Purpose inaction - and purpose in action

Have the words ‘Mike Ashley’ and ‘sorry’ ever appeared in a sentence before? I asked Alexa, but she didn’t seem to know. In fact, I swear she laughed. So I Googled ‘Mike Ashley’ and ‘sorry’. Again, I drew a blank - but I admit my use of the ‘Search’ function is not sophisticated.

I do recall that the board of Sports Direct expressed ‘deepest regret and apologies’ when an undercover Guardian investigation revealed workers at its warehouse received less than the minimum wage, were docked 15 minutes’ pay for being one minute late and were so scared to take sick leave that one gave birth in the staff toilet.

As Ashley said at the time, ‘I’m not Father Christmas, I’m not saying I’ll make the world wonderful’ - and, as so many predicted, he has certainly lived down to that promise. Yesterday, he released a public apology for the ‘ill-judged and poorly timed’ email to the Government seeking clarity as to whether Sports Direct was an essential service, and therefore could remain open during lock-down. (My favourite part was his recognition that the Government ‘clearly had much greater pressures than ours to deal with...’ No kidding, non-Santa.)

But here’s the thing about apologies, which Ashley appears not to appreciate. They need to be sincere. He only apologised for his warehouse’s appalling working conditions when called before the Government’s Business, Energy and Strategy Committee, and yesterday’s open letter began ‘Given what has taken place over the last few days...’ In other words, ‘I’ve seen the public backlash...’ 

He has yet to act on complaints currently being made by warehouse staff, and their union representatives, that they cannot maintain social distancing at work, cleaning products are lacking and they are being asked to share car rides with up to four passengers. Nor was there any mention in his letter of contrition at hiking online prices - indeed, the company explained elsewhere the price rises are merely to ‘relieve pressures’ due to staff shortages.

So it seems timely to remind people of the select committee’s damning report back in 2016, which described Sports Direct as a ‘particularly bad example of a business that exploits its workers in order to maximise its profits’. Plus ca change.

Not Looney at all

I have a confession. The business hack within me secretly celebrates whenever a senior executive with an unusual name is appointed. Across ‘Fleet Street’, headline writers rejoice as they dust down their pun-o-meters and writers cherish every potential alliteration. And so it was with the appointment of Bernard Looney as chief executive of bp (now lower-case, apparently). 

Ah ha, I thought, I know what’s coming next - ‘Looney gets top job’. If he ever gets caught out on camera singing, a la Mike Coupe at Sainsbury’s, we’ll see ‘Looney Tunes’. And if things go wrong... you get the picture.

But no. Bernard Looney is delivering a masterclass in leadership. On his appointment in February, Looney joined social media channels, such as Instagram and LinkedIn, to describe the decisions, challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for bp, inviting followers to engage and challenge - demonstrating a new transparent approach. 

Over the past SEVEN weeks he has outlined a bold ambition for bp to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and a new corporate purpose: Reimagining energy for people and our planet. He resigned bp from trade associations at odds with its position on climate change and cancelled bp’s advertising campaigns, diverting its funding to advocate for progressive climate policies. 

Since the Coronavirus outbreak, Looney has encouraged his leadership to explore ways to help their local communities. ‘In line with our purpose,’ he said. ‘We want to do more.’ BP Bunge Bioenergia in Brazil is converting sugarcane-based ethanol into disinfectant, supplying the national healthcare systems of 32 municipalities, close to its 11 operational sites, which care for more than 1.4 million people. In the UK, it has made free fuel available to ALL emergency staff while offering free delivery of food and convenience goods from its retail sites to the vulnerable. The BP Foundation has also committed $2 million to the World Health Organisation Pandemic Fund.

And yesterday, my social media feeds was filled with images of Looney’s face being beamed into nearly 7,000 employees’ homes, where he offered reassurance, praised them for their efforts and guaranteed bp would not make any staff redundant over the next three months. It was, Looney said, ‘a reminder that this is a time when people come first. It is part of our new corporate purpose... it matters a great deal to us’. Purpose in action - it’s a wonder to behold!