Ketan Patel: The Changing Business Model Cycle
‘Perspectives’ is a joint project of The Beautiful Truth and Leaders on Purpose. During the 6th annual Leaders on Purpose CEO Summit in September 2023, The Beautiful Truth conducted interviews with influential corporate leaders and thought leaders. The goal was to gain insight into their perspectives on purposeful business and answer the question: what actions should our businesses take in the current historical context?
Ketan Patel is the CEO and Co-founder of Greater Pacific Capital and Chair of the Force for Good Platform and Initiative.
“Sustainable development is a commercially sound business idea and morally the right thing to do.”
How is the corporate landscape evolving?
I’ve noticed that the business model cycle has changed. Previously, people believed that investing in a company would last for five, ten or fifteen years. However, the cycle of change is such that the fundamental underlying business model changes drastically every three to four years. Organisations that are not adaptive to these changes won’t survive.
However, there’s something else to consider. If you can understand the direction and flow of the world, you can decide whether you can influence it. Can you make that river flowing in a certain direction go faster? Can you be somebody who propels it? Can you make sure it’s a journey of a certain type? Understanding the world is crucial. Resilience and the ability to adapt, invent and reposition in a complex world are enormous success factors.
Why is purpose so important to you?
Everyone seeks purpose. It’s a feature of our species; we want to know our purpose beyond just surviving the day. We want a grander, meaningful life. It helps to align us around what to do, giving us a reason to wake up every day. And purpose can be moving: although it’s about being intentionally in the right direction, it can evolve.
What do you think of long-term sustainability?
Sustainable development is a commercially sound business idea and morally the right thing to do.
Two-thirds of the world can be future customers. This is all due to the pace at which technology is advancing and granting us access to people, the speed at which education is being delivered thanks to technology, and the rate at which financial inclusion is expanding.
For example, because of mass financial inclusion, India has one of the highest growth rates of any country in the world. It makes sense for us to explore how to access this customer base, segment it, find the most profitable parts of that customer, and, importantly, provide services for that customer.
“Our imagination is a powerful tool that drives us to have all sorts of purposes.”
How do people bring their purpose into an organisation?
Every organisation has a purpose, and this purpose can vary along a spectrum. At one end, the purpose may be to maximise profits and extract money from a customer base. This attracts a certain kind of person and can be enormously successful.
However, there are many types of people, and while some may choose the profit-focused purpose, others may prefer a more humanistic, environmentalist or global approach. We have even seen people who articulate a beyond-the-planet purpose. “Our imagination is a powerful tool that drives us to have all sorts of purposes.”
How can businesses use purpose for good?
The notion of impact changes the character of an institution. It affects the institution’s and its people’s values and aligns people around doing something greater than just making money. And, of course, they still have to make money – but do it for a reasonable risk that they understand and can manage.
