The multiplier effect

This is something that is often mentioned in my posts, but here I want to take the multiplier effect on a bit of a tangent and see where it goes. I first really encountered this 'Multiplier Effect' in an employment concept: Shell, for example, talk about 100,00 directly employed, 500,000 indirectly employed and many more receiving benefits from their operations (and I suppose also encountering the opposite too!). I next encountered it in an excellent report by SustainAbility (I highly recommend everything they have written) who commented on the fact that of the 3 aspects of the Triple Bottom Line, the Economic one was the one least understood, least measured and least reported.

So this post is not rocket science but it is written to emphasis the importance the multiplier effect has. From the oft-quoted 'giving the fisherman a fishing rod is better than giving the fisherman a fish' type of quote that appears often in poverty-reduction papers, to the 'shall i work for a small NGO and change a few lives lots or work for a Multinational and change more lives, but probably less'. As these examples highlight the multiplier effect is not just about a company's supply chain or employment chain, although these are the most obvious consequences of a business's activity.

On the topic of responsible leadership, I feel the need to stress how the consequences of an organisation are normally so poorly understood. In fact impact is a better word. What is the impact of an organisation and how can this be effectively utlilised? The stakeholder mapping technique is a good start, but normally these stakeholders are engaged with on a quantitative level -by this they are asked questions about the current impacts the organisation has and then asked to quantify them (good, bad etc). What would be interesting is to ask a bunch of people "What impact am I having on you?". Maybe you randomly saw a quote from my CEO who inspired you, maybe your school got a computer from my company, maybe because you eat my chocolate, you have to empty the litter bin more often -extreme examples as they may be, but I find it intriguing to think of all the small consequences that occur, all the time, from so many small, minor actions that each individual makes.

Some practical examples: how Coca-cola cans were used to create art or to create practical objects..how some are reused for years... these cans have probably helped some of the poorest people in the world carry their water around, make things to keep themselves entertained (or even to sell) and so on. Or how the company that wrapped their sweets individulally for hygiene purposes (and to make it last longer) then realised that someone was able to buy the whole pack and then sell each individually wrapped sweet in order to make money and sustain an income for them!

On a more extreme note...Maybe paying the fees of my company's service meant you could not afford medical care for your child or you could not take a holiday. A massive undertaking it would be, to interview so many people, but with such a simple question. It would of course be hard to get the answers needed -most people don't think very creatively any more! And i doubt the results of the survey would matter that much, but there could be some interesting clusters that are new, some impacts that no-one realised; these impacts could create business opportunities or minimise business risk. So please do create as many jobs as you can, please do spread your values to your suppliers, distributers, manufacturers, staff and so on. Please ensure your staff recycle at work, and encourage them to do so at home. But please also be more creative, more innovative, more open to really understanding what impact you are making on this World. Leading is about making an impact -the question is how responsible is the impact you are having?