"The only social responsibility of business is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits. So long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say engages in open and free competition without deception, or fraud." - the words of famed economist Milton Friedman from his seminal essay on the topic of social responsibility and what businesses should be responsible for and prioritise their time on.



Now, 50 years old, that essay, and we've seen fluctuations in the understanding of businesses and its responsibility towards social impact over the years and certainly in the last couple of years, more and more prominence of big organisations and corporations putting purpose, putting causes at the centre of their focus, or at least pretending to do so. It's not always the case that it is really their number one priority.



But I'm really interested in this topic, of course, and I've covered it at length on this podcast in the past, and as part of our "Original by Tradition" series with The Glenlivet, which, of course, I'm glad you are participating in, and of course, want to hear your feedback on. I'm speaking to a really special guest today, Michael Baretta, who runs an agency called [dot]GOOD, South Africa's leading cause-based marketing, cause marketing and implementation agency.



[dot]GOOD’s focus really is on helping organisations not just discover their purpose, but communicate that purpose effectively to their audience, to their employees, to various stakeholders, to the population at large, and I really wanted to tap Michael's brain to understand how he helps typically complex corporates distil their intentions in the space, how they incorporate that into their traditional marketing efforts, and how they ensure that really authenticity is held at the core of these efforts, otherwise, they tend to fall flat.



Michael's got a great story, runs an incredible business an was very generous with his time. Enjoy! Connect with Michael · Glenlivet Website · [dot]GOOD Website · Watch the video · MikeStopforth.com · Connect with Mike on LinkedIn · Follow Mike on Twitter · 48h crisis communication consultancy