’s more than just a feel-good exercise for organizations who align their philanthropic activities with their business strategies and recognize the impact operations have on the local communities and populations. An organization’s DEI efforts are more attractive to future employees after first recognizing that leadership representation still lags for women and people of color. Human rights policy assurances carry weight when businesses acknowledge that forced labor is a concern not only for operations elsewhere but also potentially for U.S. companies up and down their supply chain. Conscientious organizations embrace their responsibility to uplift and support the citizens and communities where they work and operate — and acknowledge when they haven’t been a responsible partner.

“Gratitude” and “acknowledgment” are two sides of the same coin. Acknowledgment is what keeps gratitude from feeling like a slogan on a coffee mug and more like the first step toward solutions that promote dignity of all people.

Right now, I’m grateful that the conversations about social impact are increasing — both in frequency and in depth. There is a widespread recognition that business has a role to play in driving social change, and many of my colleagues are leading those efforts. I’m excited by what they are doing to make sure the business community is part of those solutions, and thanks to the power of social media, I look forward to highlighting some of what they are doing with a broader audience. Over the next few months, we’ll use this space to showcase those discussions. Stay tuned for posts on topics that drive the “S” agenda, such as human rights, social impact, environmental justice, health equity and inclusion. I’m #grateful to be part of these conversations — and to help others be part of them too.