< Back to Main Blog Posted: Mar 2026

Choosing the Harder Path

At a crossroads in Greek mythology, Hercules is offered a choice.

One path is easy, full of comfort, pleasure, a life of least resistance. The other is harder and leads to a life of service, meaningful struggle, and purpose. Hercules chooses the harder road, not because it promises ease, fame and fortune, but because it promises impact.

Business today stands at a similar crossroads. One path focuses narrowly on short-term returns, incremental efficiencies and doing just enough to meet expectations. The other path asks more. What is our purpose? How do we genuinely recognise customers, suppliers, communities and the natural world as stakeholders alongside our shareholders, rather than as external considerations? What could we contribute if we brought our strengths to bear on the challenges facing society around us?

The idea of “business as a force for good” is sometimes reduced to doing less harm, lowering carbon emissions, cutting waste or complying with regulation. These things matter. In fact, they are essential, but they are only the starting point.

Being a force for good is about actively making a positive contribution and aiming to leave things a little better than we found them. It asks a simple but stretching question: where do our greatest strengths meet society’s greatest needs?

Choosing the harder road means choosing the path of heated debates and difficult decisions. It means prioritizing with imperfect data and learning from the mistakes that will undoubtably come. Opportunities rarely exist that are wins for all stakeholders involved. Even the best opportunities will mean time, effort, and resource committed to one issue at the cost of another staying firmly on the to do list for another budget cycle.

But this path is where beautiful things happen.

Where you meet other people and organisations willing to step away from the well-worn track of business as usual. A place where partnerships can flourish and unlock the kind of shared value that won’t necessarily show up on the bottom line. Where people with barriers to employment grasp job opportunities with both hands and repay the belief in them with hard work and contributions to a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Where a donated meal isn’t just fuel but an opportunity for connection, belonging, and a stronger more resilient community. Where a new lasagne with less and better meat isn’t just a new product but an experiment and conversation about what a transition to a future food system might look like.

B Corp month is a time to celebrate the growing number of businesses choosing the path of business as a force for good. It’s a time to celebrate the imperfect progress of a community of like-minded businesses as, for a brighter future, we don’t need a few businesses being perfectly sustainable we need thousands of businesses doing it imperfectly.

< Back to Main Blog Posted: Mar 2026