Defining the triple-bottom line

If you’re not thinking in terms of the triple bottom line, why not? More and more, businesses are understanding that without an approach that looks at the bigger picture, they are simply not going to exist in the near-to-mid future. Profit, people and planet need to work together to ensure a business that is truly sustainable, in every sense of the word.

Profit

Until the fall of capitalism, the cold hard fact is that a business needs to make money.  A thriving business does this - whether we like it or not - to benefit its shareholders or its owners.  But it also provides an income for the people who work there - and a product or service that people want or need - and economic support for the community in which it operates (tax avoidance being a conversation for another time).  If a business doesn’t make money, it doesn’t survive.

But on the subject of survival - we are facing what seems to be inevitable change in the world, whether we like it or not.  Businesses who do not address their impact on people and planet (and their impact back on the business) face being left behind - with broken supply chains, broken reputations, broken contracts and broken hearts all round.  Overly dramatic?  Well, no.

People

I’ve lost count of the businesses who say they ‘put people at the heart of all they do’ - certainly many of the ones I’ve worked with.  But how many are actually walking the walk?  Genuinely putting the right policies and processes in place and going over and above to ensure that their people are safe, happy and healthy.  Asking themselves how they are genuinely adding value to their communities in which they operate or in their supply chains.  And then taking tangible action to ensure this happens.  Ultimately, looking after the people a business impacts should be its inherent responsibility.  But this in turn creates a successful business - and a successful business if a profitable one.

Planet

Understanding how a business impacts on our world - and how the world impacts on it - can’t be ignored. Larger businesses are of course subject to mandatory reporting of their actions and progress; but increasingly smaller businesses are under pressure from customers, suppliers, industry bodies, competitors - the list goes on.

Every business has a part of play here, whatever its size or industry - from minimising its waste and emissions to addressing how it sources its products.  And they should do this because it’s the right thing to do and because it is going to leave a world for future generations.  But if that’s not enough, they should also do it because they still want to be doing business in ten or twenty year’s time. Businesses who don’t face into these issues will be left behind - it’s really as simple as that.

Minimising negative impacts on people and the planet has to be part of every business’s strategy - but ideally they should be thinking about how they can actually have a positive impact - how can they leave the world in a better place than they found it?  It’s a challenge we should all be considering.