Business heroes, oxymoron, or not: How companies can (and do) change the world

by Andrea Kates, Founder, Business Genome™

It’s amazing to me that a guy getting booed off the stage in Ann Arbor, Michigan would lead to a passionate personal belief in business as the best hope for hope. And even more amazing that I would feel almost patriotic in my belief that many of the most impressive individuals who are changing the world in major ways are business leaders, entrepreneurs, and basically working people. Are companies really in a position to change the world?

The story begins, well, a long time ago. I was in college, about to hear a speech by Ralph Nader, a guy with the reputation for being anti-establishment and rallying around causes like consumer rights. A grassroots kind of guy.

Or, so I thought.

The place was Ann Arbor and it was an era before MBAs were considered cool, a time when business majors were called “suits.” Corporations were viewed as the quintessential symbol of the anti-individualist. We had read about Billy Babbitt and Willy Loman in high school, and had visions of corporate America as a place that would suck our individualism from our bodies and turn us into Mad Men or the Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road.

We entered the auditorium in Ann Arbor full of hope that Ralph Nader would help all of us understand how our rising generation of idealists could change the world, make a contribution, and make a difference.

Imagine our surprise when he opened his speech with this audacious and provocative declaration (albeit paraphrases a bit):

“If you want to change the world, you need to learn as much as you can about corporate America. Who do I think is in the absolute best position to really end world hunger? Coca Cola. With bottling plants, sterilization, distribution, advertising, access and technology distributed all over the globe, all they need to do is to make Coke nutritious and they’d virtually end world hunger overnight.”

Suffice it to say, after the booing stopped and the place had cleared out, there remained only a handful of us left in that auditorium to hear the rest of what he had to say (at least that’s my recollection). But, the message was clear and indelible: business was the place to grow heroes, even heroes with a heart. Granted, not the only place, but an environment with the power to make things move in a big way. And, big business wasn’t the only way—entrepreneurs could have just as much of an opportunity to provide beacons of hope through innovation and great ideas.

Years went by and cynicism set in about the motives of business leaders (think Enron, Madoff) and the soon-to-become-oxymoronic phrase: business ethics. Years of first-hand exposure to the complexity of business motives exposed me to the rationale behind the belief that competing interests like quarterly earnings requirements would stifle the vision and innovative spark of corporate executives. Companies putting their own self-interests far ahead of interests like local community needs had fallen short of that Nader-described vision of Coke saving the world.

Or, so it seemed.

But lately, I’m noticing more talk about the hope for the future resting on the shoulders of big business leaders and entrepreneurs. It’s becoming clearer that the idealistic visions of sustainability and better quality of life have got to involve business. People are pointing to the post-Depression companies that rose from the ashes of economic disaster and fueled economic opportunities. They are pointing to economic hardship as the catalyst for new companies to thrive like 3M and FedEx. Thomas Friedman just wrote an article called “Invent, Invent, Invent,” where he reminds us that “historically, recessions have been a time when new companies, like Microsoft, get born, and good companies separate themselves from their competition.” He goes on to make a strong case for the importance of business innovation: “We need to do all we can now to get more brains connected to more capital to spawn more new companies faster.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/opinion/28friedman.html

And the same day his editorial appeared, I went to another presentation, years after the Ralph Nader experience. One of the key topics was the new age of transparency in reporting progress in global sustainability, featuring metrics from Wal-Mart’s Global Sustainability Report.

http://walmartstores.com/Sustainability/7951.aspx

The Oracle at Ann Arbor spoke the truth. Big business is in fact leading the way on many important issues that affect the people they make the products for, the people who work for them, and the people who live near the manufacturing plants. And, it even seems that popular media is embracing that same possibility that business can save the world. Renee Zellweger’s latest movie character in New in Town uses her MBA to change the world (or at least a Midwest town that contributes to the world). She’s portrayed as a symbol of hope (Hollywood, unreal though she may be) through capitalism that takes us far from the image of Babbitt and Willy Loman.

Could it be that business heroes are in vogue? Could it be that the coming era will be one that embraces invention and where people in business are acknowledged for their ability to have real impact on quality of life?

A couple of years ago, Coke did add nutrients to Diet Coke (called Diet Coke Plus) but didn’t get great response, either with the public or the press. But, that’s what we’re all here to do (at least in the world of Business Genome™): share the best business ideas so that good ideas can lead to better outcomes, for people and for the bottom line.

Business leaders saving the world. Boo no more.

Musical Coda
We Are Here to Change the World by Michael Jackson
(from “Captain EO”)

We’re on a mission
In the everlasting light that shines
A revelation
Of the truth in chapters of our minds

So long, bad times
We’re gonna shake it up and break it up
We’re sharing light brighter than the sun
Hello , good times
We’re here to simulate, eliminate
An’ congregate, illuminate

(We are here to change the world)
Gonna change the world, Hee
(We are here to change the world)
Gonna change the world, Ooo

So do surrender
‘Cause the power’s deep inside my soul
Sing it

(We are here to change the world)
Gonna change the world, Sing it
(We are here to change the world)
Hee, Gonna change the world, Ooo

(We are here to change the world)
We’re gonna change the world, girl
(We are here to change the world)
My brothers my brother Na
We’re gonna change the world
(We are here to change the world)
Hee, Deep down in my body,
deep down in my soul, Baby
(We are here to change the world)
Hee, We’re gonna change the world,
Ooo