NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

A recent survey of CEOs is a stark reminder of how far our economy still needs to go before social impact is seen as a key business driver.

According to the survey, while American business leaders feel more pressure than ever to speak out on social issues, they still would rather not. Instead, they’d prefer to focus on the bottom line: a plurality say their most important communications goal this year is to sell their products and services.

The positive takeaway? It’s good to see that nearly 40% of the CEOs surveyed understand the value of communicating brand differentiation (provided they can back it up). Beyond that, though, the survey is disappointing because it perpetuates a fundamental misconception about social impact and business: that the two are in opposition to each other, or worse, that social impact is bad for business.

Photo courtesy of Sudipto Sarkar.