Organizations, no matter the size, are increasingly recognizing that their future success depends not just on financial results, but also on showing a clear commitment and action towards sustainability, social responsibility, and governance. Employees, customers, and investors demand more than promises, they expect proof. If your company is clear on the long term goals in these areas you will continue to be relevant.
What we see in today’s competitive market:
- Employees like to work with companies that are explicit in their impact strategies
- Customers select companies with a sustainable strategy
- Investors challenge companies that seek funding on impact, because the future value of the investment ánd the investor depends on it
Suzanne Meuwissen and Bert van der Meer, Greyt CFOs with experience in empowering organizations to create real impact, shared their perspective to highlight why impact matters more than ever before.
How to know if you’re truly making impact
As Suzanne Meuwissen, Greyt CFO, explains: “It is all about how impact-related data is captured in financial planning and decision-making”. To truly realize impact, it needs to be incorporated in your key strategies and long-term operational plans. Once embedded, it becomes easier to identify metrics related to, for instance, social and environmental KPIs. It is helpful to work with someone who can translate these ambitions and create a cohesive narrative with your financial ambitions.
Common pitfalls when growing with impact
According to Bert van der Meer, Greyt CFO, a major pitfall is trying to move too fast without a strong financial and operational foundation or trying to tackle everything at once without a clear focus.Someone with experience in scaling, structuring, and prioritizing can help you choose what to do first, and when to do it, balancing investment and returns while maintaining your strategic direction.
When should you bring someone in to support your impact strategy?
The answer is simple: the time is now. To stay ahead of the game, you need to put impact on your agenda today. In other words: the return on your investment is evaporating, since the competitive advantage today is the requirement of tomorrow; as complexity grows, numbers blur, and stakeholders become more demanding, the need for financial clarity around your impact strategy becomes critical. Especially when you’re preparing for major decisions like funding rounds, international expansion, or strategic reorganizations, an impact-savvy CFO can be the difference between thriving and falling behind.
Measuring the value of impact
Impact has tangible, measurable value. Employees prefer to work for companies with a clear purpose. Customers show greater loyalty to companies that demonstrate genuine commitment. Investors increasingly require transparency around sustainability (like CSRD and ESG requirements). Metrics like CO2 footprint and employee satisfaction become essential markers of your organizational health and future readiness.
As Bert puts it: “Impact is measurable and steerable. As CFO, you translate soft data to clear strategic direction: how does impact contribute to your financial performance, risk profile, and market position?”
Take Tony Chocolony as an example: people are willing to pay more for their chocolate and are eager to work there because they see real commitment to fairness and sustainability. That’s measurable value, both in product quality and brand strength.
The strategic advantage of a strong impact position
Many organizations believe they are making an impact, but without clear integration into their strategy, it’s superficial. True impact is embedded into decision-making, investment strategies, supply chains, and governance policies. It extends beyond the environmental (‘E’) to also include social (‘S’) and governance (‘G’) dimensions, such as diversity, equal pay, and ethical leadership.
A company with a strong, data-driven impact position gains strategic advantages:
- Attracting top talent
- Securing better financing conditions
- Enhancing customer loyalty
- Reducing risk for investors
In a world increasingly driven by sustainability compliance, impact has become a license to operate, and a lever for growth.
How Greyt CFOs enable sustainable success
At Greyt, our CFOs bring deep expertise in ESG and CSRD frameworks, help your organization to integrate impact into your business model, develop meaningful KPIs and collect relevant data. More importantly, we ensure that impact becomes a source of value creation–impact is part of building a future-proof, resilient, and attractive company.
At Greyt, we believe impact is about relevance. It’s about building organizations that matter and create sustainable futures. Because in the end, it’s simple: if you don’t work on impact today, you risk being irrelevant tomorrow.
Interested in making impact part of your growth strategy? Let’s talk about how Greyt can help your organization scale in a smart, sustainable, and successful way.
