Interview with Francisco Suarez

It’s all about where vision meets the three Ps: People, Profit, Planet.

Francisco Suarez, the CEO of AdeS for Latin America asks you to look at it another way.

Social, Economic, and Environmental value.

So what is the triple bottom line, and how did Drucker predict its importance in the modern world? Is your organization providing value in all three areas? Or have you not redefined your bottom line? Let’s discuss.

While profit is the typical metric for success, it is not the only one that matters. For Francisco Suarez, every company vision needs to incorporate the triple bottom line.

University of the People explains that a successful business operates by taking ‘into account its expenses and impact on people and the planet.’

An organization transforms the communities where it operates when all three values – social, economic, and environmental – support its single vision.

Giving equal weight to profit and social and environmental concerns is the new bottom line.

It’s time to expand the impact your business, and management approach can have on the world. Francisco Suarez builds on Peter Drucker’s philosophies, highlighting a corporation’s three obligations:

Social

Both Drucker and Suarez see management as the catalyst for every successful organization. And every successful organization plays a huge role in society. Peter Drucker posits that successful organizations support self-development in their people. In other words, developing your workers makes for a better society.

So if it all comes down to people, how can the individual leader support this development? The answer is self-knowledge.

Self-knowledge as a leader is essential. It’s a balance of both experience and an internal belief in yourself that makes a valuable leader.

Yes, you always try to have the best information possible. But thought leaders like Minglo Shao (founder of CIAM), insist that what sets successful leaders apart is their ability to know and act on their gut decisions.

It takes great executives to ensure organizations are intentional about their impact on society. Suarez exemplifies this in his work for FEMSA. A pioneer in social and environmental practices, FEMSA stands firm in the social aspect of its company vision.

It is a leader's responsibility to know themselves. Without self-knowledge, an organization's societal impact diminishes.

Economic

Just as knowing yourself is key, so is knowing your competitors.

An organization’s economic impact is by far the most measurable by today's standards. It’s not to say we won't have better tools to measure social and economic impact in the future. But for now, no business leader is a stranger to economic impact.

Every single company measures its profit and loss. But Suarez tells us that economic success is also directly tied to social and economic value.

University of the People says it well. “Caring about society and the environment isn’t in opposition to being profitable. In many instances, the companies that care about more than just their bottom line end up being more profitable because people like supporting companies that care.”

You must redefine what the “bottom line” means to your organization. And find value in more than just financial profit.

Environmental

Companies make environmental sustainability possible.

As much as the individual must also take action to make a difference, it is not the actions of the individual that make a true environmental impact. Instead, it is organizations that have the resources to enact true environmental change.

But the big companies cannot do this alone. Leaders must be humble enough to acknowledge that there are things they don’t know and be open to working with other sectors. Suarez reminds us that collaboration is vital to environmental impact.

Yes, organizations make environmental sustainability possible. But we also need consensus. A multi-sector collaboration that does not yet exist.

Suarez uses the example of the United States leaving the Paris Climate Accords. And then returning. Big companies cannot alone be responsible for environmental impact. Individuals and political policies must be considered as well.

There must be a consensus across sectors about what is, and what is not, negotiable when it comes to making an environmental impact.

Peter Drucker’s philosophy of management as a liberal art has influenced many thriving business leaders and minds. Francisco Suarez uses Drucker's insight daily and has seen real-world results.

He asks us all to be social ecologists. To think beyond economic and financial impact. To ensure that every project incorporates the triple bottom line in their vision.

While the concepts may have changed over time, Peter Drucker's principles remain useful in today's business landscape. Francisco Suarez has felt their impact through his work and encourages us all to do the same.

Sources:

https://open.spotify.com/show/2Ct5vJOgGkazlg2md6qMAG

https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/triple-bottom-line/

https://www.femsa.com/en/about-femsa/about-us/