Does the business principle ‘do no harm’ set the bar too low in organisations?
It implies that it is already good enough if business practices don’t hurt people or the planet. Leaving aside for a moment whether organisations actually achieve to do no harm, shouldn’t that be the bare minimum?
Imagine holding ourselves to the same standards with the people we love.
When we spend precious time with family, hang out with friends, or raise our kids. Would we ever settle for ‘do no harm’?
Would we really feel that’s enough?
No, right?
We care for our loved ones to help them have a wonderful life. Why should we accept anything less from organisations?
For a large part of our lives, we devote our precious talents, time and energy to the organizations we work for. Those organisations have a major impact on the lives of their employees, and the sum of all the efforts within the organisation has a major impact on our world.
We can expect organisations to do everything they can to ensure our collective efforts amount to something great, rather than passable.
Let’s not settle for ’do no harm’, and instead aspire to ‘make life thrive’.
