Beyond Business Podcast Ep1
Episode 1
Work for purpose, not just for pay
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EPISODE SUMMARY
Welcome to Beyond Business, where we discuss purposeful and sustainable business practices that create positive change in the world. This episode sees me, your host Debbie, explore the importance of purposeful work, the quadruple bottom line and sustainable work practices. Listen in as I share my personal experiences of working with mums and other individuals looking for a more sustainable approach to work. I discuss how businesses can and should be a force for good, going beyond profit and considering their impact on people, society, and the planet.
Join me as we uncover the connection between purpose in our work and the causes we're passionate about. As someone who has personally dedicated their work to closing the gender pay gap and addressing climate change, I encourage you to reflect on what you want from your work and its impact on others. Whether you're an employee, a freelancer, a consultant or a business owner, this episode is a guide to finding your own sense of purpose and contributing to a more sustainable world. Stay tuned for the next episode, where we'll bring in a guest to discuss regenerative business.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION
00:03 - Debbie (Host)
Welcome to Beyond Business the podcast, the show for impact driven ecopreneurs who want to be part of a bigger change and make a difference that reaches beyond your business alone. I'm your host, debbie, a long time lover of purpose driven business, a coach and a working man, and I'm so delighted to be here with you. Hello, and a very, very warm welcome to the first episode of the Beyond Business podcast. It is an absolute pleasure to be here with you. Thank you so much for tuning in. Your support, both in listening and helping spread the word, really means a lot to me and I really, really appreciate it. I feel really excited to finally be getting this out in the world, because it's been a long time coming and this is not my first podcast video.
01:08
I've had a podcast in the past that reached a 100 episode milestone. It felt like such a great achievement and in the beginning of that podcast it went from idea to action in literally a matter of days. But this one somehow has been a long time in the making. It's gone through many different creative cycles and in the end I decided that I just wanted to get it out there. So here we are, taking the plunge. As we speak Now, I guess the name of the podcast might hopefully give some clues as to what it is about, but the intent is that through weekly episodes there will be a combination of solo episodes by me and also a mix of really interesting guests and subject experts and conversation lists we will explore what it means to create work that is profitable, that is purposeful and has a positive impact on people and society and also the planet as well, and the natural impact that we find ourselves apart of.
02:35
And those things I hope will ring true whether you are an employee of a company or you are a business owner of some sort, a freelancer, a consultant or a small business owner yourself. And I think that when we look at the world of business today, many businesses are focusing on the transition to a triple bottom line, where they are considering how they give equal priority to profit, to people and to the planet, so the three P's as they are typically referred to. But in that framework, I think we could think of this podcast as being involved with the quadruple bottom line, where we also consider purpose as a part of that, and I think that when we look at it this way, we can then apply that quadruple bottom line, I guess, to each of our individual situations and the context in which we work and the choices we make in terms of our career path. I think that certainly, when I started my own career like what 15 plus years ago I definitely went into it with the mindset of working or progressing, let's say, through a career ladder, whereas I would say that now things have really changed quite a bit and we recognize that like more and more, so many more people are taking this squiggly career path that may include using the same skills but for a different purpose, the same skills but in a different industry. It might mean actually doing really similar work but in a different style, so moving from an employee to a freelancer, for example, where the path isn't immediately obvious at the outside. And yeah, we're really navigating this squiggly journey, looking for something to act as our guide or a compass along the way. So I hope that this podcast will really support you in creating that compass for yourself and deciding what path you want to take in terms of your work in the world. Alongside this podcast, then, I also work as a coach and a consultant, and I support small businesses and solopreneurs to design and implement sustainable business models, primarily, and also then the working practices that support these, and I think the two are so intricately linked. We need sustainable working practices in order to be able to really integrate and implement a sustainable business model and, equally, I think the sustainable business model is just as vital to being able to underpin the working practices as well, and to me, this is all a really big it's a really key theme in the podcast as well.
06:24
I started my business working exclusively with other mums who really wanted a more sustainable way of making a living, of earning money, of doing purposeful work and making a difference in the world, but also wanted to be able to have the time and energy and emotional capacity to spend with their families as well. But this is by no means exclusive to mums. It's something that, as a mum myself, came very naturally. But I think, as my work has progressed, I've really started to understand and see that these days, so many of us are looking for a more sustainable approach to work for lots of different reasons. So maybe you're a carer of a different type. Maybe you have dependents who aren't your own kids, but you really need to be there for them. Maybe you have a hobby that you're really passionate about and want to make more time for, or maybe you have multiple lines of work that you want to be able to dip in and out of and find some sort of blend that supports a way of working that is like is sustainable for you. Or maybe you just recognise that you want to best support your own physical and mental health while making a real difference in the world.
07:58
And I think that the key thing that I have found unites all of these people who both I work with and I would consider, peers and people I've been in community with, is that many people these days are very, very passionate about what they do. They're creating really cool things and solving real world day-to-day problems in a very innovative way, and I guess, at the point we are in history, there's many social and environmental, very pressing and present and urgent social and environmental problems out there Meeting an innovative and really impactful solution, and I think so much of what we will talk about here on the podcast really underpins that drive for a better world, a more positive world, leaving the world better than we find it at the end of the day. And I really believe that business can be a key driver in this and business can be used as a force for good, which hasn't always been the way in the past. I guess the ways that we have traditionally worked and the ways we have traditionally done business in a capitalist society have worked for a time like supportive to get us to where we are, but I think that the mantra of what got us here will not get us there is very much at the forefront of my mind at the minute that not only do we need different products and services to create a different world going forward, but we also need different ways of working, like. I think that a shake up in both what we do and how we do it is really like, really key, really vital.
10:22
So with that, I thought we'd kick off this first episode by taking a short delve into what it means to do purposeful work, because I hear the word purpose being used a lot. I think that, especially in the world of small business and entrepreneurship, people talk about being a purpose led business or a purpose driven entrepreneur or maybe, on a more individual level, we talk about finding our purpose, definitely something that I have been really like, I guess encapsulated by at various points. For me, I would just purpose, feel something that is very innate within me. It like lives in my body somewhere. I've always been driven by this inner sense of purpose, without being able to fully articulate what that is. Maybe the best or the closest I would come would be describing as this like niggle, this niggle that keeps me going. But, yeah, purpose is always something I've sought out and has really driven me, and it's really driven me to explore different ways of working in different environments and also both using and developing different skill sets.
11:58
And I think, in this searching and experimenting and exploring, what I have been looking for is a cause that I can dedicate myself to and really make a difference in. For me, those two causes that I see overlap in many ways are around the gender pay gap and supporting the closing of that gap, and also around climate change and reversing the like, slowing and reversing the impact that we've made so far. So I would describe those as like, yeah, big causes that you know many of us have heard of. That we could, many of us can relate to you in many way or feel that affiliation with. But I think what I've started to understand more recently is that just having the cause isn't enough, or at least it isn't the whole story. So to pursue that cause in a purposeful way, like there needs to be other ingredients in the mix in order for the work itself to really feel purposeful.
13:21
And so I guess, in an aative of this episode, I decided to look up the word purpose in in the dictionary and it says the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. So, you know, in some ways very much in line with this, like dedicating ourselves to a cause. But another way I might phrase that is work that has a point to it. And when I think of it in this way, it's like we need to be clear on what the point of this is to me and what is the point of this to the person or people or community who are receiving it. Yeah, it's like to a co-creative relationship. There's two sides to the purpose. So, yeah, like, where is the impact being felt and why is that important? So if we look at each of these in turn, maybe to start off with what is the point of this to me, I guess it's worth looking inwards and asking ourselves what is it that you want from your work?
14:49
I think that all of us develop a conscious or unconscious picture of what success looks like throughout our lives and in our society. That's typically like a job that feels secure, that has the opportunity to financially progress, has maybe some sort of status associated with us and has like a real, tangible benefit or title that could be, I guess, described easily to other people. But often that version of success like how it looks on the outside, doesn't necessarily feel the same on the inside. Maybe it does, maybe it does to many people, but not always. And so really looking inside and thinking what is it that I want from my work, like what is the point and there's various ways in which we can do this. So we can look at our values, like what is important to me in terms of the company that I work for, what I want them to represent or stand for in the world.
16:09
But then there's also this way of working. So, for example, do I want to be able to solve complex problems or am I more drawn to simplifying things? Do I want to stand on a stage and speak to a huge audience or actually do I prefer working on my own or in a small group of people? There's lots of different avenues that we can explore with this, and I guess, at the end of the day too, it's like what is the point? What reward does this bring me? And that may be financial reward, but it may also be otherwise, like, actually, is there a real value to you in being able to learn from the skillset of those around you, or learn to work in a very particular way, for example?
17:05
And then the second part of it is what is the point in this to other people? So what difference does it make in people's lives, or what difference does it make to society or in our community or to the planet? And for this we really need to start with what problem are we solving for people, or what challenge are we overcoming, and how will people's lives be better as a result of this? So that's it in the most basic form, and I guess there's often variation in how close to the, the solution you are, for example. So do you actually get to see that end result in your work, or are you a bit further away from that? So yeah, those two things what's the point in it for me and what's the point in it for other people? I think they've been able to have like a full and articulated answer to those things Goes a long way, then, to bringing us towards this sense of purpose. And when we're looking at this way, you if maybe at the minute you're in a place where you desire more purpose or you're seeking more purpose, or, yeah, you're curious, you've heard the term and are curious then you might not actually need a radical change in circumstances in order to bring more purpose into your life and your work.
18:46
Sometimes just labelling it alone is enough, or you may be able to adapt a current role and add in some extra responsibility or swap out some responsibilities or projects. You may be able to add a side project into what you do in your day to day work, or you may be able to experiment with, like, a small-scale project or some creative writing or a new digital presence, for example, in order to fill up that purpose bucket. So if you would like to go deeper in this, then in the show notes I've included some prompts to help you consider. You can like journal on them, talk them through with someone you trust, and if you would like to reach out and let me know how you get on, then I would love to hear from you. I'm also really curious how this idea of purpose resonates with you, like how important it is in your day to day work, and if it's something you actively seek out.
19:57
But with that I will say bye for now, and next week I will be back with a guest interview delving into the world of regenerative business, so business that goes beyond sustainability and is really life-affirming and nourishing. So I hope that you can join me for that. Bye for now. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Beyond Business. If you've loved what you've heard, I would be incredibly grateful if you could rate and review the podcast so that together we can create a global ecosystem of changemakers, pioneering business as a force for good. Until then, I look forward to speaking to you in the next episode.