What do we leave for the future when we leave the company car in the evening?

Dec 30, 2021

According to trend reports, the world we have created is about to collapse on us. There's barely any certainty and a plateau, a moment of respite to sit back and relax. Once we get there, the goal moves away, and like a recurring nightmare, it turns out it was just another challenge. Perhaps never before has it been so clear that behind company logos and strategies are real people, dramas, motivations, and choices. In the helplessness of the stop-and-go world, we were caught in the face looking into each other's kitchens or, due to lack of space, into each other's bedrooms. In the front of constant confrontation, perhaps one of the hardest things for leaders today is to admit and deal with the fact that complex problems no longer have simple answers and that pretty much everything needs to be transformed—guest article by Veronika Pistyur, CEO of Bridge Budapest.

In such a world, it should make sense that it is possible and necessary to make a long-term commitment to building companies, creating jobs, innovating, and creating a vision for future generations. To have a long-term vision, to have something to leave behind. In Hungarian, 'legacy' is not apt because it is linked to the past, to death, whereas legacy is very much built in the present.

Therefore, it is worth considering legacy as everything we do today for the future. From the moment we become leaders.

No more excuses because we have recognized it

We cannot put all the responsibility for our future on the shoulders of companies and business leaders, but it hasn't exempted us from realizing that we can no longer routinely put our hands up and say it is none of my business; I do not influence it. COVID's 22 months so far have made it clear to everyone that there are consequences to the way we live, the way we consume, the companies we build, and the choices we make. As for company managers, this has meant, for example, that some have put a high level of empathy at the forefront of crisis management strategies, both internally and externally, towards employees and business partners. They acted where they could. They used the tools they had at their disposal.

It is a pity that most of the time, it takes a crisis to make a realization. Prevention alone will not get us much closer to change. It is an all-too-human trait; preventive strategies for our health are faltering, let alone for general well-being. The good news, however, is that the campaign-style solutions created by the crisis also showed that we have many more tools at our disposal than we thought. Change can also be much faster. As evidence, it is enough to examine the digital transformation that was forced by the virus situation and which was predicted to take 5–10 years in the best-case scenario.

What if, after living through the crisis caused by the virus, we could push people to change certain attitudes? Let's play with the idea that most business decision-makers will, from tomorrow, think about what is in the interests of society, of the people, beyond their individual and business interests, and what they can do to achieve this. Personally, not on a national or global scale, that is too elusive — although it depends on the managerial territory — but in their community. For example, in the company, they lead. However negative our vision for the future, the well-being of our immediate environment is our responsibility for a long time to come. It is enough if everyone concentrates on their environment and does not put their hands up.

Even non-tremendous changes can bring results.

For example, rethink and simplify meaningless, routine processes. You do not need to run a glitzy American tech company to make an impact, which is far from complex social processes or climate catastrophe mitigation, far from it. The only thing that is expected is attention and awareness, whether someone uses the tools available by individual managers or tries to use them to the best of their ability. Here is a simple example that depends on perception, tools, intention, and action. The Hungarian CEO gave five extra days off to young people working in his company. He heard their dissatisfaction and realized he was not causing a loss to anyone else; he was not hurting business, so why not act? He sensed a pointless situation and changed it.

For some reason, few leaders empower themselves to both perceive and act. Unfortunately, it almost makes no difference to the outcome, whether out of habit, convenience, or fatigue. When making business decisions, we rely too often on policies, the company's interests, profit, etc. How many more crises will it take before we realize there is no time to point to abstractions? You can no longer be ignorant about the things that surround you. We have seen it for a long time that we are punished for this by consumers, employees, and the crises brought about by all of us.

It is not enough to look like it because we will get caught!

For decades, companies have been tasting the term social responsibility — meanwhile, purpose, ESG, conscious, stakeholder capitalism, circular and value-driven are already here. Yet, despite the growing number of good examples, practical initiatives, and cooperation, this is not the mainstream. Most corporate strategies still contain only a trace of a social perspective. Probably also because all such concepts are alienating.

In everyday life, we are not connected to society but to each other, our communities, and our tribes. So how can social anything become important?

While these concepts are crucial, they are not yet well defined and can become so overused and boring as reference points that we have not yet really understood their meaning, let alone acted upon them.

The problem is compounded by the fact that there is already severe distrust, no matter what you call it. Many think responsibility is just part of corporate communication, without any real commitment or action. Bullshit or washing? As you like. It happens; no denying it. It still happens. But it is not necessarily a problem if it is not malicious and deceptive, just clumsy and lamely helpless. I am pretty permissive because I believe that inevitably, over time, all the talk will turn into action. Today, the chances of being caught and held accountable are much faster. You cannot keep up the pretense for long that you are only talking about something but not doing it. It's okay to over-communicate — we often do — because then, at least, there is some pressure, which leads to consolidation over time, but in a way that specific patterns of behavior become part of the norm. And what is a good example? A good initiative must be visible to empower early birds and catalyze change through visibility.

It is no coincidence that CEOs have stepped out from behind company logos. Whether we believe in an entire company or brand also depends on the credibility of these leaders. For 30 years, Gallup has been researching the link between leadership behavior and outstanding performance.

They found that the credibility of leaders builds commitment and trust, both internally and externally, and that this also brings tangible business benefits to the company.

None of the credible actors operating in this way have a separate corporate and home identity and values. Instead, they run the company the way they are as a person. And their company will be what their leadership decisions make it.

It is not charity to invest in the future!

Investing in the future is not charity. It is purely an interest. We bow when we see houses 100 years old, but few people formulate even 10-year visions, and even fewer build them. Yet, how will we have 100-year-old houses in the future without them?

Of course, for changes to become systemic, some basic concepts of such caliber as work and success need to be redefined. In the process of existential development, most leaders come to the point where one more possession no longer makes them happy, and the real suffering is caused by not feeling that when they wake up in the morning, they will spend their day doing something meaningful. For many leaders, for example, it helps to have a cause that gives them a belief, a sense of purpose, and a believable motivation for themselves and, therefore, for their organization.

Part of our legacy as leaders are what we do with the excess tools and opportunities we have at our disposal. You may wonder why I call this an excess, but here are several examples that will help you understand.

Even though they decided to give at least half of their fortune to non-governmental organizations during their lifetime and spend it on charity, several dollar billionaires have doubled their total wealth in ten years.

Alongside Warren Buffett, Bill and Melinda Gates launched The Giving Pledge in 2010. Today, it is a community of 224 dollar billionaires from 27 countries, all of whom have decided to give back most of their wealth to society because what is left is enough to last for generations. Some are in their 30s, others in their 90s. The fact that they are giving back prudently does not seem to be hurting their business results. Perhaps this is what continues to motivate them to give back even more of their potential.

Some of the new generations of Euromillionaire heirs have understood the disproportionalities they live with. Their Taxmenow movement calls for the system to stop giving them so many tax breaks. They know they were born in a lucky place, inherited their wealth, and paid no taxes.

A family business can also be a kind of Bill Gates.

One wonders what I have to do with the immense wealth of the richest. But, as a leader, disproportionality is inevitably present at all system levels, even if to a much lesser extent.

While in the 1980s, a senior manager earned, on average, 32 times more than the company's employees, today, the ratio can be up to 350 times. Yet capitalism was built on the premise that the benefits of welfare growth should trickle down to the lower classes.

Otherwise, a How rich am I? — calculator helps us understand which upper category of the world's population our income belongs to, and what specific 10% is enough to solve all problems, what impact it can or could have on the planet.

We, with Bridge Budapest, only went as far as to launch the Third 1% movement on 1 May this year to raise awareness that everyone has the opportunity to alleviate disproportionality and problems. It is not a question of money but will. Everyone should be able to consider whether they would contribute a single percentage of their resources, time, knowledge, and income or profit to social initiatives that focus on problems not solved by the state, for example. Interestingly, research shows that those who have less give more easily.

What is beyond the magic purpose? We think legacy!

A conscious leadership legacy is a key to where we are going.

We need leaders who are able and willing to look beyond their plans to the benefit of others. Who has a long-term vision and is committed to the future, to the next generation.

Who understand their responsibilities and take action for structural change. All with strong personal integrity and rock-solid values. Leaders who translate their emotional, intellectual and financial potential into action, understanding the importance of what they leave behind. With Bridge Budapest, we want this to be the leadership norm, at least in the business community. So let them be the new role models, and let there be no excuses in the future for why a leader does not use the opportunities they have created or received for the benefit of future generations.

It feels much better to say, even in hindsight, that I did what I had to do than to hear that you watched when you had the chance to do something. Do we want generations to be angry with us for decisions we could have made? And yes, it is incredibly tiring and hard to switch off. However, leadership disproportionately increases our responsibilities, as well as our opportunities.

Suppose we value trust, our responsibility for future generations, and our cooperation for survival. In that case, there should be no question about how our business decisions, which maintain diversity, should be adjusted to make our world more liveable. We need values as stakes. If we feel they have not been knocked down, knock them down. Agreeing on a single deal may seem like an overwhelming challenge, but what we leave behind for future generations is at hand. With this in mind, it is such a powerful organizing principle that much could become routine.

If that is too abstract, then it is enough to conclude that we should build jobs where our children would also want to work, and for this, we should make business decisions in our everyday lives that would not be cheesy to stand in front of them.

There is no point in having another car if you do not feel like getting up in the morning because you do not know where you could go with it. Or what if your child does not speak to you because of your decisions?

Our opportunity as leaders is to create utopias and move towards them. These utopias have been the basis of progress since we have been relatively consciously shaping our world. Let's do something about them so that future generations can also have a good life. According to all the research, they now expect to live in conditions that are certainly more uncomfortable than their parents.

It is difficult to accept and acknowledge that today this involves business decisions and actions whose return on investment is questionable, and we may not even see the results. And whether we will directly benefit from it is even more uncertain. Yet when you plant a walnut tree, for example, you do not question its importance just because you will not be reading in its shade; only your grandchildren will.

The Original was published on Forbes.hu.