An unlikely business case study landed on my desk recently.
A review of Coldplay's business model caught my attention. The authors, Skordia and Vlaseros, identified something I've been wrestling with in my own research: how organisations move from individual performance to collective impact.
Here's what they observed:
"Showcasing what Hummels, Lee, Nullens, Ruffini and Hancock (2021) suggest is the future of love and organising, Coldplay puts agapic love in practice and makes it the fuel for tackling grand challenges."
I'll admit, "agapic love" in a business context made me pause. But only for a moment, as what this band actually did was reduce their tour emissions by 59 per cent while grossing over a billion dollars. This is their exquisite art, and strategy meeting values in a way most of us are still figuring out.
The Shift We're All Navigating
Most leaders I work with (myself included) start in the same place. We're focused on personal performance. How do I manage stress? How do I stay productive? How do I lead my team effectively?
These are good questions. Necessary questions, even. But many of us have learned they're just the entry point.
The more complex work begins when we ask a different question: How does my organisation create value that matters beyond our quarterly results?
This requires a move from the Individual to the Collective perspective. It's the difference between managing our own anxiety and building systems that address complex problems. It's the difference between feeling better and doing better business.
I've seen what happens when leaders start asking these bigger questions - and its inspiring.
Why This Matters Now
We're all operating in a disrupted environment; as the descriptor evolves, it was initially termed a VUCA environment. Volatile. Uncertain. Complex. Ambiguous. Pick your favourite crisis from the past five years, and you'll see all four dimensions at play.
In this context, our old playbook no longer works. We can't optimise our way out of complexity. We can't efficiency our way through ambiguity.
What I'm learning, alongside the leaders I work with, is that we need to operationalise our values. This is why the Coldplay case is so compelling.
Coldplay didn't just talk about caring for the planet. They redesigned their entire touring model. They created kinetic dance floors that generate electricity. They planted trees. They measured everything.
They made their values concrete. Doing this is the part most of us struggle with.
Performance, Profit, Progress
Through my work with organisations, I've developed a framework that helps: Performance, Profit, and Progress. Not one or two. All three.
When we focus only on performance, we burn out our people. When we chase only profit, we erode trust. When we pursue only progress without the other two, we go broke.
But when can we integrate all three? We start to build resilience. We create organisations that can navigate disruption. We attract people who want to solve problems, not just collect paychecks.
This frame is built on the theory of Second-Generation Mindful Leadership. It's about embedding wisdom into how we make decisions, allocate resources, and measure success.
The challenge is making it real.
Making It Real
So how do we do this in our organisations?
I usually start by asking leaders: What do we actually value? What do our resource allocation decisions tell us about our priorities?
This question can make people uncomfortable. It should. It makes me uneasy when I ask it of myself.
Then we ask: What complex problem could we solve if we treated our values as fuel rather than decoration?
Finally: What would it take to make that real?
The answers are never easy. But they're honest. And in a world of increasing complexity, honest engagement with hard questions is what leadership requires.
Enacting values is a path to competitive advantage. The organisations that figure this out how to do this will be the ones still standing when the next disruption hits.
Reference: Skordia, M., & Vlaseros, V. (2025). Media Review: Coldplay Discography - A Journey to Collective Value Inquiry Through Love. Organization Studies, 46(12), 1783–1786.
