Key Lessons from Developing the Human Centered Business Index – the first year

After an eventful spring crowded with meetings and insights, we have taken the summer to gather our thoughts. Which steps have been taken so far? We launched the first Human Centered Business Index in March 2016 with KTH’s Center for the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship, and in its wake conducted a myriad of dialogues, for example in Almedalen. We had the research behind the first version of the Human Centered Business Index published in the peer-reviewed, pan-European journal European Public & Social Innovations Review.

In reviewing these past months, here are some reflections on three key lessons from the journey thus far:

The Challenges and Virtues of a Qualitative Approach

Amidst all the encouraging feedback, we have also recognized the challenge of using qualitative methods. Qualitative methods are demanding because they can feel difficult at an initial stage – not because they lack robustness, but because they challenge dominant understandings of how data and knowledge is produced, and what constitutes valid knowledge in society.

While this sense of ‘difficulty’ might be more tangible in qualitative methods, we also know how hard it can be to classify digital and/or quantitative methods, as they also involve various elements of ‘qualitativeness’, such as judgments about which variables to include or exclude, or how to define a variable before its measurement.

In truth, qualitative methods require a valuable set of skills that allow us to unlock social life, and truly see that which is visible yet unnoticed. Skills such as empathy, observation and critical analysis are important for understanding people and phenomena. Skills such as interpretation are often thought of as ‘fictional’, but we live in a world drenched in meaning, and interpretation is a way to uncover that which is implicitly assumed. It is our firm belief that qualitative methods and critical sensibility – combined with quantitative approaches that allow comparability across the board – can be powerful tools in unlocking new insights about the future of sustainable business.

The Case for Examining Publicly Available Materials

Our method is rooted in the analysis of publicly available materials. This is not a disregard for internal or informal forms of information; it is an expression of our belief in the importance of communication, and how publicly available materials – both its availability and its contents – reflect a given company’s relationship to its stakeholders. A Human Centered Business is willing and eager to engage with pressing issues publicly before the stakeholder has demanded it.

Internal and informal information tends to be person-centered and volatile, while public information reveals a great deal about a company’s ability and willingness to communicate, as well as its understanding of its own long-term strategy. And although internal information is necessary for the fine-tuned understanding of business operations, Human Centered Business Index sets out to examine strategy.

From Topics to Strategy

We are deeply encouraged by the thirst for measurability and comparability displayed by the business sector in recent years. The problem with measuring and comparing business operations for different companies, however, is that the comparisons are rarely entirely satisfactory. Definitions are inevitability bound to distinct topics, context, sector, time, and space. Apples and pears are simply too different for a comparison to provide rewarding and relevant information, and sustainability is not about ticking a number of topics off a to-do-list. This is why the Human Centered Business Index shifts the perspective to strategy – the will and capacity to engage with sustainability, firmly rooted in your own purpose and conditions.

We are bringing these three key lessons with us as we roll up our sleeves for the work ahead – and we hope to see you on this journey!