How to be a Purpose-Driven CEO

Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert recently accused the corporate sector of taking a hypocritical stance on sustainability. On the one hand, he said, corporations talk a good game about sustainability to their customers and employees. But their actions too often don’t match their words. Specifically, he accused businesses of hypocrisy for saying they are committed to sustainability while opposing legislation that protects the environment.  

He told Fast Company, “Where I come down on it is, define for me what you mean when you say ‘all in’ [on climate]. Because you’re saying that and then hiding over here, and it’s [not credible]. There’s a special place in hell for people doing that. It’s the kind of thing that has to change.” 

Are CEOs the new face of corporate social responsibility?

Gellert’s salty broadside against his corporate peers illustrates an important role that CEOs can and are playing today: chief values officer. In addition to being responsible for the profitable growth of their organizations, they’re also taking on the role as chief spokesperson on social and political issues. They’re becoming the face of corporate social responsibility. 

For example, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has become well known for taking a stand on social issues. At the annual Davos Summit in 2020, he challenged businesses to abandon traditional notions of profit-driven capitalism and instead embrace stakeholder capitalism, or being a responsible corporate citizen that gives back to the world. In 2020, amid a groundswell of global protest about racial inequality, CEOs spoke out about injustice and pledged to do something about it. Case in point: Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was among the many Silicon Valley CEOs who publicly condemned racism, and he pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to support Black-owned businesses and Black creators.

The rise of the 'purpose-driven' CEO  

CEOs with a social purpose are often referred to as “purpose-driven CEOs” because they align their roles with a broader purpose beyond the profit motive. I also favor the term values-driven CEO because their actions and words are typically aligned with their corporate values. For instance, Ryan Gellert represents a company with a well-established track record of public activism. His harsh critique of corporations would seem out of place and disruptive to his company if he were departing from Patagonia’s values. Instead, his words are all the more powerful because he’s amplifying the collective voices of 2,500 employees.  

The rise of the purpose-driven CEO is not a temporary phenomenon brought about by events of 2020 (although 2020 certainly accelerated this rise). It’s an evolution that reflects gradually changing societal priorities. Consumers, investors, and employees increasingly prefer businesses whose values align with their own. In America, 60 percent of the population expect brands to take a stand on racial justice (for people 18-34, that number jumps to 78 percent); 68 percent of people surveyed by Edelman expect CEOs to step in when governments do not address social problems. In addition, half of LGBTQ+ people, 45 percent of racial/ethnic minorities, and 39 percent of the general population overall have chosen not to pursue a job because of a perceived lack of inclusion. A heightened awareness of climate change beyond the business world has made CEOs more attuned to the problem and willing to speak out about sustainability. In other words, newer breed of CEOs reflects the values and concerns of the population at large. Their customers, employees, and shareholders are expressing concerns that CEOs share. 

Based on Investis Digital’s experience helping businesses and executives build their brands through meaningful content, I recommend that purpose-driven CEOs: 

• Communicate strategically. Purpose-driven CEOs should not speak out on social causes in willy-nilly fashion. They should have a content game plan for what ideas they can credibly stand for and how they’ll share them. There are many examples of CEOs who have made this kind of commitment. One of them, Claudio Descalzi, is CEO of Eni SpA, which Investis Digital recently ranked as the global leader in ESG marketing/communications. Claudio Descalzi communicates regularly about ESG issues on his LinkedIn page (which has more than 37,000 followers), he contributes articles, and he discusses sustainability with the news media. There is a strong connection between his communications and the company’s values. 

• Show evidence of action. The ultimate show of credibility for a CEO is to personally report and take ownership of the actions that their company takes to be a better corporate citizen. Larry Fink, CEO of investment company BlackRock, does so through his annual letter to shareholders, in which he discusses the ways BlackRock is re-allocating its investments toward environmentally conscious industries. Similarly, Ulf Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestle (an Investis Digital Top 10 leader in ESG marketing/communications), discusses openly Nestle’s goals and progress toward being a sustainable company. When CEOs do this, they use their high-profile positions to hold their own companies (and entire industries) accountable for their actions. No other person in the company has this kind of potential influence. 

CEOs who aspire to level up their roles here would be wise to work closely with a marketing/communications partner (internally and externally if you rely on an outside partner) to formulate a credible and powerful approach. It should be noted that being a purpose-driven CEO is not about getting nice PR for being socially conscious. Anyone who treats this role as a PR-driven will be quickly called out for being phony. Rather, the role of marketing/communications is to help the purpose-driven CEO be more thoughtful and effective – for instance, learning how to craft a credible story and developing a holistic strategy across appropriate outlets (one’s own websites, employee communications social media, news media, etc.) to amplify that story.  

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