Hopefully that title won’t ring true with you; yes, I suppose, business decisions are sometimes based on emotion but any entrepreneur will tell you that if you employ the heart and not the mind then you won’t get far. In fact any great entrepreneur will tell you that good business is about using your mind to make sound judgments and the heart has to be firmly set to one side. (note Gadhia’s point,”. . . If on the other hand you have a budget proposal for an activity that will not deliver any ultimate customer benefit the decision must be a straightforward no.” Such a statement would chill any fundraiser’s heart. Especially if they have a morning of calls to businesses on their ‘to do’ list!)
But it begs the point; why is it that we base so much charity giving on emotions? If sound business investment should be a clear intellectual process, why not our ‘investment’ in good causes? (Let’s set aside the tricky question of whether corporate giving delivers “any ultimate customer benefit”!) We know that relying on our emotions means that some days we’re going to decide to give a little and on other days perhaps even less if at all. We could argue that people will die because today we’re not feeling as if giving is the right thing to do.
Many people seem to think they require an almost electrical ‘emotional jolt’ before they can step into action. And it does seem to be a requirement - no emotional jolt – no donation! Sadly, it is by no means guaranteed that even the people who’ve had these experiences will actually manifest any long-term change in their lives. I suspect that many, if not most, live exactly the same as they did before; so tell me; how much real use is our emotional thrill to the developing world?
These people in need don’t have time for you to be having a good day, they need help now. Don’t wait until you’ve got your heart in gear, sit down, think logically about the problems that you see around the world and figure out what you’re going to do about them.
Tags: Business, Corporate Responsibility, Giving