Some two weeks ago I came back from the Conscious Capitalism conference at Bentley University. What a conference! There were many enlightened speakers at the conference, but let me point only a few who were inspirational to me.
Firstly, let me say that spending two days at the conference was very refreshing, very helpful to broaden and deepen my views on how to “upgrade” capitalism and where we stand in the process. As Raj Sisodia’s presentation stated we are getting on that road. It starts with a definition of what is a “great” business. Indeed, what is it? A great business maximizes the “total value created” on a sustained basis and distributes that value in an equitable and enlightened manner among all of its stakeholders. This enhances the overall health and well-being of society; it brings joy, fulfillment, and a sense of meaning to all of its stakeholders.
So how can we find out if a company belongs to this fine group? Search for a company with a clear, committed, consistent, conspicuous, courageous, candid, compassionate, cheerleading, centered and conscious leadership.
Is it possible to set up an enterprise where everybody and everything wins? Gary Hirshberg, the CEO of Stonyfield Farm, thinks so. The cows live longer and happier lives; the farmers are paid more; we customers get better food; the environment is treated well; and the shareholders are doing nicely too. So the success of Stonyfield Farm definitely speaks for itself.
John Sterman talked about system dynamics and conscious capitalism. He says that in order to sustain life on planet Earth we need to make sure renewable resources are used no faster than they regenerate. Pollution and waste are produced no faster then they can be absorbed or transformed. Non-renewable resources cannot be used in the long term; and non-renewable resources in the short term need to be used no faster than renewable resources can be introduced. He suggests that we will need to shift from consumption to transformation. That is: The result of whatever we do will at some point need to be dealt with in some fashion or manner by someone else.
“So how do we get extraordinary results from ordinary people?” asked Doug Rauch, the former CEO of Trader Joe’s. It definitely helps if the company is privately held and does not have to focus on short-term quarter results. Doug argues that we need to go inside out, from the purpose and mission of the company, listen to the employees, let them have a voice, look at the business with customers’ eyes, have fun (it’s contagious!), engage the heart and create orbital velocity. At the same time we are to watch the growth, which, if we are not careful, could turn into a form of cancer. And we are not to forget about competitors, who Doug views as key stakeholders. He says that Wholefoods made Trader Joe’s a better company. In fact he suggests that a suspension bridge is a good analogy between company stakeholders.
See you next year in Boston
Jano
