Creating reasons to believe

Many companies now have their vision and value statements as part of standard business practice, but the key difference shown by the research conducted into the world's most ethical companies entitled "changing the story: reasons to believe" was the fact that these companies provided on-going, genuine, committed  "reasons to believe" what was being stated to all stakeholders. They showed the difference between stating something and acting out the statement in practice ie how they do it.

They don't just put their customers first ( a now overused value statement) they demonstrate how they do this e.g. by treating customers like family and genuinely putting the customer before profits. They don't just talk about transparency they are open e.g. one company posts its political donations on its website.They don't just expect high standards from their suppliers they share best practice with them. They don't just talk about the environment they act like the "best neighbour they can be".

And in doing all this they are still profitable. But changing the corporate story in this way requires huge and unrelenting energy from the top team, what the paper terms "tempo from the top" to ensure that business and ethical performance are aligned and fully functioning. While building and retaining trust in this way does require a lot of effort, it is surely worthwhile in creating a motivating,fulfilling and enjoyable place to do business, which has spin-offs for all stakeholders, including the investors.