B Corporations
There are certain accepted business structures - eg, sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations (differing mainly on legal liability, ownership, and methods of financing). And within corporations, there are several structures. Now there is a new one.
B Corporations.
The "B" is for Benefit. B Corps agree to adopt a version of the triple-bottom-line in their corporate charter. This means measuring and acting in favor of not only financial profit, but also environmental and social value. B Corps intend consciously to do good-- for people, the planet, and in creating financial value. They deliberately seek the places where these things overlap and enhance each other.
I find this heartening. A handful of companies have pioneered the B-Corp status, and others will likely follow. It may not become mainstream anytime soon (Wal-mart? Hmm. Probably not even HP), but it demonstrates to all companies that there is an option about how to be in the business world. The goal and intention behind a business is a genuine choice; it's not just "all-out-for-financial profit" or "take-the-high-road-and-be-a-nonprofit."
I suspect B Corps-- if and when they include public companies-- will be pretty interesting to SRI (socially responsible investment) funds. Given that this type of investment is becoming more popular, it is likely becoming "safer" to go public as a socially-minded organization.
Adhering to a triple bottom line is different from adhering to the single (financial) bottom line we have now. It requires more complex thinking, for one thing. But it also begins to loosen the unnecessary associations that have grown in our minds between suppressing our values and making a living. Many of us have come to dully accept that if we want to support our families, we need to knuckle under and work in a hierarchical office with rules that make no sense, doing something we're not that connected to that probably also burns the planet's resources. What choice is there, we think day after day as we plod through our lives.
Well, there is a choice. If we decide to make it. The new presence of B Corporation status offers that choice to CEOs when it didn't officially exist before. The rest of us have to make it in our own way also.
What's stopping you?
B Corporations.
The "B" is for Benefit. B Corps agree to adopt a version of the triple-bottom-line in their corporate charter. This means measuring and acting in favor of not only financial profit, but also environmental and social value. B Corps intend consciously to do good-- for people, the planet, and in creating financial value. They deliberately seek the places where these things overlap and enhance each other.
I find this heartening. A handful of companies have pioneered the B-Corp status, and others will likely follow. It may not become mainstream anytime soon (Wal-mart? Hmm. Probably not even HP), but it demonstrates to all companies that there is an option about how to be in the business world. The goal and intention behind a business is a genuine choice; it's not just "all-out-for-financial profit" or "take-the-high-road-and-be-a-nonprofit."
I suspect B Corps-- if and when they include public companies-- will be pretty interesting to SRI (socially responsible investment) funds. Given that this type of investment is becoming more popular, it is likely becoming "safer" to go public as a socially-minded organization.
Adhering to a triple bottom line is different from adhering to the single (financial) bottom line we have now. It requires more complex thinking, for one thing. But it also begins to loosen the unnecessary associations that have grown in our minds between suppressing our values and making a living. Many of us have come to dully accept that if we want to support our families, we need to knuckle under and work in a hierarchical office with rules that make no sense, doing something we're not that connected to that probably also burns the planet's resources. What choice is there, we think day after day as we plod through our lives.
Well, there is a choice. If we decide to make it. The new presence of B Corporation status offers that choice to CEOs when it didn't officially exist before. The rest of us have to make it in our own way also.
What's stopping you?
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