CVS/Pharmacy: Purpose vs. Prosperity
A powerful decision was made by CVS/Pharmacy today. They announced that they would no longer carry any tobacco products in their stores. It was definitely a bold and profit-effecting move but when asked about it CVS CEO, Larry J. Merio, stated, ”Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health,” and concluded with, “Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose.”
BOOM! I love this. 1st off, let’s be honest… this move is not going to make CVS broke. They are doing just fine. But it is the reason behind the company’s firm choice that is role modeling and authentic leadership at its finest.Authentic leaders must lead from their gut: from their own personal definition of what is right and what is wrong (aka morals). The moment we feel like we are doing something incongruent with our morals we must stop and think, “why am I who I am?” Our morals are the foundation that we build everything in our lives upon. CVS realized just that. They felt that selling cigarettes was going against their idea of what is right for them and their customers.Morals in business often get fuzzy because at the end of the day money has to be made otherwise there is no business. That is where the idea of “purpose” comes in. Your purpose, or the reason behind why you do what you do, can have multiple aspects but the minute we take our morals out of the equation is the minute we begin failing.CVS’s purpose is two-fold: they want to help people on their journey to better health and they want to make a profit doing so. I am sure they don’t advertise the second half as much, but it’s implied. I like to say, your intent will influence your impact. By selling tobacco products it blurs CVS’ intent which is to help people live healthier lives and it negates their desired impact: people actually living healthier lives.This is a great example for us all to learn from. As student leaders we are sometimes faced with hard decisions. The most popular decision is not always the best decision and short-term praise is often chased over long-term success. We see it all of the time in racist/sexist theme parties thrown by organizations. Sure the party will be a blast and will get your organization immediate attention, but it will do so at the cost of greatly damaging your organizations proud historied purpose. You may have initially joined that org because of the pomp and circumstance but you’ll rep that org till the day you die when you uphold and live out it’s purpose.Shout out to CVS/Pharmacy for making a purpose-based decision today. And shout out to the student leaders who are doing that on their campuses every day.-James Robilotta