How about small shopping among the values of responsible business? Fashionable look, hipster jacket, and smartphone in hand ... Let's go!
The stock exchange is opened by ethical values. Underestimated ideas that by existing in the consciousness of individuals becomes fundamentally important. Where does this belief come from? Many times in our lives we ask ourselves the following questions: How to behave? What to do in a given, often non-one-dimensional situation? How to assess the legitimacy of the decision made? Black and white, profit-loss, win-lose ... Finding some money just lying on the street is a profit or a loss? Is it a win or lose to avoid a parking ticket for taking a disabled person's parking spot? Constant dilemmas… Regardless of the branches and sectors of the economy, they should constitute the core of the value of ethics.
Hiding the justification of unethical behavior under a bunch of marketing messages is a shortcut. Moreover - it’s a way to nowhere This is why ethics is so often overlooked, neglected, and nonchalantly treated. Others say: it's not sexy! Or maybe it is simply not very profitable? What can we do in a country where ethical education is abstract and marginal and ethical discussions passé? Are we leaders, leaders, customers, consumers, decision-makers, or managers? We can, for example, bet on this value. Put it into the basket with a firm move and buy it, without worrying about profit ... Fears, threats, and numerous social problems are a consequence of something more primal and basic.
Safe and smiling
Safe means developing, cooperating, willing to share knowledge, engaged, etc. This otherwise primary need has evolved over the years, finding itself also in the CSR strategies of companies. It is them, among various strategies, that bring ecological, economic, information, social and many other types of safety to salons. Continuity of employment, social and retirement benefit programs, and open communication meet the needs of individuals and communities that are growing every year. After all, the community offers us countless risks, fears, and uncomfortable situations. It affects the private, public and professional spheres, both the individual and the general public. The paradigm is constantly changing. The environment swings safety back and forth. What is profit and what is loss? It seems that the direction of the discussion about the essence of this value is correct. There is a growing group of managers and decision-makers who are aware and understand these values. It also seems that the media are taking up the topic more and more boldly. They proudly raise the perspective of a deficit of this value, defending both the weak and the unaware.
Empathy is gold
Considering the nature of the emotional approach to buying value, I would like to conclude with one feature that helps to understand them. It helps to build content and the same values. I am talking about empathy. It seems that the ability to feel the mental states of people is extremely up-to-date today. The ability to understand the often hidden desires and expectations of employees, colleagues, or partners is not an easy art.
Looking from the perspective of another person is also a huge challenge. Deprived of this skill, they are sometimes called blind.
Others say we produce self-centered people locked inside their own selves. Pain does not make you hurt, crying does not make you sad. These are just some of the manifestations of the value interpretation curve. Yet a different point of view develops diversity and creates value itself. In recent years, the business began to invest in innovative social programs. Business owners builds playgrounds, renovate community clubs, plant trees, and do many other activities. Great! Each form of coloring the often gray world is a step in the right direction. But does help equal empathy? The question is as difficult as it is multifaceted. I believe it is. I believe that the ideas of social responsibility put empathy in the first place of importance. After all, we cannot promote social "mediocrity". We should create a world of values in which all of us can gain things.
Thus, the concept of CSR will benefit.
Column published in the AS Biznesu quarterly.
