Conscious business

Conscious business[1] enterprises and people are those that choose to follow a business strategy, in which they seek to benefit both human beings and the environment.

The conscious business movement in the US emerged from the theory of corporate social responsibility, which pushes for a "values-based" approach where values represent social and environmental concerns both locally and globally. This effort is related to not-just-for-profit business models, conscious consumerism, socially responsible investing, and Conscious capitalism.

There is an alternative way of thinking about conscious business emerging in the UK, and perhaps other countries, which tries to avoid reification, regarding it less as a thing or a type of business which can be categorised, and more as an ongoing process including awareness, self-awareness, awareness of purpose, practice (social theory) and relationships.[2].

In Italy, De Nardi Gianluca [3] illustrates through the use of business cases how every company could adopt conscious business processes.

Conscious Capitalism

Conscious business can be seen within the context of Conscious capitalism.

See for example John Mackey's 2013 work on conscious capitalism[4] and his book Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business.

Conscious business criteria

Doing no harm

It is generally agreed upon that the product or service of a conscious business should not be intrinsically harmful to humans or the environment.[5] However, it is possible for such a business to be taking part in the conscious business movement if it is taking conscious steps to be more aware of its social and environmental effects, and to adopt more beneficial social or environmental practices.

Triple Bottom Line Model

Most conscious businesses subscribe to a Triple Bottom Line model of success. They aim to provide positive value in the domains of people, planet, and profit.[6]

Profit

This is what distinguishes the entity as a business from the general social enterprise. The degree of understanding or "consciousness" of any conflict of interest between the profit motive and social goods varies widely from the standard sloganeering capital accumulating firm ("don't be evil") to those who seek nothing more than break-even to pay for their operations, are completely employee owned, etc..

People

A conscious business seeks to benefit both the external livelihood as well as the internal lives of its shareholders and employees. Furthermore, the business seeks to benefit all stakeholders including manufacturers, affected communities, and humanity at large. Some trends in conscious business which have arisen out of these efforts include:[7]

  • The forming of wellness affirming workplace cultures
  • Improved employee benefit programs
  • Use of fair trade materials for manufacture or sale
  • Assistance to communities who supply raw materials
  • Assistance to communities who manufacture materials
  • Local community outreach programs

Planet

A conscious business will seek to minimize its impact on the environment, and replenish the environment where it is able. Conscious businesses may choose to benefit the environment in many different ways, some trends include:

  • Robust recycling programs
  • Building "green" or "zero-impact" workplace facilities
  • Using solar or wind energy in the workplace
  • Purchasing materials from organic or sustainable farmers
  • Purchasing renewable and sustainable materials
  • Working with environmentally conscious distributors
  • Urging manufacturers and distributors to adopt better environmental practices
  • Adopting sustainable product packaging

Above and beyond

Many conscious businesses choose to use their resources to benefit social and environmental programs that are not directly related to the creation or distribution of the product or service. Frequently, a conscious business will donate employee paid time, money, or products towards various non-profit organizations. Sometimes a conscious business will create a foundation, which works with one particular cause. Also, some conscious businesses will become involved with social or political campaigns to protect the environment, animals, or people. Conscious businesses will sometimes use significant amounts of their profit towards these causes. Furthermore, a conscious business will sometimes work closely with suppliers in either a farming or manufacturing community in a developing country, and help to develop the community economically and replenish it environmentally.

The Conscious Business Declaration

In 2015 Humanity’s Team, an NGO, engaged with the Goi Peace Foundation of Japan, the Club of Budapest, and the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at Case Western Reserve University to draft the Conscious Business Declaration. Self-described as "A New Standard for Business in the 21st Century," it took over a year to write the declaration, and it was officially made public in early 2016. People can show their support for the declaration by "signing" it online.

The Conscious Business Declaration consists of a preamble and seven principles
Preamble

As a global community of business leaders we are committed to developing the awareness and skills needed to consciously evolve our organizations in alignment with these principles:

The Principles
  1. We Are One with humanity and all of life. Business and all institutions of the human community are integral parts of a single reality – interrelated, interconnected and interdependent.
  2. In line with this reality, the purpose of Business is to increase economic prosperity while contributing to a healthy environment and improving human wellbeing.
  3. Business must go beyond sustainability and the philosophy of “do no harm” to restoring the self-renewing integrity of the Earth.
  4. Business must operate with economic, social, and ecological transparency.
  5. Business must behave as a positive and proactive member of the local and global communities in which it operates.
  6. Business that sees, honors, and celebrates the essential interconnected nature of all human beings and all life maximizes human potential and helps create a world that works for all.
  7. When aligned with Oneness, Business is the most powerful engine on Earth for creating prosperity and flourishing for all.

Conscious business versus social responsibility

To term a business a conscious business is different from the concept of a socially responsible business: although, of course, a conscious business is likely to be socially responsible. Being a conscious business does not only mean implementing a local community program, or creating a company foundation. A business could implement one of these programs and still not be aware or respond to the fact that the business as a whole is doing more harm than good.

The term conscious business implies that a business will seek to be conscious of its impact on the world in various spheres, and continue this inquiry over time. It is concerned with both its impact on a human’s inner and outer world as well as animal and environmental well-being. Furthermore, a conscious business considers both short-term and long-term effects of its actions or inactions. A conscious business evolves as does the methods that a business can and chooses to be of benefit to the world and to function with awareness. Therefore, though conscious businesses will be socially responsible, the term "conscious business" holds larger connotations for the businesses' actions than does social responsibility.

Conscious businesses movement

Many believe that Anita Roddick pioneered the conscious business movement with her company, The Body Shop in 1976. This company has been an environmental leader, and worked to support various activist causes including putting an end to animal testing, and defending human rights.

An overwhelming amount of conscious businesses can be found in the health food industry as well as the LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability) market. However, today conscious businesses can be found emerging in almost all aspects of the business world.

Whole Foods cofounder, John Mackey, is another pioneer in the movement along with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Large corporations as well as small boutique agencies and individuals embrace the movement despite pressure to earn money at any cost. They see business based on ethics and social responsibility versus personal gain. Public relations and brand specialist Sarni Jaye based her business on working only with conscious brands to help them grow and achieve their desired mission. USA Today reported about the wave of millennials embracing conscious business. Other businesses cited are Trader Joe's, The Container Store, Nordstrom, and more.[8][9]

There are various agencies and companies that catalogue the social and environmental practices of businesses for consumer use, as well as companies which consult with businesses to increase their awareness and beneficial practices in the world.

Conscious business is about people who are aware of the impact each of their habits and actions has on their environment (people and planet). It is about people who live their lives based on knowing that everything is interconnected. It is about people, who know who they are:

  • who know about their strengths and weaknesses and
  • who desire to live and work with joy, creativity and ease instead of fear, power and domination.

Conscious business versus sustainability

There's a huge trend towards more sustainable business practices. Environmental sustainability, however, has little to do with conscious business. Organizations can be highly sustainable, but still run in an unconscious way. A conscious business, however, will not maintain unsustainable business practices.

Reification

Some[10] are expressing caution about the way that conscious business might be reduced to a formulaic framework and schema. The concern is that these play down the attention that we give to everyday practices and how people relate to each other.

The alternative view is that the practice of conscious business aims to raise awareness of the hurly-burly of everyday life and help people notice those assumptions that influence our perceptions and practice – to become more aware. From that emerges consciousness of purpose; it also leads to adoption of many of the approaches outlined by Kofman, Mackey and others, and to the outcomes they point to (better long term business performance, for example).

This approach is aligned with a view of business derived from Complexity theory and organizations.

Impact on Professionals

The idea of conscious business as a reflexive approach – through noticing and awareness as we act – suggests that there are practical implications for OD (Organization Development) and HR (Human Resources) professionals. For example, such professionals may find it useful to highlight the importance of noticing group dynamics, power, and other group phenomena. And ultimately to question their own assumptions about the purpose of business.

In this way, this reflexive approach links back to the more ethical, but perhaps sometimes reified definitions, of conscious business.[11]

Further reading
  • Abergene, Patricia; Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism. Hampton Roads Publishing Company (September 2005).
  • Burden, P and Warwick R; Leading Mindfully. Burden and Warwick (2015)
  • Dalai Lama and Cutler, H; The Art of Happiness at Work. Hodder and Stoughton (2003)
  • De Nardi, Gianluca; The business model of 'conscious companies' The EcorNaturaSì case"". Ca' Foscari University of Venice (2017)
  • Haque, Umair; Betterness: Economics for Humans. Harvard Business Review Press (December 19, 2011)
  • Hawken, Paul; Natural Capitalism. Back Bay Books; 1st edition (October 12, 2000).
  • Kofman, Fred; Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Your Values. Sounds True: September (2006).
  • Mackey, John; Sisodia, Rajendra; Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business. Harvard Business Press (January 2013)
  • McInnes, Will; Culture Shock. John Wiley & Sons (2012)
  • Price, John; The Conscious Investor. John Wiley & Sons (2011)
  • Renesch, John; Conscious Leadership. Brown & Herron (June 17, 2002)
  • Sisodia, Rajendra; Wolfe, David; Sheth, Jagdish; Firms of Endearment: How World-class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose. Pearson Prentice Hall (February 10, 2007)
  • Stahlhofer, Nicolas; Schmidkonz, Christian; Kraft, Patricia "Conscious Business in Germany" Springer (December 2017)
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See also

References
  1. Kofman, Fred (2006). Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values. Boulder: Sounds True. ISBN 978-1591795179
  2. Pete Burden and Rob Warwick: Exploring Conscious Business Practice: Sensing as we act, reacting to what we sense AMED, 2 December 2013
  3. De Nardi, Gianluca (2017), The business model of 'conscious companies' The EcorNaturaSì case. in M. Fasan and S. Bianchi in The sustainable company. Trends, tools and case studies, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, pp. 129-158 (Italian version), English version 2019
  4. John Mackey: Why Companies Should Embrace Conscious Capitalism. Forbes, 15 January 2013
  5. Howes, Lewis. "5 Secrets to Building a Business – With Heart". Entrepreneur Magazine. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  6. "Triple bottom line". The Economist. Nov 17, 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  7. Fry, Louis; Nisiewicz, Melissa (2013). Maximizing the Triple Bottom Line Through Spiritual Leadership. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0804784290.
  8. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/mar/21/starbucks-face-conscious-capitalism
  9. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/03/25/kindness-panera-bread-nordstrom-starbucks/1965183/
  10. Pete Burden and Rob Warwick: The Purpose and Practice of Conscious Business AMED, Spring 2014
  11. Pete Burden and Rob Warwick: Conscious business – impact and implications for HR and OD, Croner, January 2016
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