Now More Than Ever, We Can Afford to Care

In the West, we live in an age of relative prosperity. Once upon a time, not that long ago, Americans dreamed of a “chicken in every pot”— the prospect of families eating meat at least once a week. Today, there's a fried chicken franchise on every corner. With massive wealth creation in the West, the basic survival motive has been satiated for a rapidly growing middle class. The Brookings Institution estimates that 1.8 billion people globally belong to this middle class, and it expects that number to rise to 3.2 billion by the end of 2020, and 4.9 billion by 2030.¹ Of course, we're oversimplifying, as wealth distribution and a gap between rich and poor, even in the West, is a significant and growing problem. But for a large part of the middle class, motivations have changed along with consumption habits and resource investments. This new workforce is looking for more than a paycheck. Now more than ever, they can afford to care. And businesses can't afford not to care.

As consumers and employees, now more than any other time in modern history, we can afford to think about how we shop and where we work in terms of the greater good.

We Want Our Voices to Be Heard

Social consciousness is seeping into the work and home lives of students, digital natives, mid-career professionals, and baby boomers alike. Because of social media and the unprecedented access to information, ordinary people are more enabled than ever before. We call them WE Generation—spanning all age demographics and professions, these are the people connected by the desire to make a difference—rather than birth order. They want to be the heroes of their own stories in which they right the wrongs they see in the world. Whether taking an action as small as clicking their signature onto an online petition, or purchasing an eco-friendly product, people today feel empowered to effect change. They don't trust governments or faceless corporations to fix the world's problems; they want to be part of the solution themselves, in every aspect of their lives.

In the WEconomy, employees want to find more meaning at work, and consumers want to spend their dollars on companies that not only care, but that are working to make a difference. Shareholders are demanding profits and social impact.

Increasingly, workers demand that their jobs and their companies reflect their values. They no longer accept the model of clocking in just for a paycheck, then giving part of that income to charity or religious groups, expecting them to address the world's social challenges. They want to make their mark by adding a social mission right into their workday, and by giving back through their purchasing and consumption habits. Studies show that workers, especially young workers, are willing to take a pay cut for a position that packs a purposeful punch. Companies will have to adapt to these new motivations that have employees using their day jobs to support causes, or risk losing top talent—and a huge customer base.

CEOs today want to be seen as titans of business, but also as champions of social causes in their communities and among their peers. And increasingly, business people want to create companies that do good. Elon Musk could have sat on his PayPal fortune and never been heard from again. But he wanted to change the world for the better—and so we have Tesla and SolarCity and talks of colonizing Mars. Bill Gates could still be rolling out Windows updates, but instead we have the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Most Connected Time in History

The past four decades have seen unprecedented leaps forward in the dissemination and availability of information. CNN, the first network to run a 24-hour news cycle, launched in 1980. Now we have FOX, BBC, MSNBC, Al Jazeera, and countless other networks bombarding us with an endless stream of problems from around the globe.

The Internet has only been widely available in the West since the late 1990s, yet its impact on how we live our daily lives is incalculable. Beyond changing almost every aspect of how we work, interact, travel, date, and shop, the information age has created a generation that is plugged into social and environmental issues like never before.

We are constantly plugged into an ever-changing, confusing, and at times frightening world. Democratic decisions made by disaffected voters around the world have plunged us into an era of uncertainty and, for many, intense anxiety.

With the onslaught of information comes empowerment. The capacity of one individual to influence positive change is stronger than it has ever been.

Divisive and aggressive rhetoric are the norm on many political stages and an overriding sense of unease dominates the news media landscape. But with the onslaught of information comes empowerment. The capacity of one individual to influence positive change is stronger than it has ever been. The ways in which people achieve purpose are changing and expanding as our compassion grows for a global community made smaller every day. When you experience the world through your smartphone, you see boundaries differently; it's easier to view your own identity within this global context, and to feel more connected to the world and its problems.

The technology revolution has made it easier to speak out, mobilize, and rally millions of people around the world. Just look at #BlackLivesMatter, #Pride, or the historic Women's Marches in January 2017. By coming together across diverse groups and setting aside individual agendas, we can stem the tide of negativity.

This sense of global community now extends to brand identification and purchase decisions. If we want to see ourselves as agents of change, we want that reflected in the brands we buy, and in our own curated lives on social media. Shoppers vote with their dollars for products packed with positive impact. Consumer surveys show that, price and quality being equal, brand loyalties lie with a company's social and environmental mission.

People flock to social media to praise people and companies that do good—or call out the ones who don't. Careers and companies can be decimated overnight by Twitter campaigns or Facebook warriors. And yes, people love to share their own good deeds or impactful purchases. As a business, this presents a huge opportunity for free advertising that resonates far more with consumers than a 30-second TV commercial.

Purpose must be factored into the economy to account for our changing attitudes and expectations of companies.

What Does It All Add Up To?

So we can afford to care more than ever, we want our voices to be heard more than ever, and we live in the most connected era in human history. How do we leverage this knowledge to improve our lives, improve our job satisfaction, get promoted, and make our businesses more profitable—all while contributing to the greater good?

Those are the questions we're going to answer here, in Part Two.

In the chapters ahead, we'll show you how world-leading companies have used purpose as a launch pad to build new products, differentiate in a competitive market, increase employee engagement, and secure more loyal brand ambassadors. If you're leading a company, here's your purpose incentive. If you're an employee looking to shake things up at your office, here's a blueprint to take to your boss. If money and meaning are what you're after, adapt purpose to your current role by appealing to the company's best interests. Make the business case for your current employer. Show how injecting more social purpose into your nine-to-five will benefit your company.

We will help you succeed in this new normal.