National Cliché Day

On this, National Cliché Day, I want to impugn the over used: “It’s just business”.

Because in my opinion, it is never “just business”. Business is about people: people making products; people providing a service; people buying that service or product; people being affected by that service or product.

Of course businesses’ raison d’etre is to make a profit, and it is the profitable companies that create employment etc etc. I hear the argument. But my point is that business should not JUST be about profit. I’d sooner replace “People before profit” with “People equals profit”.

If business is just business then where does community or citizenship come in? And why do so many successful companies espouse values like integrity, connection and respect? Because there is a genuine, and modern day, resonance in the cliché “We are what we do”. And this also applies to business.

Thankfully, there are plenty of great examples to restore my too oft-challenged faith in business. The most recent of which I read in the Irish Times (Tuesday November 2, 2010):

Maud’s Merry Maids (Bellarose Foundation) is a cleaning business with all the corporate concerns of employees, customers, accounts and profits. But it also provides a free cleaning service for women returning home after Cancer treatment or surgery, the value of which, to those families, cannot be measured in financial terms.

The owner’s appreciation of and ability to view its business beyond just profit delivery, illustrates exactly why business is not just business. What it is giving back to the community it serves is relevant and needed, and importantly within its business capability and remit (as opposed to simply throwing money at a charity).

It is laudable and noteworthy, and yes, I’m sure there’s also the added bonus of goodwill and good PR. Because as one of my favourite clichés goes: “Doing good, can be good for business”.