Business for Purpose Network (B4PN) Weekly Announcement.
Update #27 – May 28, 2021
1.0 SYSTEMS CHANGE. *Strongly recommended. The B4PN is encouraging groups engaged in promoting business as a force for good – primarily by putting purpose at the core of the work of the company – to think and act like a system. In her latest HBR article, Canadian ex-pat, co-founder of B Lab UK, and friend of the B4PN, Charmian Love along with her colleague Mary Johnstone-Louis, outlines a series of principles companies can embrace to ensure the purpose of the company outlasts the CEO. Building on the resignation of Danone CEO, they dig behind the headlines to offer practical advice by challenging “The Myth of the CEO Hero”. What are those principles? Align Interests; Empower Directors; Change the Default; and Reflect with Reporting (more on the challenges with reporting below). Thanks for this great work Charmian!
2.0 SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM. If you are at all interested in this space you probably saw multiple reports this week that “big oil faced a day of defeats”. According to Quartz, “Exxon Mobil shareholders elected two new board members who want to move the company away from fossil fuels. In the Netherlands, a court ordered Royal Dutch Shell to shrink its carbon dioxide emissions by 45%.” Those are both incredibly important signals to the market. Further details are outlined in this article in The Washington Post who calls it “A bad day for Big Oil”.
3.0 CLUBHOUSE. Despite working at an innovation hub I’m new to Clubhouse. Mostly I drop in and out for a few minutes to listen to interesting conversations but last week I spent 2.5 hours with about 100 or so other folks from around the globe to hear Indy Johar speak about the Future and Inclusive Capitalism cohosted by Rifat Sheikh and Stuart Williams, it was a fascinating session. Part II of that conversation happens again Saturday May 29th at 9 am ET. Again, another great opportunity to plug in and walk or sit and take notes. I promise you inspiration!
4.0 ARTICLES FROM OUR READERS. Thank you to everyone who has submitted articles for the B4PN Weekly Announcement. This is all about creating community so your suggestions are deeply appreciated. Here are a few from this week:
4.1 CORO’S CORNER. Coro Strandberg recommends this article from the University of Victoria 2021 Gustavson Brand Trust Index that “found Canadians likelier than ever to trust brands they think embody social values. Based on 8,975 surveys, the most trusted brand was Canadian Automobile Association, followed by Dyson and Lego. Despite the pandemic making consumers more dependent on Amazon, it lost consumer trust largely due to treatment of workers.” Always great to have Canadian research.
Coro also recommends this article in Board Agenda entitled: Company purpose is more than a marketing slogan – it’s a new philosophy. “Embedding company purpose requires business to think about every process their organization operates – and accept that there will be trade-offs.”
4.2 BUSINESS AND SOCIETY. Some great stats in this article in AXIOS entitled: Business under more pressure to save society. It is based on a survey of 16,800 people in 14 markets including Canada and it further reinforces that “people expect corporations and CEO’s to continue addressing the most pressing social and political issues even after the pandemic is over.” Thanks to Ilse Treurnicht for this link.
4.3 FAILURE OF SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING. Thanks to Jason Sukhram, my MaRS colleague who is focused on Impact Metrics and Measurement who recommends this article on the problems with sustainability reporting. "Apparently, you don’t always manage what you measure, at least when it comes to corporate responsibility. According to a recent HBR article, Overselling Sustainability Reporting, a 100x increase in corporate responsibility reporting is not translating to positive social impact.”
5.0 BUT IT’S NOT ALL SUNSHINE AND ROSES. Brad Zarnett from The Toronto Sustainability Speakers Series is a great voice that helps keep us honest as we navigate the path to business as a force for good. In this latest article he encourages us to confront the notion that “Cheerleading for ‘sustainable’ companies won’t save the planet”.
Quote of the Week – “Our relationship with the future is not equitable”. Indy Johar, Clubhouse, May 22, 2021.
Enjoy the reading and enjoy the week-end … on purpose!
Allyson
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What is the Business for Purpose Network? The B4PN is an initiative catalyzed by the JW McConnell Family Foundation and the MaRS Discovery District to help build a movement engaging companies to put purpose at the core of their work.
Past editions of the B4PN Weekly Announcements are available on LinkedIn and on Medium.
Interested in joining this movement? Please contact Allyson Hewitt, VP Impact at MaRS at ahewitt@marsdd.com to indicate your interest in this work, to join the mailing list or to unsubscribe. We’d also love your comments on anything you read here or to promote any relevant articles you would like to share with others.