Peace, Freedom, Ukraine and the New Purpose
A calm observer lays out the facts.
FACT 1. A country invades its neighbor without any justifiable reason.
FACT 2. Since they have met with heroic resistance, they start shooting and bombing civilians, including kids, to achieve their objectives.
FACT 3. An “assumed” indifference at the political (EU, others) level becomes a synchronized economic response against the invader. When economic sanctions are not enough, calls for defensive aid and humanitarian support get louder.
FACT 4. Bureaucratic organizations with lengthy and arduous decision-making processes based on compromises and consensus are transformed into agile, mighty response teams.
FACT 5. The people, ordinary people from the aggressor nation, are speechless (literally and metaphorically) and confused. Why?
FACT 6. Most of the developed world’s ordinary people raise their voices publicly. They are angry; they march. It is a movement.
FACT 7. Corporate activism starts building up. “We halt our operations,” “We reconsider collaborating with,” and so on. Google, Meta, Elon Musk, Bain, BP & Shell, Nestle, FIFA, IKEA, so many examples, 2000 organizations so far.
Hang on a second. Months ago, the same corporations were advocating ESG, SDGs, planet, environment, etc.
What happened in 5 days? Western society moved up “Maslow’s ladder” and discovered a new purpose despite their typical drive for prosperity and profit. The planet, humanity, corporate governance.
The game is changing, getting back to basics. In banking lingo, they use KYC — “Know Your Customer.” It looks like we now need KYCo — “Know Your Country.”
Peace, freedom, and stability might be a new purpose, the new ESG
CTfeb22
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Christos Tsolkas is an Independent Business Advisor, Entrepreneur, and Author of the new book, The Gift of Crisis: How Leaders Use Purpose to Renew their Lives, Change their Organizations, and Save the World.
He has spent more than 25 years in positions of significant responsibility (general management, sales & marketing) with multinationals in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, leading senior teams to achieve high performance and change. His educational background is in chemical engineering & business, and he is dedicated to continuous learning.
