Beyond profit
How a wonky mug stole my heart, the future of local manufacturing and how business leaders can make a meaningful impact as agents of change
Hey, if you are new here, welcome. This is Looking Forward, a long-form exploration of the future of work, with a side of brand building, business development and coaching, with a mindful lens.
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I sat down for lunch with a good friend the other day. We live in different cities and meet only a couple of times per year, and we are not ‘phone friends,’ so our short catch-up sessions unfold rapidly. We have a lot to say to each other and we both try to bring as much depth as possible to our conversations.
After covering family, health, and holidays, we generally start to talk about work. I’m the one who brings entertainment in that regard, always surprising her with the advances of my portfolio career.
My friend, Lorraine, is a seasoned executive in her late thirties. While tenure may not exist outside of academia, her status is as close as it gets to it in her current company. It would be natural for her to remain in her current role. Yet she rolled her eyes at me and sighed over her plate of food when I asked: “So how is work?” Not the best sign.
She could do the uncomfortable thing, jump ship, and attempt to find excitement elsewhere. Perhaps she’d make more money (though she is not money-driven). The job, however, would be more or less the same. After all, there are standards in every industry.
Eventually, Lorraine looked up at me over her croque-madame and smiled mischievously.
She tells me, with a sparkle in her eyes, that instead of going elsewhere, she’d rather start afresh and invest her energy in supporting a flailing business; one in need of her talent, contacts and perspective.
More specifically, she wants to support manufacturing jobs and livelihoods in her home country of France.
While I nibbled away on a bowl of perfectly crisp French fries, she explained thoughtfully:
“Right now, everyone is so angry, everywhere.
I travel a lot.
Everywhere I go, it’s the same thing. Things are really hard.
People are unhappy.
I believe that the private sector needs to invest in the happiness of their employees.
I think we have a responsibility towards each other to make things better.
That’s what I want to do.”
I looked at her with a big smile, forgetting about the French fries for a moment.
Her view (which I share) is to focus on local redevelopment and is informed by worldwide trends we saw during and after the pandemic. The dependency on goods made on the other side of the world is not healthy for any country, especially when we take into account global events like the current wars and the worsening effects of climate change.
Her idea of regenerating French production and manufacturing recognises that the future looks increasingly ‘glocal’:
As connected as we may be globally, we need more robust local industries to get over our co-dependent global habits.
In our hyper-individualistic, consumer-centric era, reviving manufacturing is radical.
The word itself stands out. We are, after all, in the age of AI and machine learning. But the root of the word ‘manufacture’ is derived from Latin, which I studied long enough to occasionally not need Google's help.
A precise check on its etymology confirms that it dates from the mid-16th century and, as a noun, denotes something made by hand — from French (re-formed by association with Latin manu factum ‘made by hand’), from Italian manifattura.
There is logic in Lorraine’s thinking: it makes sense (to me at least) to start with solving problems on our doorstep first.
Underneath this sound business idea, however, lies her desire to see a company, its workers and their communities flourish: to see a community beam with pride.
While we gather our things and scramble for the door, Lorraine assures me it won’t be happening tomorrow. After all, she needs to find the opportunity. I smiled and said, sure, it needs to be right.
But now I’ve sat with this for a few days, and given how the world feels today (I am writing this on December 5 2023), I hope she makes this bold move sooner rather than later.
We need benevolent founders or leaders looking to make their companies thrive AND their employees happier.
As Simon Sinek stated in his book the Infinite Game, “It’s not the people doing the job, it’s the people who lead the people doing the job that can make the greater difference.”
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Lorraine’s not the only one dreaming of making a difference.
I was mightily inspired by the couple behind British homeware brand Feldspar Studio, Cath and Jeremy Brown, who I recently interviewed for Out of the Clouds. I had the privilege of supporting them as a consultant early on when they were establishing their business so it was lovely to catch up with them.
In our conversation, the Browns, who create ‘objects for life’ (fine bone china including mugs, candles, plates and more), recounted how they set up their first workshop in Devon and how difficult it was to find local talent as they looked to scale their industrial ceramic production, an endangered craft in the UK.
Surprisingly, they started to employ people who previously worked as teachers, graphic designers and others eager to learn the craft and work with their hands instead of staying behind a desk.
The couple have since chosen to focus on various labour-intensive crafts for several reasons, as Jeremy explained to me:
“The story of the product is so much richer when you know that it's been made by hands and real people and people paid well and in the right conditions and sustainably.
It all adds to the story, in the history of the product, which adds to the enjoyment of it as well.
It's completely guilt-free.
You can imagine someone putting it all together, taking such care and really working on something. Also [....] handmade products are future-proof because in 50 or even 100 years, people will still buy handmade because of that intrinsic value.
Whereas, in 50 or 100 years, we'll probably have 3D printers in our house and if we want a mass-produced mug, we'll just print it.
But if we want something that's been laboured over and crafted, then you will buy a Feldspar 100-year-old heritage mug.”
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A BUSINESS
I wrote the above and left my words to marinate, as I often do, because something felt missing to make my thinking complete. After a good night’s sleep, journaling morning pages and a walk in the rain with my dog, I suddenly remembered Simon Sinek’s book (quoted above already), so I ran into my office looking for the print version to look at my notes (I love reading with a pen in hand, my books are full of illegible notes, drawings and occasionally, post its).
It took less than a minute to find what I was after. Somewhere in the pages of the revised edition, Sinek explored in depth how businesses have come to favour profit over other kinds of growth. He believes ‘money is a result, not a purpose’, unlike the theories of Milton Friedman, whose theories of capitalism resonate to this day. In opposition to Friedman, Sinek sees a different set of business responsibilities. According to him, they are, in order:
Advance a purpose
Protect people
Generate profit
And he goes on to offer the below outline to sum it up:
“The responsibility of business is to use its will and resources to advance a cause greater than itself, protect the people and places in which it operates and generate more resources so that it can continue doing all those things for as long as possible.
An organisation can do whatever it likes to build its business so long as it is responsible for the consequences of its actions.”
My friend Lorraine, the folks at Feldspar Studio, and another one of my clients, the ethical jeweller Pippa Small, are all founders or leaders who have put a cause greater than themselves at the heart of their projects. Pippa has trouble calling her company a business, due to its organic growth and how people-centric it is.
We don’t all need to be entrepreneurs; far from that. But we all should be able to find meaning in our work.
Sinek concludes in that chapter, summing up my thoughts better than I could formulate them myself:
“We are all entitled to feel psychologically protected at work, be fairly compensated for our effort and contribute to something bigger than ourselves. These are our unalienable rights.
Business, like any infinite pursuit, is a more powerful force when it is empowered for the people, by the people.”
After my call with the Browns, I couldn’t resist ordering a set of their beautiful wares.
I looked at my new Feldspar mug with its lovely tactile surface and wonky dimples and reflected on these words.
I imagine the hands that made it and the other set of hands that painted its distinctive handle in a forest green.
Perhaps one of my great-grandchildren will hold this mug in 100 years, a heritage Feldspar mug.
It will still hold that ‘manu factum value’: made by hand in Devon.
And that is worth holding onto.
I loved this edition, Anne...