Purposeful Organizations - Investing in the future
Our future, humanity's future, the planet's future
Humanity is waking up every day to a world with ever increasing challenges ...
Including growing levels of social breakdown (e.g. anti-social behaviour, knife-crime, drugs, robbery, hate crime, terror, war, misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes, staff disengagement), increasing health challenges (mental health crisis, obesity crisis, stress, waiting lists), crippling financial challenges (debt, cost of living crisis, cost of housing, interest rates, insolvencies) and environmental challenges (climate change, diversity loss, pollution) ... and I'm sure you could name many more besides too.
Are all these coincidental? ... is there something more going on? ... have we set ourselves up for a fall?
Sadly, in my humble opinion, and the opinion of an ever-growing number of distinguished & learned psychologists, economists, scientists, technology experts, neuroscientists, philosophers & philanthropists etc, it is the latter two ... and future generations will not forgive us if we fail to act now and in the most effective way (i.e. containing the very best of humanity's knowledge, wisdom & capabilities).
Climate change and diversity loss are already 'burning' issues, especially with young people. Many young people feel they are not being listened to and they are also unable to vote (i.e. voting age remains 18+ in the UK).
Let's be very clear too, future generations will hold us to account for far more than this too, for instance for
allowing social breakdown
to
occur
on our watch and for
not preparing/equipping young people
for the future too (e.g.
life or work
as highlighted
here).
If we are to survive & thrive in the future a new era of enterprise principles/practice will need to emerge too, and quickly (nb staff disengagement is already over 80%). Purposeful Enterprises & Purposeful Organizations will be needed that are explicit & highly motivational in terms of purpose, and focus upon wellbeing, people and the planet (not simply shareholder return or short-term financial gain). They will not need to social-wash/green-wash and together they will collectively & effectively address the existential challenges humanity and our planet now faces.
They will deploy state-of-the-art world-class 'Purpose-Driven' management practice (e.g. as outlined in my book), with highly trained Purposeful Boards, Purposeful Executives, Purposeful Directors, Purposeful Trustees and Purposeful Ambassadors†. It's about having all executives & directors being fully onboard/trained to identify & implement purposeful/ethical long-term action (ie policy/plans), for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Similarly in education (ie
Purposeful Education)
there will be highly trained and
Purposeful Headteachers,
Purposeful Principals,
Purposeful Trustees,
Purposeful Governors,
Purposeful Teachers,
Purposeful Educators,
Purposeful Ambassadors, Purposeful Coaches &
Purposeful Learners†,
alongside more advanced forms of governance (e.g. Purposeful Communities, Purposeful Boards, Purposeful Government and Purposeful Councils).
Purposeful Government
&
Purposeful Councils†
in particular will need to apply a wider/more holistic form of
Purposeful Economics
too (e.g. GNH/Doughnut Economics), and focus on the wellbeing of all individuals, society and the natural world (ie not just money, wealth & GDP growth). Is this too much to ask? Would this be too good to be true? No,
Robert Kennedy
pointed out the
fundamental flaws of focusing on GDP
over
50 years ago
and forward-looking countries have since
moved away
from this, with others heading in a similar direction too ...
If we do not also effectively/urgently address
the
existential challenges
humanity faces then
any alternative activities/interventions
we now do (e.g. change, reform, launching new products, services or enterprises) is simply/arguably the
equivalent of
'shuffling deckchairs'
or
'creating
new music'
for
the
'Titanic's Orchestra'
to play ... and
if we know where the ship is heading, we need to
think differently,
act differently
and
change course
now, before it is too late to do so ...
David Clift
Purposeful Ambassador®
Co-founder, Purposeful Education
Founder, Good Turns Foundation & Purposeful Enterprises
† Good Turns™, Good Turns Foundation™, Purposeful Enterprises™, Purposeful Organizations™, Purposeful Board™, Purposeful Executive™, Purposeful Director™, Purposeful Trustee™, Purposeful Education™, Purposeful Headteacher™, Purposeful Principal™, Purposeful Trustee™, Purposeful Governor™, Purposeful Teacher™, Purposeful Educator™, Purposeful Ambassador™, Purposeful Coach™, Purposeful Learner™, Purposeful Communities™, Purposeful Council™, Purposeful Government™ are all recognised/registered trademarks.
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© Good Turns Foundation 2023
