Sometimes, the only variable between being dismissed as crazy or being hailed as a visionary, is time. Additionally, sometimes, if you work hard, and never lose your passion and purpose, an accidental evangelist can short circuit time.
In 1993 I co-authored a thesis on "Making A Profit While Making A Difference", today, it is better known as Purpose and Profit. There is no doubt that during the past 25 years, corporate leaders have started to realize that it pays to make a difference. Even so, it has been a long journey to get here.
This past December, Mr. Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, wrote a single letter that validated decades of work that numerous people have done to promote the benefits of Purpose and Profit. You can read the letter here https://zurl.co/MbeQ. BlackRock is the largest asset management firm in the world, managing over $6.4Trillion.
Last year, we developed Leadership courses on Purpose and Profit (www.impactleadership.io) that to be fair, received applause, and a lot of attention. However, a single letter by Mr. Fink, resulted in traffic to our site increasing more than twenty times.
There are numerous lessons to be learned from this.
1. Never be afraid to color outside the lines
2. People always have, and will always continue to disrupt, democratize, and dis-intermediate "institutionalized" industries. Why shouldn't you be one of them
3. Margaret Mead was correct when she so famously stated "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has"
4. Your influencers and or evangelists may come from the most unexpected places
5. What is in your head will make you marginally dangerous to the status quo, but what is in your hearts will make you a global force to be reckoned with
6. Don't be afraid to have the audacity to care about people and planet
7. Don't focus on where the ball is, learn to figure out where it is going
8. Over the next 50 years, the highest and most sustainable corporate profits will be delivered by leaders and leadership teams that embed the latest Impact Management tools, strategies, and techniques. Additionally, the futures greatest accumulation of personal and corporate wealth, will be amassed by leaders who innovate solutions for the social and environmental problems we face today. BE ONE OF THEM
9. Once you have solid proof of concept, never give up, and execute, execute, execute
25 years after the "Making A Profit While Making A Difference" thesis, we are on the verge of disrupting, democratizing, and dis-intermediating the global consulting industry, while using that disruption to truly help eradicate poverty. Once again, people will tell me I am mad, however I have a feeling that in this instance, the timeline between crazy and visionary will be a lot shorter.