Do you really believe you can have a significant social impact on the world and still make a very healthy profit?

By Steve Moran

Fortune Magazine publishes a bunch of lists:

  • The Fortune 500
  • The Fortune 100
  • Several versions of The Best Places to Work
  • CEO list
  • Under 40 list
  • Unicorn list
  • Franchise list
  • 100 highest paid athletes
  • Most admired

There are more, but the one that really caught my eye was this one: The Top 50 Companies that want to change the world. Not all of them will succeed, but they are all trying. The list includes­ JPMorgan Chase at Number 1, because they are aggressively working to rebuild Detroit. Number 2 is DSM, a food company that is working to eradicate hunger in Africa. Number 11 is Levi Strauss, a company that is committed to improving the lives of factory workers.

The big idea behind these companies is “Doing Well by Doing Good.” In other words they believe they can have a significant social impact on the world and make a very healthy profit. There is some evidence to suggest that companies that are committed to social good have higher profits than the broader marketplace.   

What’s Does This Have To Do With Senior Living?

One might argue that just with some legitimacy that “Doing Well while Doing Good” is inherent to senior living. The industry cares for millions of frail elders. It provides millions of jobs and many of those jobs are held by people who are at the very bottom of the employment stack.  

That is all well and good, but I know there are some companies on both the for-profit and not-for-profit side where the leadership is just crazy nuts about making the world a better place. These are companies that are laser focused on impacting the plant, impacting the lives of seniors, impacting the lives of residents, impacting the lives of family members or impacting the lives of their team members.  

Some are even focused on changing the world outside their organization . . . I think . . . I hope.

These organizations go above and beyond doing just want they need to do to serve residents, families and team members. They are making the world a better place.

I haven’t quite decided, but I find myself thinking we need this kind of list in Senior Living. Not sure if I will publish a list yet, but we are going to take a shot at this. Below is a form for you to nominate a senior living company for this list. It can be the organization you work for or one you know about.  

I would expect this year, if we get enough nominations, we will not do a ranking but just share the best of the best.