A sense of responsibility

By Francesco Morace, president of Future Concept Lab

If there is a collective lesson that has emerged strongly from the COVID-19 context in which we are still living, it is a renewed sense of responsibility. We have finally felt first-hand how much the freedom of each person ends where the freedom of the other begins. And how much everyone can and must make their own contribution to transforming our collective existence in civil society.

An Amerindian story telling of a great fire that broke out in a forest is often told on this subject, helping us to understand what a sense of responsibility truly is. The legend goes like this: ‘All the animals in the forest ran away and watched, terrified and powerless, as the forest burned. Every last one, except a hummingbird, which started flying back and forth to the nearest pond, collecting a drop of water in its beak and throwing it onto the fire. When the other animals asked, astonished, what difference it thought it could make with that drop, the hummingbird answered, without stopping: I don't know yet, but I'm doing my part.’

A beautiful parable about the sense of responsibility that everyone should nurture and instil in their fellow humans. As Pierre Rabhi writes after telling the legend: ‘Such is our responsibility towards our planet, as we are not absolutely powerless if we all decide otherwise’.

In the world of business, a sense of responsibilitycoincides with an ability – on the part of manufacturers, distributors and companies in general – to offer a specific point of view and core values to share with the entire community in question: suppliers, customers, but also and above all, internal resources.

In other words, the vision of the offeror must be compatible with meeting the needs of the recipient, presenting, supporting and implementing their idea of value (not just in an economic sense) and quality, which must be defended down to the very last detail.