Reading Time: 3 minutesEarly in my career, I worked in a business culture that measured success almost entirely by profit. Over time – as I matured, learned more about how businesses really last and paid closer attention to who was paying the price – my thinking changed. People came first. Then the planet joined them.
Today it’s a trifecta for me: people, planet and profit. I’m Indigenous, and I don’t hide it. My values shaped who I am and how I work, and equity is a condition of every engagement I take on.
Trust is what makes profit last
I believe a business that wants to be sustainable in the modern world needs two things: trust and profit.
Trust comes from three places:
- How you treat people – all of them. Your team, your vendors and suppliers, your customers, and the people further down the line, like the crews who handle your waste.
- How you treat the planet you depend on.
- How you manage your profits, and who shares in them.
I’m reminded of this often. Right now, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in northern Alberta is in court over water permits for a massive proposed AI data centre, near lands where my ancestors lived. Watching communities fight to be heard on what happens to their land and water reinforces everything I believe about how business should be done.
What equity looks like in practice
- Pay equity. Everyone I hire or work alongside is paid fairly for the work, and pay is set by the role.
- Fairer hiring. I’ve worked with HR teams to remove applicant names and identifying details from what hiring managers see. Bias is there, conscious or not. This takes some of it out of the room.
- Careful storytelling. When we tell someone’s story, we care deeply for the person in it – and for the reader, who may carry their own hard experiences and be affected by what we share.
- Optimize, not maximize. When I talk about revenue with teams and leaders, I talk about optimizing. Maximizing almost always means decisions that cause someone pain.
- Deeper listening. My surveys ask more than “were you satisfied?” I want to know whether we met your expectations, and whether you believe my client meets them better than the other businesses you use.
- Community investment. For businesses that need a stronger market presence, investing in the community is often the most meaningful way to earn it.
Think of it as a Hippocratic oath for business: do no harm, while enriching yourself, your team, your customers and your community.
Where I walk away
Holding to this means saying no. I’ve walked away from:
- Workplaces where, on a first tour, the team looked ready to cry or walk out.
- Leaders who made it clear that power and pressure were how they worked with people.
- A corporate community program where a senior leader told me the cause didn’t matter to him – only sales did – while one of his own managers had a child in the very hospital we were meant to support.
- Charities that double-count designated gifts, don’t understand their own charitable purposes or outcomes, or treat themselves as beyond question.
None of those were easy decisions. Each one protected the people I’d have been asking to trust me.
What it makes possible
When people are treated well, they bring their best. When the planet is respected, the business has a future to grow into. And when profit is managed with care, trust follows – from customers, communities and the team that makes it all happen.
Try this
Pick one decision your organization made this month – a price, a hire, a campaign, a vendor. Ask three questions: who benefited, who paid a cost, and would we be comfortable explaining it to all of them?
Be well.
Sources
- CBC News, “Water, consultation, top of mind as northern Alberta First Nation hosts meeting on proposed data centre” – https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/sturgeon-lake-cree-nation-wonder-valley-engagement-session-9.7305052
- Global News, “Alberta First Nation in court over massive proposed ‘Wonder Valley’ AI data centre” – https://globalnews.ca/news/11895544/wonder-valley-sturgeon-lake-cree-nation-court/