Do good while doing well

Some people say that one can only do good after having done well. Worse, some people say that it is an either/or proposition. I disagree. Enlightened entrepreneurs do good while doing well.

Let us first define terms. Doing well refers to the economic returns of the business. In other words, doing well means generating profit or reflecting positive returns on investments. Doing good refers to social contributions or returns to society.

Adopting a sequential or split perspective brings us to a ridiculous point. In effect, what this says is that a firm can make money while endangering the ecology of the area, and then make up for it by donating school buildings or public waiting sheds.

Enlightened entrepreneurs do good while doing well. To ensure that this is not forgotten, enlightened entrepreneurs imbed their social objectives in their vision and mission statement. The vision is the firm’s definition of paradise. The mission statement is the firm’s raison d’etre or its reason for being. Translated in terms of its operations, the same economic activity can also be a social activity.

Here are two of the many approaches.

1. Many entrepreneurs tend to forget that the same activity that transforms raw materials into finished products can also transform the life of the person doing the activity. Enlightened entrepreneurs not only produce quality products and services but also improve the quality of life of their people. This follows the dictum that: People who do not have quality in their lives cannot produce quality products or services.

2. An economic activity can also be environmentally correct. Enlightened entrepreneurs not only save money, they save the environment as well. To cite another maxim: If your process strategy reduces the waste generated by the firm, it does not only remove unnecessary costs but also removes the environmental issue of disposal.

Q. What is the relationship between the quality of product or service and the quality of life of people?

A. Quality of product or service is defined by the customer. Quality of life of your people is defined by your people. Quality of life concerns have a lot to do with defining the meaning of life. People who find meaning in their lives have a quality life. The word for work in Pilipino is not merely trabajo or gawa. It is hanap-buhay. If I expand it to its fullest meaning, it means: hinahanap ang kahulugan ng buhay or a search for the meaning of life. The meaning of life can be found in the individual personal visions of your people. If your people find the meaning of their lives in what they are doing for the firm, then the result can only be good quality products or services for your customers.

Q. What do you mean by an economic activity that can also be environmentally correct?

A. Many firms generate voluminous waste from their processes. In a construction company, for example, if waste management is not incorporated in the design process, waste production is guaranteed. However, if the dimensions of a room are designed to fit the commercially available materials, then there will be no off-cuts or scraps to be disposed of. In addition, the money paid for the material is fully utilized in the construction and none is headed for the garbage dump.

Similarly, an entrepreneur in the printing business convinces customers to design their paper requirements along commercially available cuts. This results not only in lower production costs but also in zero waste disposal. Clearly, reducing waste reduces cost and reduces the damage to the environment.

Q. How does one spot, if not become, an enlightened Filipino entrepreneur?

A. The first indication of enlightenment will be found in the vision and mission statement of the firm. Let us look at some sample and simple statements crafted by my Master in Entrepreneurship students during their visioning sessions at AIM:

* To be part of the progress of the community

* To contribute to the well-being of the community

* To provide significant contribution to the community

* To be the partner of development of the area

* To develop a sustainable community of salt farmers

* To create opportunities for Filipinos to become entrepreneurs

* To contribute to the development of Palawan indigenous tribes

Q. How are social missions translated into reality?

A. First, the firm must translate its vision, mission and objectives into key result areas and performance indicators. In turn, a set of strategies, programs, activities and tasks will have to be identified.

Then, under the first approach earlier cited, a matching process of people and tasks can begin. Find out if your people have articulated their vision in life. A person who has not discovered his/her vision in life will not know what quality of life is. Help your people find out their vision and allow them to discover they can achieve this together with your company’s strategy.

This process will also allow the entrepreneurs to find out if there is indeed a match. If there is no match, it is only fair that there be a parting of ways. Another saying goes: If you cannot find the meaning of life in my firm, I will help you find it in another firm.

This saying presumes that the person has not discovered his/her vision in life. Admittedly, it is most difficult to deal with such people. But enlightened entrepreneurs not only help their people discover their vision but also lead them on towards its fulfillment while performing economic activities for the firm.

Under the second approach, a process review must be regularly done. The entrepreneur must review all processes to discover where waste is generated. Why is there waste? Where is it coming from? Address the question of where the source of waste is, rather than how to dispose of waste. Some of my entrepreneur-students undertook a waste management project as part of the ME program. They had to address the waste generated by their respective operations and subsequently conducted a major clean-up of waste in their respective offices/factories.

All of them were surprised to discover that there was money in waste. One of them not only cleaned his work space but also sold P150,000 worth of waste. The smallest yield from this exercise was P40,000. My students proceeded to evaluate where the waste was coming from and created systems to prevent the generation and accumulation of waste. There was no better proof that a social mission can indeed be translated into reality by enlightened entrepreneurs!

(Alejandrino Ferreria is the associate dean of the Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE) of the Asian Institute of Management. For further information/comments, you may mail him at: [email protected]).