The future of the enterprise is 'Carbon Negative, Social Positive': Purpose Trends for 2022 & beyond

The last two years have been unprecedented for all of us, and the resilience with which communities, countries and companies have navigated the challenges gives me a lot of hope. While 2020 disrupted the way we live and made us figure out ways to adapt, 2021 has been extremely challenging, with a almost absolute lack of in-person social interactions that we all draw a lot of energy from.

With two young kids at home, one of whom just became vaccine eligible and received her two doses, it was not easy to venture out into the world & meet people on a regular basis this year. The fluid and tumultuous path that the COVID19 virus has taken and the precautions we have to take has robbed us of much needed social interactions. This is especially true for my role as the leader of a global team spread across all major geographies and countries.

But being there for my children everyday and partnering with my wife to manage our home has brought me a lot of joy. I'm also overwhelmed by the incredible work of my team and our large network of allies, both within and outside the company, and our partners. They have wholeheartedly embraced this asynchronous mode of work, and collaborated across functions and geographies to mount an important COVID19 community response, while tirelessly working to mitigate challenges faced by students, educators, villagers and community members served by our flagship programs.

While the fight to overcome is pandemic is not yet over, all hope is not lost as the biggest adversity of our times was been met with the biggest outpouring of support.

People across all walks of life coming together has broken down some of the real & perceived barriers that has polarized us as a society. The numerous stories of bravery and altruism that we see every day has reinforced my long-held belief - 'Service builds Trust'.

In early 2020, when I wrote about purpose, people & technology & the three trends that would define the year, little did I know how the pandemic would completely change the way we life and work as we know it. The paradigm of Purpose is the new Tech is being lived out in companies around the world, and despite the pandemic these trends have seen widespread adoption, as I reflected in these three videos:

Trend 1 :

Countries and?#people?will call upon?#companies?to play a bigger role in addressing the core?#socioeconomic?issues?that affect them – such as growing?#wealthinequality,?#publichealth?and the importance in creating?#jobs?for the?#digitaleconomy.

Trend 2:

#Employees?expecting - even demanding - that?#employers?help fulfill their broader?#purpose?at work.

Trend 3:

#CSR?leaders will lead partnered efforts with the social sector, leveraging?#technology?to leapfrog innovation.

We have also seen tremendous work being done on issues such as #socialjustice, #racialinequity, #healthcare access, #climateaction, community resilience, #ESG, #DEI and more. One of the many reassuring takeaways from the recently concluded #COP26 is that more than 90% of global emissions are now covered by net zero commitments.?

Looking ahead at 2022 and beyond, I believe that three powerful trends that will reshape the way in which we build greater futures for societal good:

The future of the enterprise is Carbon Negative, Social Positive

• More than 5000 companies have made net zero commitments, and we have shifted from carbon disclosure to climate action. The recently announced SBTi guidelines call upon companies and countries to go beyond the current approach to emissions and offsets, putting us on a path towards carbon capture, sequestration and avoidance. In summary, the future of the enterprise is to become 'Carbon Negative' through their business model and operations.
• I believe that the coming year/s will see a even larger clarion call for companies and countries to act decisively on social inequities. Companies will have to stress-test their business models for purpose, and demonstrate whether their services, operations and actions are 'doing no evil' or intentionally 'doing good while doing well'. It will not be enough to 'offset' any intended or unintended human/social costs associated with running a business, rather the emphasis will be to reimagine businesses to serve all stakeholders.

In essence, the future of the enterprise is to become purpose-driven and 'Social Positive'.

• Many companies are already discovering the unlocked potential of purpose, and already setting their path towards being 'Social Positive'. Think of the several examples that emerged during COVID.
• From retailers reimagining supply chains to address food insecurity needs of high-risk population during COVID, to banks and financial institutions actively working on financial inclusion, travel and hospitality companies repurposing their unused capacity to help healthcare and frontline workers, manufacturers using their assembly lines to produce medical devices and equipment, more businesses are going to aim for inclusive growth by addressing the unmet societal needs in their communities and countries.

We are entering the era of the 'S' of ESG

• #ESG is one of the most used terminologies in popular culture today. Yet if you take a hard look at what it signifies, how it is measured, what companies are held accountable for and what gets reported, there is a wide chasm.
• Since the announcement of the Millennium Development Goals to the more recent #SDGs and the current day net zero commitments, we have seen a steady, often tedious progress on climate action. The vivid impact of the often occurring, once-in-a-century climate disasters and people demanding 'action not words' has resulted in significant moves on the 'E' or Environment aspects of ESG.
• Similarly the simmering unrest from decades of work on social and racial justice, gender and wealth inequity and more yielding little tangible results reached a boiling point in 2020. One of the consequences of this has been the demand on CEOs and companies to be transparent on the 'G' or Governance aspects of ESG. Board members are starting to be held accountable on metrics around DEI, LGBTQIA+ and more.
• However I believe that the 'S' or Social aspect of ESG has by far the most potential to fuel inclusive growth for companies while creating significant societal impact. As companies set a roadmap to their 'Social Positive' future, we are entering the era of the 'S' of ESG.
• We will see acceleration of reporting standards and frameworks to hold companies accountable on their social impact. But even more important, we will see a proliferation of public-private partnerships and cross-sector efforts to make measurable and sustainable change in the social conditions, as we have seen in the climate space.

A tidal surge of 'kindness' will be unleashed for community service

• One of the consequences of the safety restrictions we have adopted during the pandemic is the inability to do in-person community service. While many companies including mine have been able to make a very early shift to digital engagement and virtual volunteerism, the vast majority of people have been able to contribute through donations - of time, supplies, money etc. There is a HUGE pent up supply of 'kindness' - people who want to get out there, socially interact and come together to contribute to social issues.
• Whether you call it the great resignation or great reassessment, one of the motivators for people to make the shift is to choose companies and jobs that help fulfill their purpose at work. As companies reimagine their business models to be 'Social Positive', they will gravitate the nature of their work and roles in the organization to be more intentionally tied to fulfilling the employees' sense of purpose. For business leaders who are at the forefront of this paradigm shift, this presents a great opportunity to build teams that will reshape some of the age-old ways in which many of our industries operate.
• My fellow leaders in the #CSR, citizenship, ESG or social impact space - call it by any name/label - will have all this employee intent & capacity on hand. How we channel it towards programs that are designed for impact & driven for outcomes will define how we alleviate some of the most pressing problems in society.
• Therein lies the opportunity to move from often episodic 'employee engagement' events to more 'service projects' that match the vast needs / demand that exists in the community with the skills, expertise of employees, working with nonprofits/NGOs and other partners in a collaborative manner. There are several examples that already exist from companies that are doing pioneering work in this space.
• There will be a tidal surge of 'kindness' that will be unleashed for community service, and we have a lot of work to do in planning, designing, preparing and organizing ourselves to help direct it to the most needy causes. Companies and leaders that stay strategic in their focus, long-term in their outlook and grounded in their partnerships will pave the way for social impact that will define this decade and the future.

Wishing all of you a healthy, happy and purposeful 2022 ! I look forward to your feedback, ideas and the opportunity to collaborate to make a difference in the world around us.