With so many possible goals and motivations behind every business, it can often be hard to keep track of what really matters. You might be keen on trying to achieve a lot of things with your company: making profit is obviously important, as is helping people with a useful product that they will love. But these days, it is more important than ever to make sure that your business actually does some good in the world. Let’s take a look at hw you might be able to achieve that, and why it’s so important in the first place.
Social Proof
One of the main reasons you should want to do good with your business is that it’s actually good for business. If you are seen to be an actively positive force in the world, then more people are going to feel good about being your customers. That will lead to a much better brand image and more customers coming flooding in all the time, and that is obviously really important in all of this. It leads to a kind of social proof that your business is to be trusted – and that is one of the most powerful things you can ever have on your side.
A Useful Product
The best way to put this into action is to actually make sure that your product is something useful to the world, something that really needs to exist right now to help with the problems we are facing as a species and as a planet. A good example would be to have an eco focus – perhaps you could sell solar panels and related technology, using the appropriate solar project management software to help deliver this clean energy where it is really needed most. However you do it, having a product the world actually needs is a really great idea.
Ethical Frameworks
You should also try to ensure that you are running your business in the most ethical way you can. There are a lot of things that you will need to think about here. For instance, there is the matter of tax – if you are seen to be avoiding tax, even legally, that is unlikely to help you out at all. Similarly, you should make a point of paying people well and fairly, and equally, and ensuring that your workers have good conditions. You might even actively encourage them to join a union. These kinds of ethical frameworks are really important right now.
Keeping On Track
Part of the trouble with running a business is that it can be all too easy to get off-track. You might find that you get a little greedy, or you just otherwise lose sight of what really matters. In such cases, it’s going to be a really good idea to try and remember what you’re actually about and what is actually important. If you can do that, it will make for a much more ethical business, and one that really stands up to scrutiny as well.
