Higher Expectations of the Private Sector

Higher Expectations of the Private Sector

As our government fails to step up to solve many of the world’s complex problems, consumers also have made it clear they expect the private sector to not only operate with strong values, but to move out of being agnostic or neutral and take a stand to address world issues.

A 2017 study showed that 70% of Americans believe companies have an obligation to take action to improve issues that may not be relevant to their everyday business.Millennials, in particular, are more judgmental about the company they keep. This massive purpose-driven audience, one of the largest in history that is just reaching its prime spending years, is forcing organizations to take a hard look at their moral purpose to ensure they are making 

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positive contributions to the world. Today, companies must not only create great products/services, but also behave with greatness—with a generosity of giving back to mankind. I’ll bring it back to Aristotle: they must act with eudaimonia in mind.

The demand for this comes not only from customers, but from employees as well. Today’s top talent, especially millennials, seek to work for companies with a mission to do good for the world and to make a personal contribution to that effort. According to Covestro’s survey on business and purpose, 68% of Fortune 1000 CEOs say it is important for their companies to empower employees’ sense of purpose. They predict that employee demand for purpose will increase over the next 10 years, primarily due to millennials and their mindset.

Google is one example of a company that has moved forward with an initiative that gives Internet access to cities across Africa. CVS also made the bold move of taking cigarettes off of its shelves to help its customers quit smoking. It was a step that further established CVS as a wellness company. Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Health, said, “Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better 

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health. Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose. As you read on, you’ll learn about scores of other companies that are embracing this new modus operandi.

Technology Innovations as a Force for Good

The plethora of technology available today holds so much potential to make our lives easier, more fulfilling, and more entertaining, to enhance our health and well-being, and to stay connected to new friends and old. Although there are also potential negatives with any technology, this underscores the importance of being vigilant to ensure it delivers more good than harm to the world. This is the intersection of technology and morality.

The “move fast and break things” mantra of Silicon Valley must adjust to find a balance between hyper-fast movement for the sake of breakthrough innovation and thoughtful consideration of any potential negative ramifications new technologies might have on society. This is particularly true as innovations come to market that can literally reshape our society and economy.
An article on MarketWatch summed up the critical questions technology companies must ask themselves today: “These challenges won’t be

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strategic, financial, or technical, but instead will be more focused on philosophical, societal, and ethical questions. Questions like: What role does our technology play in society, and what responsibility do we, the creators of these innovations, have in shaping the societal and economic consequences that accompany them?

Companies are stepping up to address this higher purpose. For example, at the Viva Technology conference in Paris in May 2018, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty articulated her company’s philosophy and principles around AI, which include “ensuring companies remember that data belongs to the person who created it, AI must be transparent and explainable, and it should be used to augment human intelligence, not replace it.

The company also announced a “Call for Code” initiative, which is “the largest and most ambitious effort to bring startup, academic, and enterprise developers together to solve one of the most pressing societal issues of our time: preventing, responding to, and recovering from natural disasters.” Its goal is to unite the world’s developers and tap into data and AI, blockchain, cloud, and IoT technologies to address social challenges.