Sustainability vs impact vs purpose
When it comes to ‘responsible business’, we use lots of words that mean everything and nothing. Words that mean different things to different people. And that can make it hard to get specific, prioritise, take action and make progress. So today, I’ll talk about sustainability, impact and purpose – what each of these mean to me and how I think they’re different.
Sustainability
Sustainability is about whether your business can continue to operate forever and ever. This depends on four things:
Financial sustainability. Are you making enough profit to stay in business?
Innovation. The world’s changing – are you evolving as the external world changes? Are you innovating to remain relevant?
People. Are you treating the people you work with (employees, suppliers, customers) in a way that means they want to keep working with you? Are you engaging with the communities where you operate in a way that means they’ll allow you to continue operating?
Environment. Can the planet continue to support the way that you are operating? Are you using natural resources at a rate that the planet can replenish them? Are you producing waste that can be dealt with? Or are you causing harm that will build up over time?
Conceptually, this all makes sense. But that’s the challenge for me – it feels quite conceptual. And it’s huge. This definition doesn’t help you know what actions to take. Or what to prioritise.
So I prefer to focus on impact. This is more tangible and actionable. And focusing on impact can help you become more sustainable (or even go further and achieve more!).
Impact
Every action, every decision has an impact. It affects people’s livelihoods and wellbeing. It affects nature, ecosystems and animals.
How you choose to talk to someone or what you choose to say impacts the person you’r talking to. A seemingly simple decision like which bar of chocolate to buy has impacts, positive and negative, on people, communities and the environment all around the world.
These impacts can be observed and measured. What is the impact, positive or negative, that you have on X by doing Y?
Impact is tangible. It’s real. And so I think it can be easier for people to grasp than sustainability.
Understanding the impact of different options can help us make decisions. For example, what will be the different impacts on our lowest paid employees of option A versus option B?
Impact also allows us to go further than the concept of sustainability, which is purely about whether a way of operating can be sustained. As well as eliminating negative impacts, we can place a strong focus on having a positive impact. And, given the size of some of the big problems out there, there’s no limit to how big that positive impact might grow! We can go well beyond sustainability into what’s often called regenerative business, or Paul Polman and Andrew Winston call ‘net positive’ in their book of that name (you can read my book review here).
Purpose
There’s been a lot of talk of purposeful business over the last few years, with increasing evidence that businesses which have a purpose beyond financial returns perform better.
But this purpose doesn't have to be about tackling environmental or social issues – about leaving the world in a better place because the business exists. It's just about having an objective that's more than profit.
Take Jägermeister, a business that manufactures alcoholic beverages. Their purpose is to “give you the best nights of your life”. I really love this purpose! But there’s nothing in it about saving the planet or tackling social issues!
From impact to action
I think it’s important that we all (individuals, businesses, charities, governments) understand our impact on the world – and take responsibility for making sure it’s as positive as possible.
Focusing on impact can be more helpful than focusing on sustainability. It’s tangible and measurable – and so it can help drive action, which is what the planet and all of us living on it need!
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