Today, two news articles popped out at me. One was about Zappos “squishy” culture and the  other was about Panera’s profit from shared values. The message is clear: people care about values. Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and other publications as well as the swelling number of books written about profit built on purposeful intent (e.g. Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia, The Responsible Business by Carol Sanford, etc), are removing any doubt that the future of business must be squarely focused on human needs beyond the simple product offering.

Too much headline news is curated based on fear or tragedy. To be honest, I think it makes some people nervous to believe things are improving. Perhaps trouble has become a “safe place” for them and the idea of change for better makes them nervous? But the facts are that the world is indeed getting better, and people truly do care about each other. The sooner businesses wake up and realize it, the better chance they have for success.