Last week was a busy one. Johnson & Johnson brought all of the finance interns from around the country to New Brunswick, NJ for “Intern Bootcamp”. Bootcamp was an exciting chance to get to meet other interns from around the country as we got formally onboarded to J&Js mission, culture, and strategies for success this summer. The most interesting part for me was learning about the Credo.
For reference, J&J was founded in 1886. Before going public in 1944, Robert Wood Johnson wrote a document which is now called the Credo. If you’ve ever been to an office, or know someone who’s worked for the company you’ve probably heard about. It is in large part what makes J&J who they are as a company. The document, in essence, was a statement put out as to the mission and purpose of J&J. It noted that their first commitment is always to doctors, patients, mothers, fathers, and those who their products serve. Second, it lays out its commitment to employees, compensating them fairly, and allowing them to be full humans not just cogs in a wheel. Third, J&J commits itself to communities and bettering the world. Last, they mention shareholders and providing a fair return.
What I love about this document and what makes me proud to be working at J&J, is that corporate social responsibility is a concept that wasn’t really prevalent in business until the last 20-30 years. For most of the 20th century, the purpose of business, most especially public corporations was to create a return for shareholders. This is what has driven much of the economy to advance but has also caused scandals, fraud, and other crimes to run rampant. Oftentimes, leaders get too focused on a stock price or dividend yield that they ignore the common rules and laws of society and human decency. What I appreciate about J&J is that they as a company had the foresight to recognize the potential risks of going public and established their purpose and focus prior to letting outside capital run the company. To me, they highlight perfectly the role of a business, to better the world and make money doing so.
Looking forward, I’m excited to see how this credo-based culture at J&J is lived out day to day. As someone who really enjoys business ethics, I think I have a front-row seat to a unique strategy in creating a strong ethical business.
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