How would you answer the question What is the future we will make? Here’s my answer, and here’s how you can share your own answer with TEDxChange and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In our future, passion and purpose pays.

What do I mean?

In our future, doing good is good business, because …

… a business without a “social good” is not a sustainable business. And I’m not talking about environmentally, culturally or morally sustainable, but strategically, economically and financially sustainable.

I’ve written and talked about the role of humanity, meaning, ethics, passion and purpose repeatedly over the past year or so, heavily influenced by John Hagel and Umair Haque.

These principles span many of the Millennium Development Goals. An economy that allocates returns based on meaning, ethics or purpose directs attention, effort and money towards things that matter: it promotes gender equality, it allocates food and basic services better to eradicate extreme hunger, reduces child mortality, values environmental sustainability, and creates a strong base for countries and organizations to partner on economic development goals.

Think about the work you do: Is passion or purpose a source of a competitive advantage for you and your company? Are profits tied to passion? Is the purpose of your job or company aligned with the source of revenues or profits? Is passion a valued asset at your company? Can you true back your work to supporting a larger purpose?

No? Why not?

In our future, to create a thriving, sustainable economy, passion and purpose have to pay. Meaning, passion and purpose have to play a meaningful role in allocating profits, as important as access to inputs like land, labor and capital, as important as the level of education, knowledge and information, as important as product/market fit, as important as any other input in a business’s equation.

And how does that happen? To start, we have to care. We create a demand for products and services through what we buy, talk about, read about and do. Our individual consumption decisions create market demand; companies create products and services to fit markets demand. If enough of us demand passion and purpose, then companies will have to find a way to embed humanity, passion, ethics, meaning and purpose into what they do.

“When we have low-quality demand, we have low-quality jobs.” It starts with us. Care about what you buy. Invest your time, money and attention in things you believe in. Talk with your friends and colleagues about things you’re passionate about. Invest in yourself. Make the decision to reward passion and purpose, and passion and purpose will pay.

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View this photo on Flickr, and view the rest of the submissions to the project in the Flickr group pool.