Reconstructing the purpose of business

With crises looming and intersecting all around us, we stand on the precipice of the real change we can make.

As our guest Stu Hart, co-founder of the Sustainable Innovation MBA, says “When things are up in the air and you enter a period of discontinuity, that’s when there's real opportunity. So, this is a time that we all have to seize that opportunity.”

We couldn’t agree more.

There are positive signs all around us of the momentum in the private sector to embed long-term purpose in companies to serve all stakeholders instead of just driving short-term returns for shareholders. But, we need to get strategic about the leverage points that will tip the scale and move the business community from rhetoric to action.

First, Hart gives us an empowering history lesson that helps us identify the places where we must push for change. We can do so by reconstructing our socially constructed financial system, transforming business schools, embedding purpose in big companies, and partnering with government to co-create sustainable prosperity.

Then, Lorna Davis, former CEO of the $6 billion company Danone North America, shares the journey that Danone took under her leadership in 2017 to become the biggest B. Corp in the world.

Finally, MaryAnne Howland, Founder of the Global Diversity Leadership Exchange, shares the public policies that businesses must push for with their lobbying power to serve the collective good.
 
This episode is jam-packed with interesting, inspiring and thought-provoking information. Be sure to listen through the credits for an important update from Decade of Courage about our plans for next steps.

Visit www.decadeofcourage.com for more resources about the people, policies, histories, and businesses mentioned in this podcast.