Recently, I came across the following book review in Forbes: The Dumbest Idea In The World: Maximizing Shareholder Value. The central thesis of Roger L. Martin's book "Fixing the Game: Bubbles, Crashes and what Capitalism can Learn from the NFL" is that the primary – in fact the "singular" — goal of most publicly traded companies since 1976 has been to maximize shareholder value, and that this is a poor choice of goal for any company. Not only because, as Martin puts it, it is rotting our capitalist system from the inside, but because the widespread adoption of this goal has—arguably —had the effect of reducing shareholder value in the years since it was first proposed.
His counter proposal is in the spirit of Peter Drucker's famous quote: "There is only one valid definition of a business purpose: to create a customer." Martin proposes that the primary goal of business should be to delight the customer. And as his thesis puts forth, doing so will have the effect of greatly increasing shareholder value, perhaps more than focusing specifically on maximizing shareholder value.
I read the review, and have subsequently purchased and begun reading the book. I'm just on fire with the idea. I'm heartened to realize that there seems to be an entire movement which is re-thinking the way companies are managed. That it's not just the Apples of the world who understand this and run their companies in that way. The book brings up a few examples of other companies who have placed maximizing shareholder value lower on the priority list, and instead have missions that reflect some version of doing something positive for the customer. It also gives examples of how this kind of mission—and the day-to-day decisions that it leads to—can pay off hugely in the long run.
I'm heartened by all this, because, when it gets right down to it, it's what I care about. It's what most designers are trained to care about, and it's what I've taken with me as I've become more holistically responsible for entire products and product suites.