Just 10% of your employees can change your whole company

Millennials—and more and more non-millennial individuals—are becoming aware of the impact of their choices and consumption on the climate and the world. Accordingly, having a meaningful purpose is the new competitive advantage in the talent, goods and services markets. Companies are taking their social and environmental responsibility more seriously. The changing trends are clear when looking at collective initiatives, such as those launched by the 181 leaders of the Business Roundtable, who seek to integrate social and environmental goals into their governance; the alliances that CEOs struck up around the G7 to reduce inequality and fight for the climate are telling as well. However, standards keep rising. Measurement criteria are becoming more precise. The pressure to show proof of progress from words to actions is intensifying. What’s more, potential hires as well as consumers can wield new information technology to access resources on a global scale and evaluate these actions and their impact in quasi-real time. Companies thus have to transform even faster. Will they be able to pull it off without changing their methods?