Sector 4 Focus

Using the Tools of Business to Create Public Good

Using the Tools of Business to Create Public Good

Sector 4 Focus was established by Tom Levitt in 2010.

Paul Polman welcomes the launch of Tom’s book, The Company Citizen

Tom’s book ‘The Company Citizen – Good for Business, Planet, Nation and Community’, encapsulates the ethos of Sector 4 Focus: 

  • Almost half of the world’s biggest 100 economies are not governments but businesses – neither planet, nation nor community can survive without business engagement in the future
  • Business does not have to choose between being profitable and being ethical, responsible and sustainable; it can and must do both in order to survive
  • If business needs to do just one thing to put the world to rights it is: to think longer term.

Paul Polman, then CEO of Unilever, often cited as one of the world’s most responsible and sustainable corporates, has said that ‘The Company Citizen’ is:

‘A compelling account of how – and why – business has to be at the centre of addressing today’s most urgent and far-reaching issues. A book, and a theme, whose time has come. Never has the case for business to step up and help solve society’s challenges been greater. And rarely has it been better put than in this excellent account’.

The Company Citizen and its author

Sector 4 Focus believes that the tools of business need to be better focused on creating public good – not only for the planet, nation and community but for sustainable business, too. We provide bespoke consultancy, facilitation and comment.

Tom’s latest book (2020) is ‘The Courage to Meddle: the Beliefs of Frances Perkins’. This will be launched in UK and USA in due course!

Why ‘Sector 4 Focus’?

‘Sector 4’ – the fourth sector – is the space between the public sector, private sector and civil society. It’s where business acknowledges its legitimate and essential role in the community, nation and planet and it’s the space in which business has relationships with charities, local and central government and others.

Tom Levitt’s latest articles and speeches about the work of Sector 4 Focus are on the ‘Blog’ page.

Fair For You 

Fair For You is a social enterprise dedicated to creating an ethical, responsible, supportive and fair alternative to the high cost exploitation of poorer people by the rent to own sector. It uses the tools of business to combat poverty. Tom is its co-founder, a non-exec director at the ethical lender, and chair of trustees at the charity that owns it. Fair for You, a Living Wage employer which started trading in 2016, expresses the values of Sector 4 Focus.

PowerPlay

…is the first theatre production by Fourth Sector Theatre.  A black comedy about Brexit, it enjoyed 5 sellout performances in London and Norwich in 2018.

Reports on Small Businesses and Community Engagement

Tom has written two reports on SME engagement: In 2014 ‘The Small Company Citizen: Networks of Community Engagement’ reported on how a variety of models of business networks is evolving to help businesses – and SMEs in particular – to engage with communities to mutual advantage. Tom’s first report on SMEs’ engagement with communities, funded by JRF, was published in March 2013.

Tom’s earlier books

Tom’s book, ‘Welcome to GoodCo – Using the Tools of Business to Create Public Good’ was published in June 2014. The second, updated, paperback edition was published in September 2015.

Tom’s first book, ‘Partners for Good: Business, Government and the Third Sector’, was published in June 2012. Click here for details.