Business. A Force for Good?
Today the Institute of Directors publishes their 2026 Commission report Business. A force for good?
This was a Commission supported by the Good Business Charter with both Julian Richer and Jenny Herrera involved in the work as Commissioners alongside a range of other experts.
The report specifically recognises the Good Business Charter’s contribution to this topic:
The Good Business Charter is another effective example of a business-led voluntary initiative that can help a company bring together the different facets of being a responsible business to measure their progress on raising standards above the regulatory floor.
Value of the report
It was an absolute privilege to be involved in this Commission to analyse this important topic and work together on what would be helpful to businesses, investors and regulators to give conditions for good growth their very best chance to succeed.
We plotted our way through definitions of good and perceived barriers that stop businesses doing the right thing by their different stakeholders. There was important recognition that every business is different but that regardless of their ownership structures they all depend on people. How do business leaders view those different groups of people? As stated in the report’s main recommendation; ‘businesses need a way to assess the underlying conditions driving behaviour, not just its outcomes’. When businesses find themselves under pressure it is those underlying conditions that determine what decisions are made.
Why we think it’s timely
As far as we are concerned, this conversation could not be more pertinent. 4.1 million people are still in insecure employment in the UK, a staggering 11.9% of the workforce. The tax gap stands at nearly £60 billion which is roughly the same as the entire UK defence budget, and recent research we have done indicates that only 17% of the 8,335 large businesses pay their bills on time (measured as 95% within 60 days and 95% to agreed terms).
With all the challenges pressing in on us we cannot afford to do anything but approach it together, as community, ensuring we first have the basics covered. It is no surprise to us that it is frequently the smaller businesses, the employee-owned businesses and those with long, patient capital that are better able to get these basics right because they know that treating their stakeholders well will result in long-term sustainability and value creation and they have the commitment and flexibility to properly invest in employee wellbeing, supplier resilience and customer satisfaction.
Our call to businesses
In Lord Ree’s foreword he mentioned the ‘self-enlightened interest’ that feeds into behaving as a responsible business. Being a good business does indeed make good business sense, especially when it comes to how you treat your colleagues, customers and suppliers. Surely this is common sense? Happy colleagues are more productive and provide better customer service. Customers who feel they are treated with respect are much more likely to come back when they need you again and when suppliers have offers, they are surely going to come first to their customers that pay on time!
I think it is worth reiterating what the report says about why business should have a role in advancing wider societal interest:
The first is a responsibility-based argument: business has a duty to use its capacity responsibly and, where it can, contribute positively to society, while recognising that business and government have distinct roles and responsibilities.
The second is a self-interest-based argument: business needs the conditions that a healthy society provides, a stable, educated, resilient, healthy workforce is more productive, secure infrastructure lowers costs, and trust lowers the cost of doing business, so contributing to those conditions is rational self-interest, not altruism.
The third is a structural argument: business both depends on and contributes to the physical and social structures of society. It benefits from infrastructure, the rule of law, an educated workforce and public services, while contributing to their funding through taxation, employment and economic activity. Continued prosperity therefore depends on maintaining the conditions in which both business and society can thrive.
We want to encourage people to take the 7 dimensions set out in this report and engage with it, honestly appraising how their business is progressing on the journey of responsible business behaviour. If favourable, we encourage them to lead the way and join us in a movement that is unequivocal in what is the right and responsible thing to do. If you are lagging behind, use our straightforward framework as a helpful check on where you are falling short and commit to change.
The report talks about interdependence and the eco-system in which we all operate. There is an opportunity within that to collectively raise the bar on how much of a force for good we are, requiring it of our subcontractors, favouring it in our procurement, etc. As we have done in York, with our GBC city, there is a sense of pride of being part of something bigger than what one individual business can do and clearly illustrating that commitment to responsible business behaviour as the established norm.
Where we go from here
People need a clear, tangible set of indicators of whether they are indeed behaving responsibly. This resonates with the IoD survey findings and is what the Good Business Charter provides:
Among the 88% of IoD members who agreed that businesses have a responsibility to contribute positively to society, the primary indicators of good business behaviour were: fair treatment of employees and good employment relationships, acting transparently and ethically, and practising sound governance. Abstract commitments to ESG or sustainability scored significantly lower, suggesting that people are focused on tangible, relational dimensions of business conduct rather than corporate reporting frameworks.
In the face of threats of war, cyber-attacks and climate catastrophe, let’s not shrink back from the opportunity to be a force for good towards all stakeholders – providing good jobs, treating customers and suppliers fairly, contributing positively to society and the planet. The public want and demand this with 97% of the public stating businesses should act responsibly and a growing number of people choosing employment, or rewarding businesses with their custom, only where they find aligned values.