People
Henk Campher

Henk Campher ... Executive Vice President, Social Impact at Allison & Partners

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

I can see how you have come to have a successful career in the world of PR and messaging ... your profile reads really well! But better, it has some interesting substance. I like the start in Africa and some of the things you have done in the early days ... and I have a feeling that these things still mean something real to you as you work in the corporate space. The challenge as I see it is to make corporate success drive people success with a low bad impact on the environment (planet). However I don't think this is possible when the dominant metrics are simply the money profit metric (for the company) and the GDP growth metric (for the national economy). We absolutely must have some better metrics that put people first, planet second and see corporate performance as the key driver of progress for people and planet, not as an end in itself. More and more people are talking about sustainability ... but in order for the talk to become walk there has to be appropriate metrics. So far I don't see metrics that will do what is needed, though there are a growing number of reporting initiatives that are heading in that direction (... or are they?). In the end they all seem to judge their success about how a little bit better people or planet behavior improves profit behavior ... which is the ultimate tail wagging the dog. I am trying to fix this numbers challenge ... it is not easy, and I am nowhere near finished ... but on the journey ... my attempt to communicate through slidesets is rather clumsy, but better than nothing ... a work in progress ... http://www.truevaluemetrics.org/DBadmin/DBtxt001.php?vv1=list0200-Burgess-p3-Slidesets Best wishes with your work .. Peter