Business decisions do not need to be made exclusively based on profit. Equally, protecting communities and the environment does not need to impact the organization’s bottom line. Traditionally, profit has been the driving force behind most strategic decisions. But, in today’s world, leaders must take a wider look at their actions and the organization’s impact on internal and external people and the environment. Hurdles stemming from internal bias must be overcome in order to align personal values, ethics and morals with business goals and overall company strategy. Responsible Business: Making Strategic Decisions to Benefit People, the Planet and Profits gives you a framework to enact this change that will keep your organization thriving while benefiting staff and protecting the environment.

Understand the different values that should be attached to financial and non-financial factors in your decision-making process and translate these into concrete, manageable actions. Using the seven step framework in Responsible Business: Making Strategic Decisions to Benefit People, the Planet and Profits the responsible decision that best suits the strategic goals of the organization can be made. The complexity, ambiguity and stress of these decisions can also be avoided by using the business simulator tool included. This makes competing priorities manageable and provides confidence when making investment decisions. Case studies from diverse situations and organizations demonstrate the benefits of this responsible approach to business in order to equip business leaders with the tools to evaluate their investment decisions.

Giving advance praise for the book, Feike Sijbesma, the CEO of DSM, says that ‘the approach described in this must-read book shows the benefit and necessity of making implicit assumptions on non-financial effects very explicit and visible. Meanwhile, Anouk ten Arve, Programme Manager at Stichting IZZ, said that this book’s model ‘has enabled decision-makers in healthcare to practice what they preach: to care for employees who work in care.’