Joel Gascoigne: Purpose Beyond Profit

August 19 & 20: Built to Last Audio Conference from Buffer and Wistia

Speaker: Joel Gascoigne, co-founder and CEO of Buffer

Links:

• Joel on Twitter
• Buffer's Open blog (on culture and transparency)

Episode notes and action points

Consumer expectations are shifting (and brands need purpose beyond profit)

Modern consumers expect more transparency and authenticity from brands. Consumers are demanding that companies take a stance and aim to be a net positive for society.

Brands should strive to create a really differentiated and high-quality product for their target customers and also focus on thinking about how they could be a benefit to society as well. There’s a really big opportunity right now to capture the audience that is starting to really care about what businesses do beyond that product.

Data point: A recent Accenture study found that 62 percent of consumers want companies to take a stand on issues such as sustainability, transparency and fair employment practices.

Question the norms

Joel likes to question everything when it comes to the way businesses operate. Buffer likes to reimagine things, break things down and start all over again to find the best way. This isn’t always about trying to reinvent the wheel. Often it’s simply to validate that the traditional way of doing things is actually the best way.

“Even if we learn in the process that the traditional way is the best way, we will go ahead with that. It's more about not assuming that the current way is the best way and finding our own way along the journey as well,” says Joel.

Action point: Think of one task you do every week or even daily… What does your current process look like? Try to break it down and explore whether there could be a better, more productive or simpler way to reach the same outcome.

Profitability = freedom to experiment

Buffer’s focus on profitability on being a long-term company enables the business to operate quite a lot differently than other companies. Buffer can do things that are great for customers and its team that may not provide an immediate return.

This year Buffer has been experimenting with a four day work week, something that Joel believes could be a long-term benefit for Buffer but at the same time something that would be hard to encourage if the business wasn’t profitable.

Other examples include Buffer’s ability to focus on marketing campaigns and strategies that have a long-term focus vs. driving immediate sales and its ability to focus on serving one clear set of customers.