As we stand on this new horizon that is January 2025, business leaders stare down a swirling confluence of challenge and change.
For companies in Northern Ireland, 2025 planning no doubt began long before the turn of the year. Yet this is an opportune time to double down on leading with purpose.
These changing times demand a more dynamic style of business, one that sees beyond profit to embrace the ‘Triple Bottom Line’.
An accounting method with roots in sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line is business with a bias towards action and purpose, focusing on the three pillars of people, profit and planet.
For generations, a company’s time, energy and resources have all orbited around their financial bottom line to secure the best outcome for shareholders. This singular approach is flawed, ignoring the one thing that businesses can’t do without: people.
Every employee must be valued and cared for. We live in a world where both employees and consumers are more engaged and socially conscious. They want to work for companies and support businesses that make money, yes, but do so while being inclusive and diverse and positively contributing to society and the wider environment. Armed with the means to call out companies on their choices and perhaps shortfalls in real-time, employees and consumers have ultimately helped raise the bar for business.
Which is why the Triple Bottom Line can define future success. Prioritise one element over another and companies are caught in a cycle of short-term thinking. Only by giving equal focus to people, planet and profit will a business be best positioned for the longer haul.
And with economic headwinds expected to give rise to challenges in the year ahead, uncertainty as we know is the enemy of sustained and inclusive growth. What we need is confident leadership, which starts with people.
Our leaders must manage providing direction, guidance, and reassurance while acknowledging that the path ahead isn’t clear. Doing one thing without the other doesn’t work. Both are needed to help people find the clarity and strength to move forward. When uncertainty subsides, confidence returns, and economic recovery unlocks.
This year I am calling our leaders to put people first, to invest in trust and kindness to help build that inclusive workforce.
Start always with trust; trust your employees to work hard, to deliver, do the right thing, to look after themselves, to look after their colleagues, to look after the business; and if they are challenged in any of these areas, it is your job to show compassion, to show kindness.
Invest in inclusion and see the dividends. On January 24, the WiB Group will welcome business leaders across Northern Ireland to the 2025 chair’s lunch at Titanic Belfast, when the power of inclusion will be tip-top of the day’s agenda.
- Roseann Kelly is chief executive of the WiB Group
