FutureGenz Hr Solutions

Measuring Impact On Lives

Measuring impact in work, business or life can be challenging and surprising. Many times numbers mislead and provide little measure of impact. Take the measure of scale. Yes, revenue potential is far greater if a product scales easily in markets. But scale in terms of human impact does not tell the story. If you give a dollar’s worth of food to one billion people, your billion dollar investment will likely have little lasting impact on any of the lives affected, yet you can report significant scale in your funding report. If you invest the same billion dollars in computers and internet connectivity to a far smaller group, the lasting impact gains potential not only in those directly served but in their ability to eventually impact additional lives. Greater lasting impact in terms of ultimate numbers and results might occur in larger investments into socially conscious companies with upside growth that can truly benefit many.

And perhaps the greatest impact, ironically, comes in deep and comprehensive investments in the lives of individuals who can ultimately create great and have lasting impact on many. I feel that the microcosm leads the macrocosm in social impact. One person, empowered with capacity, opportunity, confidence, partners and depth of wisdom, can radically impact their community and our world.

Think of the work of innovators whose individual work has radically affected all of us: Steve Wozniak believed an individual, not just large companies, should have a computer; Marty Cooper believed that an individual should have a mobile phone. These two innovators, fueled with persistence and passion have impacted our world with enormous scale. Yet, the initial investment and belief was in the individual not the ultimate scale. If we are to radically impact our future and the seven billion on this planet, I believe that it’s wiser to invest and greatly help every young individual we can, giving them depth of empowerment, opportunity, partnership and confidence and see their capacities ripple outwards to influence communities, countries and our world. Focus on the macrocosm, doing less for greater numbers, and I feel you’ll ironically see the inverse: very little ultimate impact but with greater numbers to report initially.

In my experience and observation if you greatly influence the life of one, you will have more ultimate impact than in having a shallow influence on the lives of many.