PURPOSE, INC.

Michael Young:

Welcome to the Purpose, Inc., the podcast where we discuss corporate purpose and stakeholder capitalism. I'm your host, Michael Young.

My guest today is Kwasi Mitchell, the Chief Purpose Officer of Deloitte. Mr. Mitchell is responsible for driving firm wide strategy around Deloitte's commitments to areas including but not limited to diversity, equity, inclusion, sustainability and climate change, and education and workforce development. Kwasi, welcome to the podcast.

Kwasi Mitchell:

Thank you, Michael. It's a pleasure being here.

Michael Young:

Fantastic. So a lot to talk about today, and one of which is the C-suite Insights Report that you're releasing today. And I want to dip into that for sure, but I wondered maybe if you could, when we spoke initially, I heard you talk about embedding purpose into everything the organization must do. And if you could kind of paint the picture for us of the journey that Deloitte is on with regard to purpose.

Kwasi Mitchell:

Of course. We've been on this journey for a number of years now, not only just simply based upon our focus of living our purpose daily with our roots specifically and the accounting profession in and of itself. But more recently, as we've observed the shift with respect to the role particularly of corporations and solving some of society's largest challenges, we started our purpose office a little bit over a year ago. And the thinking at that particular point in time was to pull together this office that would help us look across the very various different functions that are key to whom we are in our shared values and as you mentioned, diversity, equity, inclusion, sustainability, education, and workforce development to name a few. Each of those areas had distinct leaders, and we knew that if we were truly going to drive change and have an impact more broadly, we needed to have a purpose office and a chief purpose officer to connect the dots as we drove this transformation in all aspects of our business strategy and then embed it into our operations daily.

Michael Young:

That's great. And just picking up on turning the attention maybe to the report for a second, I thought it was very interesting. And I've read a lot of reports, as we all have, on this topic. I think one of my takeaways and sort of, correct me if I'm wrong, but you really, you talk to some phenomenal leaders at some fantastic companies, and I think they gave you some great insights. One of my takeaways was there's still a lot of work to be done, and there are a lot of gaps out there. So how would you broadly characterize the findings of the report and walk us through some of the insights there.

Kwasi Mitchell:

Happy to. The report in of itself was a survey that we conducted of over 200 leaders, C-suite leaders globally, and in addition to that, we had some detailed interviews with several leaders who are just phenomenal people who are doing outstanding things for their organizations and society more broadly. And there were really three distinct themes that I think highlight the key areas of the report. First and foremost, that C-suite leaders are integrating purpose into their business strategy, but the accountability systems are still a work in progress. In fact, when you looked at it, it was so fascinating to see such a large preponderance of the leaders in and of themselves say that purpose is embedded in their business strategy but that less than 15% of them were actually collecting data that would lead to quantifiable metrics to really determine if they're driving in the appropriate directions and driving accountability across the C-suite for delivering on their purpose strategy.

Secondly, what I really enjoyed about this is that there's this perception that being purpose-driven is a talent play. And that's clear, right? When we think about so many different aspects of the great resignation or the great reimagining, however you would try to or you prefer to characterize it, it is key that talent is one of the critical aspects, that purpose really is a driver for. But there's so many additional potential benefits from the standpoint of brand recognition, from the standpoint of risk mitigation and operational efficiency. So there's definitely value being left on the table when we think about this more broadly. And thirdly, that collaboration is key. If you think about some of the change that we're trying to drive here, Michael, around purpose, sustainability, we're setting goals for 50 years in the future or excuse, me for 2050 so 30 years into the future. That being said, it just requires a whole different level of collaboration and cooperation across the C-suite because no singular executive or no singular person can own bold aspirations of that nature and of that level of complexity. So those were three of the major themes that I truly enjoyed highlighting with respect to the report.

Michael Young:

Definitely. And maybe to the accountability question, and I saw that disparity as well and the findings in particular. So what are some of the things that organizations are doing? You highlight the fact that C-suite compensation is not or only a third are tied to performance metrics for purpose priorities. How are we going to close the gaps between say and do with regard to purpose broadly defined based on what you studied?

Kwasi Mitchell:

Yes. And I do think it's coming. What's been interesting talking to different people within this particular space is that there are some organizations that are leading the charge with respect to diversity, equity, inclusion, and they're starting to hold their leaders accountable for different aspects of let's say representation of their workforce and have embedded that into their goals. I also have seen organizations that are focused on sustainability who are thinking through things, that they're hyper focused on as organizations that they're built into different aspects. But there's no collective integrated view that really has provided an opportunity for people to lean in here very, very heavily together. So I do think that the transformation that's taking place as more people are starting to share what, in fact, they're doing and how they're doing it. And Michael, one example is an organization that I was talking to just a few days ago. They have, particularly across their C-suite, shared goals with respect to diversity, equity, inclusion and also, in addition to that, with respect to sustainability. And they did that deliberately so that, again, to my earlier point, these are challenges of such broad scale that no single executive should be held accountable for it. So their thinking is why don't we all hold ourselves accountable? It is a shared goal, it impacts all of our evaluation, and we can use this as something that we pinpoint to our people that were on this journey and doing great things. And the word is getting out more and more in this particular area. So I do believe the accountability mechanisms are starting to fall into place, and we will see some great strides moving forward over the next three to five years.

Michael Young:

Definitely. I was talking to a former guest, Kevin Tubbs at Oshkosh Corporation up in Wisconsin. And one of the things he talked about related to that were we can set goals but how do we know we're on the pathway to the goal and how do we pressure test our strategies and our approaches. Was there any of that that came out in your study here?

Kwasi Mitchell:

What came out with respect to particularly the conversations that we had is that there's a fair amount of experimentation that's taking place right now. And I say that from the standpoint of people are discovering in different parts of their businesses that we're doing some unique things that play into our overarching purpose strategy that we just didn't realize were part of our integrated strategy. Right? That we've developed new products that were tied to some of our clients’ needs, that we've developed new ways of rewarding or recognizing our personnel. That was natural, but we didn't view it overall through the purpose narrative and umbrella. So I do think that there's some innovation and some aspects of being incredibly nimble on that particular journey because as we discover the things that we're doing that have been ad hoc in fashion without a centralized strategy. But in addition to that, we're starting to see that some of these items, we're going to have to make pivots on in flight. And again, if we use sustainability as an example, there are certain realities to travel right now during the pandemic that will be totally different three years from now. And so that being said, you see organizations that are reticent to make bolder goals and aspirations unless they have the ability to be nimble along the way. And I also feel like diversity, equity, inclusion is a simple a similar example where we're going to make some pivots. So more so than anything else, I do see a lot of innovation, a lot of calls for remaining nimble, and a lot of calls for just a little bit of grace as we had on these journeys.

Michael Young:

Yeah. And I think one topic that I think keeps coming up for me with guests is this question around data and reporting. And it seems there are no shortage of frameworks or kind of audits, and strategy is clearly being set and defined. But one of the things that did jump out to me in the study was that a relatively low number of organizations really feel like they've got a handle on or have made data collection and reporting a priority despite the desire and the statements of being purpose-led and purpose-driven. So what in your view needs to change or how should organizations be thinking about strategy versus reporting on the strategy through data?

Kwasi Mitchell:

So I thought that that was a fascinating aspect of it as well just because as soon as you announce that you have some goal or objective, the natural request from either your people, your respective talent or your stakeholders are, and when are you going to tell me the progress against that goal. Right? And so the interesting thing for me in many respects is that I do see there being a reckoning where people are starting to interrogate their data in different ways, particularly from the standpoint of all aspects of purpose. It's just that this data has been sitting in so many different parts of the organization historically that it's only recently that people are really starting to wrap their heads around it. Now, you could say for something such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, a lot of that data by and large historically has been held by talent in our HR professionals. It's just the way that we've looked at it recently to really drive the outcomes that we wanted to has, in fact, changed and is continuing to evolve. When you look at sustainability, especially across your scope one, two, and three emissions, there's just distinct aspects of that data that might be owned by a finance organization, another part of it that might be owned by distinct aspects of your HR organization, and just in distinct silos around the organization that only now people are starting to realize they need to capture and ultimately integrate into a story that they can report out against their goals. So I expect for that to get better. It's going to be a journey. And especially as you pointed out, Michael, with the different reporting mechanisms and standards that are out there, which there's plenty of positive momentum that we will have some more standardization here over the next two to three years, I do think that you can probably cover the entire alphabet with all the acronyms for the reporting standards that are out there. So it is a very confusing mix right now.

Michael Young:

Yes, absolutely. The alphabet soup. And I want to come back to the talent dimension in particular. And I think a lot of organizations are really seeing the drivers of change being generational, being workforce-led, and again, that was one of the clear signals that employees are demanding and expecting that. How have you, and among those that you surveyed, like what are the strategies and the approaches that are working in those organizations to help ensure that there is true alignment between what the organization says it's going to do and how it's going to do as it relates to recruitment, retention, and engagement?

Kwasi Mitchell:

Absolutely. There's a few things. First and foremost, people are getting more comfortable telling their stories. And I say that because we're looking at very large organizations that have a number of distinct initiatives across so many different aspects of their broader purview that tie to purpose in some way, shape, or form. But you don't have frequently cohesive narratives that really encapsulate all of that. So we just have our people who are operating in many instances with a lack of knowledge of the impact that the organization is having. So first and foremost, I see that story starting to come together and people articulating that in a way that they haven't before. The other piece with respect to talent is just actually polling our talent on distinct aspects of how we're living our purpose and using that data to really integrate and drive distinct aspects of our strategy, whether that be recruitment or whether that extends to just aspects of retention strategy.

One of the things I will share is I have a deep, deep passion for recruiting and going to campuses and talking to the future leaders that we'll be hiring through our four-year colleges. And without fail, I believe in this past Fall I conducted 25 interviews, the question of purpose and how it ties into how we live on a daily basis came up in two-thirds of those discussions. And that just really flags that the messaging that we need to drive through our recruitment strategies and also what we need to show to truly retain our people means that we need to be very deliberate about our story, we need to make sure that they understand and collect their feedback on what we're doing, and really drive those points home so people see it and feel it on a daily basis.

Michael Young:

And I think from a reputation standpoint, these issues and these challenges are real, and it's great to see organizations really leading and leaning into this this particular issue because it does have a compounding effect with the employer brand.

Kwasi Mitchell:

Well, and I love that point because one of the items that was surprising to me in the report, as you recall, we categorized and really pulsed the C-suite on the benefits associated with having a purpose-driven strategy and approach. And we've been talking about talent, but one of the things that was like middle of the pack with respect to the feedback was risk and brand protection. And I have always thought of purpose being very, very key with respect to that. And I'll give an example. What we see so frequently happen with organizations who through their philanthropic efforts and sponsorships of distinct conferences or initiatives, when it's not rooted in their purpose, you find that you've been sponsoring a conference of ex-professionals for years and years, not knowing that the CEO or some aspect of that organization may have fallen out of favor and is not truly aligned to all aspects of one purpose. But because you aren't thinking about it through that lens and you're just doing business as usual, like you can kind of get caught flat footed in front of the press with respect to either charitable giving or sponsorship. And it's something that I deal with on a daily basis is thinking through distinct aspects of, do we really need to sponsor this conference, is it really tied to our sustainability or DEI goals, have they drifted, and do we need to make pivots. And that type of thinking associated with all of your investments really is key for brand risk protection overall because as you said, like many people are having moments and what you can do to mitigate those moments is ideal.

Michael Young:

Yeah. As you were describing that, I was thinking sort of about the supply chain risk of reputational supply chain, right? You have all of these nodes on a reputational network, and it sounds like you're taking seriously the maintenance and the auditing of those actions and those activities. That's really solid advice because you're right. Large organizations make commitments and they continue with those commitments over time, and sometimes those come out of focus or out of shape and managing that proactively makes a ton of sense. In terms of the kind of for you, if you're just in the last five minutes here or so, to summarize where we are from what you've seen, if you were to just take a zoom back a bit, what would you advise organizations quickly on the big things that we should all be paying attention to with regard to collapsing the say-do ratio around purpose?

Kwasi Mitchell:

Collaboration is king. And by that, I mean not only across the C-suite to drive these things home and really drive the outcomes that you would like, it's also with your stakeholders, with your clients, with your competitors. Some of the challenges in front of us and items that we fundamentally are trying to solve for truly do take a village. And even if you think about aspects of sustainability, again as an example, and influencing your scope three emissions, that's really starting to form not only relationships with your suppliers in a different way than you ever have before but in addition to that, finding unique solutions such that you can conduct business as you have historically or at least achieve the similar outcomes. So collaboration is just going to be king as we move forward. The other thing that I feel like it's really important to impress is that even though some of these items have goals that are 20 years into the future, we should not underestimate the urgency in front of us right now to influence something such as diversity, equity, and inclusion on a broad scale. That's a 10 to 15-year time horizon, but it requires for us to do things tomorrow to achieve it and similarly with respect to aspects of climate change and sustainability. So with respect to that timeline, just remember there's urgent action that we need to move forward with now, and you really need to think about how you organize at yourselves through a chief purpose officer or similar role to drive that convening mechanism for you to be able to do so in the future.

Michael Young:

That's fantastic. Well, unfortunately, we're going to have to leave it here. I very much appreciate you coming on the podcast.

Kwasi Mitchell:

It was a pleasure.

Michael Young:

It was great to meet you.

Kwasi Mitchell:

Forgive me. It was a true pleasure. It was a pleasure meeting you. And I look forward to future conversations. So thank you.

Michael Young:

Thank you.

Conclusion:

The Purpose, Inc. Podcast is a production of Actual Agency, helping innovators communicate in a changing world. More at www.Actual.Agency.

‍