Follow the French: How to lead with purpose in 2023

In every American election cycle, including this past November, we hear from “pro-business” politicians who promote policies that benefit business at the expense of the consumer, workforce, and the planet. As someone who moves through the world in different ways —a consumer, employee, father and citizen — I’ve always hoped for leaders interested in supporting and safeguarding the entire economic system.

However, promoting shareholder profit above all other interests, also known as “shareholder economics,” has been the way of the world for the best part of the 20^th century. It explains how the Walton family accumulates $200 billion in wealth while many low-wage Walmart employees rely on public assistance. It helps companies and shareholders in the short term, but it doesn’t create a healthy, sustainable ecosystem comprised of business, consumer, employee, and in many cases, the environment.

This near-sighted, myopic view of the world has been stubborn to move past. But as the world suffered from the combined effects of climate change, Covid-19, social unrest, and the war in Ukraine, the need for a paradigm shift has become increasingly urgent.

Government and business have recognized, if not fully committed to, the value of shareholder economics and the importance of ESG and sustainability. It has spawned an entirely new approach to business – moving from short to long-term value creation; shareholder to stakeholder economics, profit maximization to purposeful, sustainable performance.

This shift is welcome news to Brandpie, where we develop purpose-driven ideas that transform business. Every year we conduct our CEO Purpose Report, a survey of 1000 CEOs in the US, UK, France, Australia, Germany, India and China, to see how purpose is being adopted around the world. This year’s report reflects the continued evolution in priority and action, as well as the different rate of adoption across countries.

The 2022 report showed that French CEOs outpaced their global peers in using company purpose to reflect their commitment to being responsible citizens. Across every metric, the French demonstrated their prioritization of long-term value creation. To start, 51% of French CEOs, compared to 37% of all others, said that long-term value creation is the most central component of their business philosophy. Further, when queried on who their most important stakeholders were for creating long term value, they were more likely to cite employees (69%) than other CEOs (57%). Finally, an impressive 90% of these same leaders said that as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, they are accelerating their long-term value creation efforts compared to the average of 73%.

The report’s findings are perhaps not surprising since the seeds were sewn years ago by French policy. In 2019, the French PACTE law mandated that French corporations consider “social and environmental issues” related to their business operations. It also encouraged French companies to include a societal purpose in their bylaws.

In the age of digital transformation and artificial intelligence, the prioritization of long-term value and workforce is both telling and refreshing. French CEOs see their employees not as disposable inputs, but as both the catalyst and beneficiary of creating long-term value and sustainable businesses.

It’s quite a difference from the traditional shareholder view and one that bodes well for one of today’s most pressing business challenges — hiring, engaging, and retaining talent.

It seems simple and logical. Just as a business requires customers with disposable income to buy its goods and services, it also requires a long-term commitment to employees, sustainable resources, and social responsibility to keep it strong and relevant. The last several years have demonstrated the fragility of life on Earth — at the end of the day, business activity shouldn’t leave it worse off. In France, government created laws for this logic and business leaders have run with it. Let’s hope more countries and leaders will follow them to a better, more balanced future for business, people and the planet.