In this new article in The Economist, the chief executive of the Centre for Development and Enterprise argues that results in the People and Planet areas of a triple bottom line focus (Profits, People, Planet) are hard to measure.  Therefore, while Ann Bernstein frames her case in an African continental context, she suggests that business leaders everywhere would be best served by just pursuing the classic bottom line of Profits.

But just because a goal is difficult to measure, does that mean it should be abandoned?  On the one hand there is something to be said for the Measurable attribute of SMART goals.  On the other, though, many of Winning Workplaces' award-winning small firms have succeeded financially because they built People and Planet bottom lines into their business model, and created human capital strategies that align with their triple bottom line focus.

The table below shows not only Profit-oriented results for five of our Top Small Workplace award winners, but People and Planet outcomes as well.  In fact, the latter two bottom lines have helped these five organizations collectively bring in more than half a billion dollars in annual sales!

*As of the year of their award

My counterargument to Bernstein is that if a company is truly committed to all three bottom lines, it will find a way to measure with some degree of depth and certainty the People and Planet results, which both influence and are influenced by Profits.

Related: The CEO of one of the companies listed above, King Arthur Flour, will speak on employee leadership development at our conference that starts tomorrow in Denver.  Last chance to register!