This year in particular has shown that businesses can’t operate in isolation. We can’t just be focused on efficient production, sales growth and bottom line results. We must contribute more than jobs, products and returns to society, and people — rightfully — expect us to step up even more when times are tough. We need to help our communities and customers. Support our partners and suppliers. Look after our employees. Deliver for our investors. Care for our planet. And importantly — as best we can — we should strive to serve all our stakeholders in a thoughtful and balanced way.
A year has now passed since we signed the Business Roundtable’s Statement on the Purpose of the Corporation. This Statement was significant because big businesses were for the first time collectively recognizing our wider stakeholder responsibilities. I am pleased to reaffirm bp’s support for this important initiative.
I am new to my job, but the first thing my team and I did was to update our purpose — to reimagine energy for people and our planet — because it is foundational to all that we do.
From there we built a new ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world reach net zero. We outlined a new strategy to transition from an international oil company to an integrated energy company.
This reinvention of bp is all guided by our purpose. It comes down to the fact that employees are happier when their personal purpose aligns with their company’s.
Not just that — but it attracts new talent. And partnerships. And new support.
Reaching net zero and helping the world get there is a huge undertaking — but I am confident we can pull it off because of the power of purpose. This will motivate staff, support stakeholders and hopefully engage investors who want, not just reliable returns and growth, but an opportunity to contribute to sustainability.
Even during this cruel pandemic we have followed our purpose. With so many of the vulnerable hit so hard — we have tried to help the communities where we live and work when they need it the most. After all — they have looked after us in the past, and it is right that we strive to look after them now. …
On August 19, 2019, Business Roundtable CEOs — the leaders of some of the largest U.S. companies — signed a new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation that committed companies to serve not only their shareholders, but also to deliver value to their customers, invest in employees, deal fairly with suppliers and support the communities in which they operate. The CEOs who signed the updated Statement believed then, as they do now, that considering the interests of all of their stakeholders, not just shareholders, is the best approach for securing their companies’ long-term success.
Consistent with the Statement, Business Roundtable CEOs have taken action to invest in worker training and education, raise wages, support new employee health and wellness benefits, promote more sustainable businesses and give back to the communities they serve. …
It’s been a year since the Business Roundtable took a bold position in redefining the purpose of a corporation, inviting businesses to not only serve shareholders but to create value for all stakeholders. Vistra is proud to be among the original signatories to this pledge. For us, it was a no-brainer.
I firmly believe companies have an obligation to be part of the solution — whether we’re talking about social equity, climate change, or navigating a pandemic. We have a responsibility to both make sure our own houses are in order and to reach out beyond the walls of our companies to play a role in society. Caring about our stakeholders leads to higher customer satisfaction, more community involvement and support, and committed suppliers. In turn, it leads to a sustainable company and the highest profits and shareholder value, especially over the long run. …
How have you met the commitments outlined in the Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation in 2020?
The challenges presented by 2020 created a multitude of opportunities for companies like ours to demonstrate their commitment to Purpose and to Stakeholder Capitalism. First and foremost, our primary commitment has been to the health of our own employees and doing everything we can to ensure their safety. We have also been explicitly focused on doing our part to help governments and communities mitigate the spread of the virus.
Earlier this year, we announced a +$10 million program to support pandemic response efforts across the globe. …
Business lessons from the pandemic have been covered from just about every angle, such as leading remote teams, maintaining supply chains and navigating changing customer demands. As leader of a large electric utility, I’ve been thinking about how this experience might reset our nation’s priorities related to the vital infrastructure we all rely on, including the power grid.
A good roadmap for our work as an electric utility and that of any company as we fully emerge from COVID-19 is the Business Roundtable’s statement of corporate purpose: that we need to invest in employees, deliver value to our customers, treat suppliers fairly, and support our communities — in addition to serving our shareholders. …
The purpose of the economy is to support the needs of society. Too often it can seem the other way around. The doctrine of shareholder primacy seems to confirm these misgivings, particularly when people see issues like climate change or excessive economic inequality go for decades without sufficient progress. …
Raytheon Technologies has a history of tackling some of the world’s toughest problems, but the outbreak of COVID-19 presented a range of challenges unlike any we had ever experienced. I am exceedingly proud of the ingenuity and resilience our employees have demonstrated during the pandemic. Despite considerable disruption to daily routines and concerns about the health and safety of loved ones, our employees remained focused on supporting their communities, delivering on their customer commitments and protecting their fellow employees.
When the coronavirus struck, we moved quickly to implement new health and safety measures to protect our approximately 200,000 employees globally, nearly half of whom continued to go into our offices and factories to perform critical work that kept planes flying and ensured our national security. We have some of the brightest minds in aerospace and defense working for us, and many of them applied their expertise in areas such as technology, product design, engineering and supply chain management to develop new products and solutions to address the crisis. …
This article was originally published by Michael Dell on Linkedin on August 23, 2020.
Last year we unveiled new moonshot goals for Dell Technologies in our Social Impact Plan for 2030, and just a few weeks after I added my signature to an updated Statement of Purpose of a Corporation from the Business Roundtable (BRT).
We had no idea where we would be one year later.
COVID-19 has laid bare the fault lines of our society, and our aspirations and actions have never been more important. But, setting audacious goals for positive social impact is nothing new for us.
Neither is achieving them. We completed, or exceeded, over 70 percent of our preceding 2020 Legacy of Good goals, which we did a year ahead of the schedule we set for ourselves. …
What does the Business Roundtable Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation mean to you?
It was a groundbreaking moment when dozens of CEOs signed a document saying out loud what so many of us have only privately thought — a company exists to serve more than only a financial interest, and the work we all do has at least equal value in society as with the shareholder. I was proud to have been a signatory because the Statement reflects the long-held values of the company that I am honored to lead.
What is one of the most important decisions you have made for your company this year? …
What does the Business Roundtable Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation mean to you?
At Vistra, we have four core principles — one of which is caring about our stakeholders, which includes our employees, our customers, our communities, our suppliers and our investors. The updated Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation from Business Roundtable helped create that broad net. And to all those constituents, it was an easy thing for us to sign onto — that’s because we believe it. I firmly believe that in the long run, the new capitalism is going to require companies to be more than just about profits and shareholder value. You’re going to have to participate more broadly and be a part of the solution for the communities — in particular, for diverse communities. …
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