Businesses making a difference?

Business, just like money, is a tool that can be helpful or otherwise.  The reason it holds so much power over us is because it gives us luxuries and comforts that most of us find desirable.  The level to which these desires have become addictive, however, is a product of the enslavement we find ourselves trapped.  Our addiction to material things, foods that harm us, harmful production processes, and a destructive way of life that promotes separation, disharmony, callousness, and downright indifference are a consequence of the worst aspects of this system we so glibly accept into our lives.  We find ourselves in this situation, not because we are inherently bad, but because we have been bamboozled by controllers who themselves have been corrupted by greed and power.  Business is one of the most influential systems ever devised by the human mind.  It can meet our needs, and it can also create a plethora of unnecessary ‘wants’ to which we are addicted that harm ourselves and the planet.  When you consider that hundreds of billions of dollars are spent annually in keeping us addicted by the powers that be, you can understand just how pervasive is this system.  Imagine just for a second what would happen if this destructive system were used to promote a new system, one that was good for us and the planet.  This is not a pipe dream.  A sustainable human system is literally possible now.  Not a hundred years from now, but it can literally begin now.  I am not some hopeless and naïve dreamer.  Humanity is waking up and the dream of a sustainable world is a real one if we choose to do it.  While you may still feel disempowered, let me share with you a couple of ideas that ought to demonstrate why I feel so optimistic.  It would seem that the better angels of our nature seem to be taking a stand finally?

A major first step in businesses becoming more a force for good instead of co-creating with us to ruin the planet came about in 2006 when B Corporation crept on to the business scene with a new paradigm to measure what matters through a strict certification process. The B Corp  Declaration of Interdependence states:

• We envision a global economy that uses business as a force for good.
• This economy is comprised of a new type of corporation – the B Corporation – which is purpose-driven and creates benefit for all STAKEHOLDERS, and not just shareholders.
• As B Corporations and leaders of this new economy, we believe:
  • That we must be the change we seek in the world
  • That all businesses ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered.
  • That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.
  • To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.

The B Corp Impact Assessment was created, synthesizing the best practices in socially responsible business from Ben Cohen and Mal Warwick’s SVN book, Betsy Power’s work with Natural Capital Institute, and the small company version of the Global Reporting Initiative reporting standards.  Individually, B Corps meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability, and aspire to use the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems.  Rose Marcario, CEO of Patagonia, said, “The B Corp movement is one of the most important of our lifetime, built on the simple fact that business impacts and serves more than just shareholders—it has an equal responsibility to the community and to the planet.”  It will be interesting to see if the Cabal can be overthrown by this effort, but I remain positive that if WE, the sovereign consumer,do our part in supporting such efforts, then a transformation can occur!

Another simple indicator to gauge how businesses are moving to a new sustainability paradigm comes from a   colleague of mine (David Thomas).  He has a typology that defines a socially (and environmentally) conscious business from a typical profit driven business through a short 4-point continuum.  This continuum is predicated on how businesses view their relationship to the places in which they do business.  If the businesses see ‘place’ as just where they make their profits, then everything is merely fodder for their business goals.  If on the other hand, a business sees ‘place’ as more about social connections, social values, and interactions with community, employees, and natural environment, then true social responsibility is happening.    On the one side of the continuum is the profit only driven business who are categorized as EXPLOITIVE.  Everything is geared towards maximizing the business. On the other end of the continuum are the businesses that are TRANSFORMATIONAL and see themselves as ‘change agents’ working to improve the lives of people and groups in a specific place they do business.  While profit is important in keeping the business competitive in the marketplace, the ethics are more people and place focused.  In between are the CONTINGENT businesses that are one step above the exploitive ones that ingratiate themselves into a community and help only as long as it improves their bottom line in some way.  The other side of the continuum below the transformational ones are the CONTRIBUTIVE businesses that view themselves as investors to a community place with a goal of improving the well-being of the community.  There is still an element of how being invested in place helps the business, but the community place is important to the ethical structure of the business.  As this ethical idea of ‘place’ slowly takes hold, businesses can fall into two groups – those that adopt the ethics with an aim to improve profit, and those that adopt the ethics because it is the ‘right thing to do’!  The progression from one end of the continuum is one that is highly influenced by the conscious sovereign consumer – Exploitive à Contingent à Contributive à Transformational.   A savvy and informed consumer will easily be able to identify at which step ‘a business places themselves’ on this continuum and thereby, be able to judge the sincerity of any business to human well-being versus lip-service to drive more profits.  This last comment is important for us as consumers, since we are the judges about whether a business is truly sincere about transformation.   One of the main reasons for much of this transformational effort comes from new business leaders who grew up in the age of environmental action (since 1960s) and also a new breed of business woman that instead of fighting to find a place in a male dominated system, are changing the workplace through the use of Intuition (heart intelligence) and logic (head intelligence) – a mix of the feminine and masculine energies. This is away from the male dominated head intelligence to something more spiritual in nature.

While I remain optimistic about potential change occurring, I will close this post with a reality check of what is going on despite so many businesses/corporations producing ‘sustainability Reports’ that seem more sham than reality.  The belief system of profit making describing success is entrenched in the business world.  Indeed, most business schools still promogulate this belief at all levels.  The change is happening with business students and established business people who see beyond this belief and are working to make a difference.  Meanwhile, we are dealing with Transnational corporations (TNCs) that have overwhelming power and impact on all our lives with their practices of greed and corruption.  To them, sustainability is merely a buzzword, although I do believe that they believe their own rhetoric.  It is not that they are not trying to do things better, but I call them schizoid.  For instance, Shell Energy is working to build a hydrogen fuel infrastructure in Iceland, but at the same time is devastating the country of Nigeria in its rush to drill oil and gas. But trusting big business to lead sustainability efforts, as stated by Peter Dauvergne of UBC, “is like trusting arsonists to be our firefighters.”  The biggest problem is that many of these large giant businesses and corporations are doing amazing things to save energy and resources, but at the end of the day are doing so because it lowers their expenditures and not because it helps us or the planet. As Dauvergne says, “One should not be fooled: when all is said and done, what companies like Walmart, Coca-Cola and BP are doing in the name of sustainability is aiming to advance the prosperity of business, not the integrity of ecosystems or the quality of future life.”  TNCs account for about 2 two-thirds of the planets GDP, which makes them incredibly powerful controllers of everything we do.  WE the people of this earth need to show our power through what we buy and from whom  –  support B Corp and businesses that are truly walking the talk and can prove it.  We also need to pressure our governments to set up fair business practices that prevent monopolies and unwarranted mergers that merely build destructive ‘trusts’ propagating more corporate greed and control.  A sustainable future requires us to do something.  We make choices everyday (even when we negate making a choice),  and we need to consciously make those choices instead of just letting others make decisions for us.