PURPOSE

Every so often in the managerial lexicon a buzz-word immediately attracts attention, which perhaps isn't really new but immediately attracts attention and is talked about more frequently.

For some time now, the word has been "purpose" which, in the corporate sphere, indicates the primordial idea, the ultimate purpose, the purpose for which a company was started. In other words, the set of ideas, values and intentions that characterize the profound reasons that drive us to do business.

Purpose is not a passing fad or a marketing gimmick. It is something more demanding that has stimulated the discussions of business operators, researchers and academics about the position that the company must take on ethical and socially relevant issues.

Furthermore, the new generations, both in the role of consumers and in that of knowledge workers, today demand visible and measurable steps of the economy in the pursuit of more sustainable goals: create something that genuinely satisfies customers, permanently increase jobs, activate qualifying professional relationships, compose teams with high performance and supportive cohesion.

Of course, next to the purpose there is also the profit. But for most of today's operators, the motivation behind building a business is not just about maximizing profitability.

Today's excellent companies know this well, they are very aware that purpose can be one of the main levers for differentiating the brand from the competition. But they also know that it must be truthful, lasting and consistent. Because it is useful, but the announcement is not enough; The real challenge is to put it into practice. Otherwise it's just a stage. As has been happily said, the two characteristics of purpose are intention and contribution: intention without contribution is blind; contribution without intention is powerless.

Companies today are (and must be) seriously engaged in an attempt to tackle society's problems, to smooth out inequalities, to safeguard the environment and the climate, to fight poverty. And these choices are largely fueled by the increase in reliable information and by the greater transparency of business events. Simply put, no more secrets.

This does not mean excluding convenience: in various ways, in fact, it has been demonstrated that producing well-being, culture and beauty ultimately has a positive impact on the income statement.

To implement virtuous actions that capture value by doing good, it will therefore be necessary (for example) to intercept the market of aware consumers through product innovation; change the business aiming at purpose and profit; reduce the environmental impact of the entire company.

And investors too will have to give their contribution, favoring and accepting a transformation of culture on what must be the institutional goals, that is directed towards a modernization of the traditional capitalist model: less capitalism of the shareholders and more capitalism of the participants.