Redefining Purpose for Mutual Prosperity

“For a long time, we used the word company to describe a business — a word that comes from the Latin com (together) and panis (bread). It meant “sharing bread,” evoking a sense of community and working together. But somewhere along the way, that changed. We began using the word business, which actually comes from the old English word bisignis, meaning anxiety or constant hard work. Running an enterprise has shifted from nurturing fellowship to maximizing anxiety through intense labor.”

— Bruno Roche, Founder of ONE Society Foundation and the Economics of Mutuality, former Chief Economist, Mars Incorporated.

At the TBNA Conference 2024, Bruno Roche asked a simple but powerful question: What is the purpose of business?

For the past 50 years, the answer has been “maximizing profits” and “maximizing shareholder value.” And yes, this model has created substantial wealth — but primarily for a small segment of the population: capital holders. It has left much of society and the planet worse off and has contributed to a dramatic rise in inequality.

You don’t need to be an economist to know this cannot continue indefinitely. So what’s the alternative?

His argument is that the belief that profit maximization is the primary purpose of business is an ideology, built on a flawed understanding of the role of business and finance. And ideologies, just like Marxism, which eventually collapsed across much of the world, by nature, eventually fall apart

What if the purpose of business was not to maximize profits, but rather to develop profitable solutions to the problems faced by people and the planet, instead of profiting from creating problems?

That redefinition of purpose would change everything. It would no longer be only about the success of the company — it would also become about the flourishing of society and the preservation of the environment on which the company’s success depends.

It would mean harnessing the power of enterprise and management to responsibly and profitably address societal and environmental challenges — and create an abundance of mutual prosperity.

However, this shift requires a broader definition of success. Beyond financial capital, we must recognize and integrate other forms of capital — including human, social, and natural capital — into how we define value creation, accounting, reporting, and ultimately taxation.

That is how we can build a more complete and sustainable model of prosperity. And it all begins with people — with leaders willing to think and act differently, who are willing to be grounded in authentic identity, belonging, and purpose.

In a healthy society, finance should serve the economy, and the economy should serve society. But today, society and the environment serve the economy, the economy serves finance, and finance serves only itself — a dysfunctional order that stifles the creation of prosperity and value.

When mutuality of benefits is embedded within the value creation process, the value produced is not only greater but also more equitably shared.

This is not a utopia.

The model has been rigorously developed and validated over the past 15 years through more than 50 real-world business applications. It emerged from a pioneering partnership between the corporate sector in the United States — arguably the most challenging environment for purpose-driven capitalism — and Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, which provided the academic and methodological backbone.

Today, the model is scaling globally across corporations, cities, and public-private platforms. It has gained substantial traction worldwide and has helped shape the debate on Capitalism 2.0.

It has received a particularly warm reception in China, where the book "Putting Purpose Into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality “ is being widely circulated and studied.

We can choose that kind of society. We can build a future where finance serves the economy, the economy serves people, and protects the natural assets upon which our lives — and the lives of future generations — depend.

It depends on us.