Is Your Business Structured to Achieve Your Purpose?

B the Change Weekly: August 2, 2019

Delivered on Fridays, B the Change Weekly delivers the most important and most relevant stories about people using business as a force for good. The newsletter features a weekly note from the B the Change team alongside insight and context on the stories we share here on Medium. Below is our latest roundup. To receive these insights directly in your inbox, sign up for B the Change Weekly today. Now on to the good stuff:

Organizations pursue change with the best of intentions but often fall short. In its work with clients that have seen subpar results from diversity and inclusion initiatives, Certified B Corporation TMI Consulting found one underlying reason: an existing business structure that doesn’t support the desired change.

As Laura Swanson Bowser of TMI says on B the Change: “Never once did it occur to the organization’s leaders … that they needed to first establish a work environment that can accommodate inclusion before investing in a diversity and inclusion program. If the foundation is not in place, the vision will fail. And that is exactly what was happening.”

This week on B the Change, we highlight how B Corps are acting on their visions to create meaningful change and build businesses for the long term through their work for planet, people and purpose.

Pursuing the SDGs: Purpose-Driven Work for a Better Planet

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015 by the United Nations member states, are a call to global purpose-driven action in the face of challenges that threaten our planet and societies. In the face of such large-scale issues, how can members of the Certified B Corporation community best adjust their practices and respond to this call to action?

In the fourth in a series of articles on the SDGs, B the Change shares how Max Mintz, partner and financial advisor at B Corp Common Interests, and Steve Distante, CEO of Vanderbilt Financial Group, support the SDGs through their work and serve as examples for other businesses looking to do the same.

Sharing a Vision for Systemic Change at Champions Retreat

Companies in the B Corp community commit to work year over year to improve the positive impact of their businesses — and to help other companies do the same. The Champions Retreat plays a key role in that commitment, bringing together people from B Corps across North America to share ideas, rejuvenate their spirits for the ongoing work, learn new strategies — and make new friends in the long road to systemic change.

On B the Change, B Lab Chief Marketing Officer Anthea Kelsick and co-founder Andrew Kassoy share their thoughts on where the community is heading and how Champions Retreat plays a vital role in moving B Corps forward toward our shared vision.

Why a Purpose-Driven Structure Is Vital for Diversity and Inclusion

As a participant in the Inclusive Economy Challenge, B Corp TMI Consulting — a diversity, equity and inclusion consulting firm — seized the opportunity for a win-win experience by setting internal goals that also would benefit external clients. By identifying why most diversity and inclusion efforts fall short, TMI developed new services to help other companies make progress on diversity and inclusion.

On B the Change, learn how TMI starts its diversity and inclusion work by first gauging the strength of a company’s foundation — then builds from there.

This Week on B the Change

Here’s your chance to catch up on all the good stuff we shared this week:

• The Power of Purpose in Driving Bottom-Line Business Outcomes
• B Lab’s Vision for Systemic Change: How Champions Retreat Pushes the Movement Toward that Goal
• How the Sustainable Development Goals Provide a Framework for Impact-Minded Businesses
• Structural Inclusion: What It Means and Why It Matters
• A Gift Shop That Rewards Employees and Delights the Neighborhood
• Supporting Social Entrepreneurs and Mindful Funders for a New Economy

B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

Is Your Business Structured to Achieve Your Purpose? was originally published in B the Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.