Purpose and Mutual Value Creation: A Better Vision for Business
January 2025
By Alan Yeboah,
Certification Lead, Mutual Value Labs
Imagine standing at the point where your greatest skill meets the world's deepest need. After years of conversations with entrepreneurs, I’m convinced that true innovation begins here. Not in boardrooms or spreadsheets, but in the moment you realize that you can solve a problem that matters.
Our world faces huge challenges: a changing climate, widening economic divides, broken healthcare systems, and the spread of disinformation. Yet these challenges also hide opportunities for visionary leaders to innovate and create positive change. As Marcel Proust said: "The real journey of discovery is not about finding new places, but seeing with new eyes."
Question the Status Quo
The traditional business model is simple: maximize profits at any cost. Purpose-driven leaders challenge this approach. They ask a more transformative question: How can we address societal and environmental challenges while building a profitable company?
A recent conversation with a founder brought this into sharp focus. He shared, “I’m not building a circular company to sell it off. I want my kids to inherit a business that turns waste into wealth for generations." His perspective shows a wider shift in how leaders define success. Profit isn’t the end goal—it’s a means to greater impact.
Last fall, I took an eye-opening Oxford course on the Economics of Mutuality. This operating model guides companies to profit by solving problems—not creating them. Imagine your business creating mutual value for people, place, and planet. What new opportunities could this unlock for growth and impact? Let's explore the possibilities together.
Transform Purpose into Strategy
Why does your company exist? This question holds the key to transformation. Look beyond profit to describe a problem worth solving outside your business.
A clear purpose drives action. It motivates employees, attracts supporters, and helps you measure your company’s progress and impact.
Not every world problem is yours to solve, but you can address challenges related to your business. Purpose sharpens your focus to create meaningful change.
Understand Your Ecosystem
With purpose as your guide, explore the wider ecosystem. Use curiosity, research and empathy to make sense of the big picture.
Who has a major influence on your company’s purpose? Look beyond obvious stakeholders, such as employees, customers and suppliers. Consider others like community leaders, policymakers, and social media influencers.
Ask yourself: What are their objectives? What roles do they play? What are their capabilities and pain points? These insights will help you shortlist the challenges most relevant to your purpose.
Innovate for Mutual Value
True innovation is about creative problem-solving. Use the Impact x Agency Matrix to identify challenges that influence your purpose and those your company can directly address.
Take the lead on problems you can do something about. Seek partnerships for issues you can’t solve alone. The best opportunities are found in challenges shared by multiple stakeholders.
One warning: avoid wasting resources on low-impact challenges. I’ve heard entrepreneurs say, “I’m too busy for new opportunities”. Six months later, they haven’t made real progress. Don’t fall into this trap. Instead, focus on high-impact opportunities that grow your business and benefit your ecosystem.
As you design solutions, embrace creativity and experimentation. Test and validate your riskiest assumptions to reduce three types of risk:
Desirability: Do people need and value your solution?
Feasibility: Can you develop and deliver it?
Viability: Can it generate more value than it costs?
Manage Holistic Performance
Purpose invites you to redefine what success looks like. Profit matters, but it’s not the whole story. Learn to measure and manage four dimensions of value creation:
Human capital: People’s health, knowledge, and well-being
Social capital: Quantity and quality of relationships in the ecosystem
Natural capital: Natural resources consumed to make products and services
Financial capital: Money that provides liquidity within the supply chain
To explain how your company benefits your ecosystem, use a Theory of Change. Go beyond tracking inputs and outputs—measure outcomes and impact.
Consider an agroforestry enterprise. While tracking “farmers trained” or “trees planted” provides useful data, measuring “reduced poverty” or “improved biodiversity” shows contribution to long-term change.
However, data alone won’t create an emotional connection. You'll need stories to leave a lasting impression. Combine the two to engage customers, inspire employees, and build trust with partners.
Lead the Change
Today’s challenges demand more from business leaders than ever before. At the same time, they offer unique opportunities for innovation and positive change.
In my conversations with entrepreneurs, the focus is shifting from “How can we maximize profits?” to “How can we solve real-world problems while building a profitable company?”
The Economics of Mutuality provides a practical model for identifying challenges that present the best opportunities for business growth and impact.
This path requires vision and courage. Yet the rewards are worth it: a thriving company, a flourishing society, and a healthy planet.
Are you ready to lead with new eyes?
If you’d like to explore how your organization could intentionally create mutual value, click the button below to fill out a contact form and one of our consultants will be in touch.
