For too long, business success has been measured by a single metric: profit. But a growing body of research tells a different story — one where the private sector is uniquely positioned to transform our economies from engines of consumption into engines of human flourishing.
The problem with the hedonic treadmill
Most businesses today are built on a simple premise: sell more, grow more. But wellbeing research consistently shows that beyond a certain income threshold, more consumption does not improve life satisfaction. Instead, it traps people in what researchers call the “hedonic treadmill” — endlessly chasing short-term pleasure without gaining lasting fulfilment. Businesses that perpetuate this cycle are contributing to a global crisis of meaning, mental health, and ecological damage.
Business as a force for systemic change
The private sector employs the majority of the global workforce and generates the bulk of global GDP. This gives business extraordinary leverage to shift the system. Whether a social enterprise, a CSR champion, or a profit-oriented company, all businesses can be a gateway to building an economy that fosters genuine wellbeing for all stakeholders.
Where to start
Rethink your purpose. Move product and service development beyond satisfying immediate wants toward what genuinely improves life satisfaction and meaning — things like community, health, learning, and psychological wellbeing.
Redesign how you measure success. Replace narrow financial KPIs with holistic indicators that track stakeholder wellbeing across social, environmental, and psychological dimensions. GDP growth alone is a deeply misleading compass.
Redesign your market research. Shift from measuring customer satisfaction to measuring genuine wellbeing outcomes — across employees, suppliers, customers, and communities alike.
Extend care through the entire supply chain. Wellbeing cannot stop at the office door. Conditions that support flourishing must reach every worker connected to your business.
Adopt responsible resource practices. Embrace circular, sharing, and collaborative approaches to energy and natural resources — recognising that ecological and human wellbeing are inseparable.
Distribute value equitably. Explore shared ownership structures and ensure that profits and benefits flow fairly to all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
Champion a new mindset. Perhaps most powerfully, be willing to let go of old-paradigm thinking entirely. The shift to a wellbeing economy is ultimately not just a strategic change — it is a cultural and personal one.
The question is no longer whether business should support a wellbeing economy. It’s how fast we can make it the norm.