On the Contrary

My brother invited me to a corporate do for a major pharmaceutical sales company. I expected it to be the antithesis of the events I've been used to in the past 15+ years; campaigning launches, charity AGMs and social enterprise conferences, by and large. And it was a departure in many respects, mainly on account of the budget, but it turns out drugs reps are human too and the conversations were not so radically different. I realised how, whoever I'm talking to, whatever their background, I'm playing devil's advocate.

I got chatting to the first guy I met, Pete, after getting picked up. He was a really friendly bloke and we were just making small talk about their business and then my line of work. I explained how we were a business, looking to make our own money to reinvest, but aiming to make a real impact on the lives of unemployed and financially excluded people.

'We're in a similar business, then.' Pete said, enthusiastically.

It was my brother who filled the surprised silence with a surprised 'Really?'.

'Yeah. We save lives. That's our business.'

'But you could hardly say we're not for profit. Not in any way. Everything is about profit.' Whatever approach my brother takes to his obviously highly effective sales pitch, diplomacy and toeing the line are clearly not his style.

At this point, I should point out that we'd been flown to Italy for a weekend-long, all expenses paid, awards trip to the high flyers (best sellers) in the company. We were on route from Pisa airport to the 4- or 5-star hotel on the coast. This is also as good a point as any to mention that Pete, we later realised, was the host of the whole event. So, here I was set up in opposition to everything the company stood for - not something I'd intended but with hindsight maybe it was inevitable.

(One Christmas a few years back when I worked at The Big Issue, the family was talking about jobs. My mum was working for Boots when it suddenly occurred to me what a rounded group of careers we'd chosen. I pointed out that when it comes to testing and marketing new drugs: One tested them, one sold them, and I campaigned against them.' More recently, in diabetic older age, my dad's joined the party and seems to have started taking his fair share of them.)

So, at the Gala dinner on Saturday night my brother and I were particularly proud that we'd got a mention in Pete's speech as he defended how the company 'looks after patients first, then the profits follow'. We congratulated ourselves for making an impact at least, ('raising his profile', my brother called it), and then decided that if all else fails, Clean Slate should at least be able to help my brother find a new job.

It was probably a bit ill-advised after all the free booze but we decided to call Pete over. I wanted to set the story straight. I'm not anti-profit - far from it. Chasing it makes social enterprises dynamic, responsive and good value. It's just we don't pass it onto individuals or splash out tens or hundreds of thousands on events like this one.

In fact, when I'm out with public sector managers, it's normally me extolling the virtues of chasing a surplus, business performance disciplines and staff engagement. These are all things that this Italian jaunt was about - although I did point out to my brother that their drugs might save lives, but could maybe save more lives if they didn't spend quite so much on reward trips, bonuses and share dividends. (Few social enterprises also have to disguise the business they work in for fear of violent reprisals from activists, although The Big Issue did receive some very threatening letters from animal rights groups.)

I'm always seen to be on the other side of the fence. I quite like that position but it disguises the pragmatism of social enterprise and how much it shares with both corporate business and the public and not-for-profit sectors. It raises the bar and, as I said, people in big business are human too and if you sew the slightest seed of doubt (if only about perception), sometimes it can lead to Nescafe or Cadbury's Fair Trade coffee or chocolate.

Not sure there will ever be a drugs company that will satisfy everyone's interpretation of ethical or even social enterprise but the weekend got me thinking. My brother and I also acknowledged that private sector companies of all types could apply this rather US-interpretation of social business; waste disposal (public health and sanitation), book publishers (literacy) and even, god help us, the banks (wealth creation - if you have any money in the first place, at least). So, for the time being, I'm happy to offer the voice of dissent.