Business Transformation and Purposeful Leadership: The Two Are Not Mutually Exclusive

For too long, business leaders spoke about transformation almost exclusively in technology terms: data, automation, machine learning, artificial intelligence and cloud, to name a few. But purposeful leadership and empathy? Not so much. The pandemic, combined with marked shifts in consumer behavior and societal expectations for businesses, has turned this on its head. Now, business leaders across industry sectors are stressing the importance of fusing purpose-driven leadership into all aspects of digital transformation.

For this final installment of my LinkedIn blog mini-series based on my conversations with author Geoffrey Moore (see here for the first blog and second blog ), I focus on practical examples of how we, at EY, are using purposeful leadership and transparency as the governing basis of our own transformation. It’s important to note that purposeful leadership extends beyond the intangibles of empathy, compassion, transparency and audacity. The true essence of purposeful leadership manifests itself in the concrete examples of how this plays out across organizations, be it robust DEI initiatives or sound environmental stewardship.

Purposeful leadership in action: Advancing diversity and environmental stewardship

Saying and doing are wholly different entities. Many organizations can talk a good game about aspirations to advance DEI initiatives, foster carbon neutrality and prioritize employee well-being, among others; yet it’s quite a different story when you see organizations rigorously and strategically allocating resources to put these plans into motion. Drawing on lessons from clients and our work at EY, there are a few that stand out. By no means exhaustive, the following are examples that reflect the power of purposeful leadership.

If we’re going to build a better working world, it must be inclusive for all.

Championing disability inclusion and embedding inclusive and accessible practices is fundamental to any transformation effort. Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because it is advantageous for any work environment. Whether we notice it or not, accessibility devices in daily use are all around us: millions of us dictate text messages using voice recognition software for people who are blind, or use remote controls invented for people with mobility issues.

One of our organization’s largest drivers of innovation is disability inclusion; we’ve seen that a diversity of perspectives boosts employee collaboration, engagement and productivity. By enhancing accessibility in EY content, digital tools, sites and deliverables, we are actively working towards ensuring that all EY people have the resources and support they need to succeed.

Over the past five years, EY has been included in the Disability Equality Index. We’re very proud of that. But we also recognize that we have a long way to go. To build on these efforts, EY, along with Valuable 500, a group comprised of 500 CEOs and their respective companies, are working together as a collective entity to drive systemic change and accelerate disability inclusion.?

If we want to create a better working world, we must have a healthy planet.

If prioritizing environmental sustainability, to the utmost, does not rank near the top of purposeful leadership, I don’t know what does. A foundational factor of any successful transformation encompasses the disciplined allocation of capital resources to cut carbon emissions and employ sustainable environmental practices. At EY, we are now carbon negative, a significant step toward achieving EY’s carbon ambition of becoming net zero by 2025. This means we are now reducing total emissions and offsetting and removing more carbon than we emit.

Purposeful leadership boils down to trust.

For business transformation to work, humans must be at the center, with trust underpinning every conversation, every action and every investment; otherwise, those efforts will fail. Organizations must adhere to well-articulated corporate purposes and values, while proactively addressing the challenges that enterprises will face on their digital transformation journeys. Stakeholders — whether an employee, investor, customer, government body or supplier — demand trust. Trust that their information will be secure. Trust that their data privacy will be protected. With digital transformation efforts accelerating rapidly, organizations must proceed in a purposeful way designed with trust at the heart of the effort.

Let’s keep the dialogue going.

Business transformation is a multi-faceted, ever-evolving area that organizations will continue to grapple with now and well into the future. Core to meaningful change is a tireless commitment to leading with trust and integrity, underpinned by empathy and compassion. Purposeful leadership governs everything that we do and is the fundamental building block of any successful transformation.

I welcome the opportunity to continue this discussion and look forward to engaging in meaningful dialogues that will help us all collectively progress on our path forward — not only to transformation, but to a better working world.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.?