Business goals & societal goals
Prior to I Inspire 19, we conducted a tweet chat on the topic – “Include & Impact: Aligning Business, Diverse Talent and Societal Impact Goals” where 3 inclusion champions, Sarika Bhattacharyya, CEO, BD Foundation, Sohini Bhattacharya, President & CEO, Breakthrough and Kunjal Kamdar, Senior HR Specialist, Tieto.
The conversation began with getting insights on the benefits of Why to align business goals with societal goals. Speakers and participants agreed on the fact that the end purpose is to give back something to society. It was strongly agreed that since we are a microcosm of society. It is our duty to give back to society.
As Sohini Bhattacharya tweeted, “not only does having a strong purpose engage employees, it also help attract customers and make them more loyal.”
Passion, Purpose & Profits
The next discussion revolved around how an organisation can align passion, purpose & profits and what are the benefits of aligning them. Everyone on the discussion agreed that by aligning passion, purpose & profits we can create inclusive which will, in turn, are “Self – Sustainable.”
One future collective tweeted, “All three are very closely linked and bringing them together scales each of it higher up.”
Sarika Bhattacharyya tweeted, passion gives us a purpose and why the business should even exist. It gives us the impetus to continue when chips are down. Profits make it sustainable – hence all NGOs to shud wear biz hat along with passion.
Michelle Frank while replying to the Question gave a valuable opinion. According to Michelle, Today, most of us seek out or rather work towards a goal that has a larger social impact. Probably because there are many causes that have had the light shone on them lately. Including them, all into a business goal would be ideal.
Bringing together community benefits along with profits
Moving on from discussing aligning passion, purpose & profits, we asked the speakers and the audience to name the organisation that have created community benefits along with profits.
Neerja Ganesh tweeted, “Nike+ is a membership site that has played a strong role in Nike’s branding strategy as it provides members with a variety of apps and resources to encourage motivation, fitness and commitment to a healthy and fit lifestyle.#includeandimpact
From the audience, we got organisation names like Lalit Group Hotels who runs the LBGTQI+ diversity campaign which is worth mentioning. They got hard working and dedicated employees.
Other Companies like P&G Shiksha campaign helped education to grow in India, Amul cooperative, Lijjat Papad, FabIndia are some other examples along with Jaipur Rugs #includeandimpact
Both the speakers and audience believed that #includeandimpact is essential for the organisation and organisations are becoming the pioneer of change as their purpose is not just to make a profit but also to contribute for the well-being of the society.
Aligning profits and social impact to open new markets for organisations
Moving on to the last topic of discussion, we asked the speakers and audience whether by aligning profits and social impact can open new markets for the organisations. In reply
Kunjal Kamdar tweeted, “Yes 🙂 Example: Fishing programs in India, Brazil, Colombia and Senegal utilize Qualcomm smartphone technology with GPS and customized mobile apps to empower traditional fishermen to improve safety and increase their productivity and incomes. #includeandimpact
Sohini Bhattacharya tweeted, “When such partnerships are done well, they lead to more equitable and inclusive solutions where leaders can consider, and calculate, the impact of their decisions for society over the long run”. #includeandimpact
From the audience, Neerja Ganesh tweeted, “Yes. Customers, investors and business partners today want to know that the companies they choose are doing more than just providing a product or service. They look for companies that are doing good. They feel a special connection to companies whose values align with theirs.”
The Final Dialogue
The engaging conversation came to an end with some mindful insights which talked about how we can align the business profits with societal goals. There are organisations who are working for society profits but there is a need to sensitize the other organisations who can come forward and make an impact.
#includeandimpact #iinspire19
