BUSINESS ON A MISSION

BUSINESS ON A MISSION

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ABOUT THE BOOK

All over the world forces are at play driving business towards a more sustainable relationship with society, not least the transparency of the digital age and the demand from Millennials for purpose and meaningful work. The Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Change Conference placed further pressure on businesses to step up to their social and environmental responsibilities.  The award-winning Business on a Mission is the perfect handbook for anyone wanting to know how businesses can link doing social good with driving profitable growth.

It is based on MullenLowe salt’s experience working with some of the first businesses to develop social missions and shows the foundations behind their success.  Intended as a roadmap that can be readily applied by busy managers and practitioners, the book includes interviews with business leaders to provide insight into best practice and clear guidance for implementation. Hear the author, Andy Last, discuss the book or read about it on Business Fights Poverty and Devex.

Andy recently spoke at Engage for Good in Chicago and at the Master’s in Sustainability Leadership course at Cambridge University to discuss the book – click for details – and read reviews of Business on a Mission below.

REVIEWS
“A timely reminder that the primary purpose of business has always been to serve a clear social need, brilliantly combined here with a well-illustrated roadmap of how we can get back to that essential objective.”
Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever
REVIEWS
“Forces like technological disruption and shifting demographics continue to drive constant change and we’re seeing the polarization of the population play out in front of our eyes. Business on a Mission and Last’s collection of interviews demonstrates that organizations have a role to play to ensure we are enhancing people’s lives and they must be an important part of the solution.”
Jonas Prising, CEO and Chairman, ManpowerGroup
REVIEWS
“In Business on a Mission, Andy Last describes how business can develop to deliver to a purpose that serves society. He describes too how NGOs and business can work together for good, with clarity about motive being vital for partnerships to work. Together, business and NGOs can make a bigger difference in the world than either can achieve alone.”
Dame Barbara Stocking, President, Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge, and former CEO, Oxfam
REVIEWS
“A great book for managers who are looking for the first steps in how to build a sustainable brand for their business. It is jargon-free, clear and includes interviews with prominent business people who have successfully built sustainable brands.”
KoAnn Skrzyniarz, Founder and CEO of Sustainable Life Media and Sustainable Brands
Why business on a mission?
Buying behaviour
60% of the 16 to 20-year-olds we surveyed in the USA, UK and Singapore said they would go out of their way to buy products and services from businesses they know are helping to create a better world.
Why business on a mission?
Business benefit
In the war for talent, having a social mission has become the weapon of choice for progressive businesses. 60% of 16-20 year-olds in the USA and Singapore and 45% in the UK say that in choosing a job they would rank working for a company that helps make the world a better place as important a consideration as salary.
Why business on a mission?
Transparency
The interconnectedness of the digital age is changing everything. It is not surprising that those who have grown up in this age, are alive to all the implications for doing business and demand that the companies they buy from and work for not only take account of these social, economic and environmental externalities, but also aspire to a higher purpose.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andy Last co-founded MullenLowe salt, one of the first companies in the UK to be accredited as a B-Corporation.  He has had a 25-year career in communications and is a regular speaker on the role of business in society.  He advises brands and organisations on how they can bring about positive change that combines business results with social progress and developed MullenLowe salt’s Social Mission model to help businesses create sustainable, progressive programmes. He has worked for over a decade on Lifebuoy soap’s award-winning social mission, described as the ‘best social program ever’ by David Aaker, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

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