The Future You’re Building

If you’re a sustainable or cause-driven company, you should consider the kind of future you’re building:

The first type is the “charge for your beliefs, pay for your beliefs” model. Take Apple’s products as an example. Are they the best? Debatable, but that’s their pursuit. Are their stores the best? Debatable, but they try to make it more human. Are their staff looked after? Depends, their US workers are generally well looked after, paid a good rate, and are proud of their work.

Do they protect those in their care? Debatable; they took our headphone jacks, but save us from badly-written-or-malicious apps thanks to their aggressive review policy.

Do they make an impact? Seemingly, in its sustainable production and materials, or (historically) the innovations they introduced over the years.

The alternative is the “make it cheaper, pay for cheaper” model. Take Amazon’s products as an example. Are they the cheapest? Debatable, but that’s their pursuit. Is their store the best? Debatable, they try to make it as void of humans as possible to make it as inexpensive (and fast) as possible. Are their staff looked after? None of my friends who have ever worked there say so. A race to the bottom doesn’t give too much room for them to be, nor does it give them a great deal to be proud of.

Do they protect those in their care? Debatable; they’re customer-first and very flexible on returns, but they’ll call a broken product from a suspicious seller “Amazon Choice” because their algorithms can be duped.

Do they make an impact? Well, they save us some money, right?

We create the world we want to live in with our purchases and our practices. What kind of a world is your company committed to building?

Tip: If you want to show your market what kind of world you’re making, go to BuiltForImpact.net and communicate clearly.