By Deborah Hartnett
Sr. Partner Unstoppable Conversations
Imagine a whole new paradigm for business. A global economy that uses business as a force for good—where companies are purpose-driven in creating benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders, leveraging the global economy into a purpose-driven machine for equity, justice, and the environment.
This is the vision and commitment behind B Corporations. B Corps recognize that society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corps community is using business to eliminate inequality, lower levels of poverty, create a healthier environment, build stronger communities, and to provide high quality jobs with dignity and purpose. By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth as a means to a positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment.
In 2020, Unstoppable Conversations received our B Corps certification after more than a year of rigorous scrutiny of our business model, our stakeholders, and our environmental impact. Receiving our certification was a momentous occasion for all of us. Almost instantly, I felt a greater sense of pride and ownership in our firm. We were already working with many clients who were doing good in the world, the Dene Nation Chief out to transform his nation, a group of prominent businesspeople in a former communist country in Eastern Europe standing for a democratic society and ending corruption in their government and a large construction company working on a software program to eliminate waste in new construction by 50%, to name a few. Now I could say that we too were really standing for the things that mattered to us in a very public way.
The certification verified that our business meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. We are now legally required to consider the impact of our decisions on our workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment.
Why would any business put themselves up to this? Our Founder and CEO, Kevin Gangel explains, “At Unstoppable Conversations, our core purpose is, ‘Empowering leadership for a transformed world - a world that works for everyone with no one and nothing left out.’ Joining a community that is all about having business be a tangible and measure-able force for good in the world was a natural fit.”
Since 2019 the number of businesses declaring that sustainable business is better business has swelled by 25% —now 3821 businesses in 74 countries, covering 150 industries. Once largely made up of smaller businesses specifically set up to do good, the category now includes major global corporations such as yoghurt giant Danone’s North American Arm, shoe brand TOMs and health and beauty company Arbonne.
“The benefits to being a part of this movement are many,” says Gangel. “The greatest for us at Unstoppable is making a public declaration that we are standing for the transformation of capitalism and consumerism. Being a part of shifting the paradigm from practices that are a threat to the well-being of society and the world. We are taking a public stand that who we are, who we all are inside the B Corp movement, is an unending commitment to leave the world a better place for us having been in business.”
B Corps certification shows the world what your company stands for. It is not easy to get nor is it easy to keep, requiring recertification every three years with a B Impact Assessment score of 80 points or higher. In the B Community, we don’t celebrate or compete over our profits, we aim to be “Best For The World,” and to have our assessment scores be higher each time we recertify.
More and more, people want to work for, buy from, and invest in businesses they believe in. B Corp Certification is the most powerful way to build credibility, trust, and value for your business.
For more information visit https://bcorporation.net.
Unstoppable Conversations is a Leadership Development Consulting firm based in Edmonton, Alberta, and satellite office in Southern California. Their proprietary methodology uncovers hidden weaknesses and transforms them into the kind of power that creates seemingly impossible results. For more information, please visit https://unstoppableconversations.com.