What If We Get It Right?

Undercover Activist, Impossible, Tessa Wernink, Kwame Ferreira

Welcome to What If We Get It Right? the podcast for positive stories in business - hosting social impact entrepreneurs, innovators and employee activists from around the globe. We’re starting conversations about how people can lead our world in a new direction and looking at where we may be getting it right.

  1. What Good Business Means - with Alison Taylor

    01/25/2024

    What Good Business Means - with Alison Taylor

    Alison Taylor is a clinical associate professor at NYU Stern School of Business, and the executive director at Ethical Systems. She has written a book about the new landscape for business ethics, for Harvard Business Review Press called Higher Ground. With ideas changing on what it means to be a good business, Alison Taylor says we need collective agreements on what is good and what is bad. And we need the right words to talk about these subjects. Her interview was part of our full story on activists and innovators in business.   We talk about what is needed to be an ethical organisation, which according to her doesn’t exist without employee participation, understanding and belief that speaking up lines are actually real – and not just performance the senior leadership is putting on. In fact, Alison sees a huge expansion in what employees want in terms of raising their voice, making their opinions felt having a role in shaping the values and priorities of the organization. So, why are organizations not responding very well tot his? And what should they be doing? Listen to the full interview with Alison Taylor and hear about best practices by organisations who see the advantage of including employee voice and employee opinions. Alison’s previous work experience includes being a Managing Director at non-profit business network Business for Social Responsibility and a Senior Managing Director at Control Risks. She holds advisory roles at ESG and risk consultancy Wallbrook and sustainability non-profit Business for Social Responsibility. She has expertise in strategy, sustainability, political and social risk, culture and behavior, human rights, ethics and compliance, stakeholder engagement, anti corruption and professional responsibility. Alison received her Bachelor of Arts in Modern History from Balliol College, Oxford University, her MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago, and MA in Organizations Psychology from Columbia University. https://www.ethicalsystems.org Twitter: @FollowAlisonT   Selected links from episode Re_generation Canada - Canada’s largest platform to inspire youth in sustainability Clean Creatives - A movement of advertisers and clients cutting ties with fossil fuels.  Undercover Activist - A learning hub for employee-led change.

    26 min
  2. Activists and Innovators Part 1. Why Resistance is Necessary

    05/10/2023

    Activists and Innovators Part 1. Why Resistance is Necessary

    We see activism as a whole range of activities that change the priorities we work on. Insisting we talk about the real issues. This is about speaking truth to power. Starting with resistance and standing for our values and the possible future we envision. This is where activism crosses paths with innovation. Kwame Ferreira, founder of Impossible and Tessa Wernink, co-founder of Fairphone & the Undercover Activist have been doing (social) innovation for a long time. More recently, they have been diving into activism and what it means for business. We see that innovation without activism in the mix challenging the status quo, does not move the needle. It does not change the norm. Does that make activism a necessary ingredient to ensure innovation is not just benefiting the user but also other layers of the ecosystem? In Part 1 of Season three, we move from entrepreneurs to intrapreneurs. From social innovators to activists. And question whether activism can speed up innovation for businesses to lead. We speak to experts in the field of good business and leadership like Megan Reitz and Alison Taylor. And hear from employee activists and community organisers Christian Vanizette, Manuel Salazar, Gail Bradbrook and Desiree Fixler. Full Interviews with the speakers are on the Season 3 page Snippets and Credits for this Episode Planetary Podcast Interview Stefanie Hauer with Desiree Fixler Bloomberg Wealth: Nelson Peltz Shareholders vs. Stakeholders -- Friedman vs. Freeman Debate - R. Edward Freeman E118: AI FOMO frenzy, macro update, Fox vs Dominion, US vs China & more with Brad Gerstner 2023 Investor Day speech - Elon Musk The Tipping Elements - Johan Rockström Davos 2023 Where’s the political will? - Al Gore Davos 2023 Climate Change debate - Bjørn Lomborg and Andrew Revkin | Lex Fridman Podcast #339 #79 — The Road to Tyranny - Sam Harris in conversation with Timothy Snyder

    23 min

About

Welcome to What If We Get It Right? the podcast for positive stories in business - hosting social impact entrepreneurs, innovators and employee activists from around the globe. We’re starting conversations about how people can lead our world in a new direction and looking at where we may be getting it right.