Comments on: Conscious Capitalism: New Models for 21st Century Business http://business-ethics.com/2010/05/31/1317-conscious-capitalism-exploring-new-models-for-21st-century-business/ The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility Sat, 17 Dec 2011 21:28:39 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Nancy Darcy Gallant http://business-ethics.com/2010/05/31/1317-conscious-capitalism-exploring-new-models-for-21st-century-business/comment-page-1/#comment-1382 Nancy Darcy Gallant Tue, 01 Jun 2010 20:13:19 +0000 http://business-ethics.com/?p=3352#comment-1382 As a social entrepreneur still in the pre-launch phase, I attended and thoroughly enjoyed the conference last week at my alma mater, Bentley University. Thanks for the great summary here, Gael, of the successful stories of conscious capitalism in action. I was pleased to take a moment and thank Kip Tindell and Doug Rauch for the examples they have set. There's so much to be said for those who have rolled up their sleeves, so to speak ~ both talking the talk AND walking the walk ~ which both of these men, and Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg, have done with great enthusiasm, obvious heartfelt conviction and truly impressive results. Your closing thoughts are relevant and compelling, as well. Personally, I'd love to see CCI act as a leader and catalyst to all forms of “business for good”... With its strong foundation in business school academia specifically & its ties to existing conscious capitalists, I think the group is in an ideal position to research, analyze, organize and articulate the facts and the ever-growing and complicated lexicon on the broadest view of the topic, including and differentiating between and among social enterprise, triple-bottom-line, sustainable business, BoP, CSR, L3C and more. Further, by collaborating with like-minded organizations determined to move our country’s economy forward in a more enlightened path of leadership for this century, I would be thrilled to see CCI play a major roll in terms of convening, educating, empowering and supporting the next generation of capitalists ~ conscious capitalists ~ whichever term they use, so long as they are both transparent and authentic. A key to success, in my opinion, is the ability to champion the efforts of a broad range of truly conscious capitalists ~ whether they be starry-eyed, young undergrads, recently-enlightened but authentically-well-intended business practitioners or social entrepreneurs who arrive at the proverbial table already embracing the concept of caring for all stakeholders and using best business practices ~ a combination of existing and emerging approaches that ultimately answer Stonyfield's CEO's question, “Is it possible to create an enterprise where everybody wins?” with a resounding, "YES!" Not only do successful conscious capitalism models and pathways to a sustainable economy need to be identified, but the barriers to success, the "challenges" must be identified and solutions or, to the forward-thinking among us, "opportunities" must be identified, even created, as well. A key challenge that comes as no surprise is the ever-present issue of funding these "yet unproven" concepts. Though the success stories shared help provide some serious "proof" of success, there are miles to go on this important matter of money, using it as a tool, the energy, as was stated by some, to drive socially-motivated and environmentally-sustainable positive change. If CCI can step forward as a leader, not only to academicians and successful pioneers in conscious capitalism, but to grass-roots social enterprise activists and triple-bottom-line enthusiasts, engaging the hearts and minds of socially-minded investors as well as conscious consumers as necessary complements to the movement along the way, we might just be recalling these early meetings on the topic of conscious capitalism as a pivotal step toward positive change in our society, our world, even as the likes of the Dalai Lama are predicting a brighter future. Thanks again for the summary, Gael, and the opportunity to share my point of view. While I’d love to have written a full summary to the event myself, I've got to learn to balance my fascination for the theoretical discussions with my passion to create my own social enterprise, one that will catalyze change in suburbia... (All positive energy and support are welcome!) Carpe Diem ~ Nancy Darcy Gallant Social Entrepreneur Founder/Time Well Spent Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TimeWellSpent Twitter: http://twitter.com/NancyTWS p.s. We won't go into the definition of “consumer” v. customer ~ though it was a good one... Folks should Google it ; ) As a social entrepreneur still in the pre-launch phase, I attended and thoroughly enjoyed the conference last week at my alma mater, Bentley University. Thanks for the great summary here, Gael, of the successful stories of conscious capitalism in action. I was pleased to take a moment and thank Kip Tindell and Doug Rauch for the examples they have set. There's so much to be said for those who have rolled up their sleeves, so to speak ~ both talking the talk AND walking the walk ~ which both of these men, and Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg, have done with great enthusiasm, obvious heartfelt conviction and truly impressive results.

Your closing thoughts are relevant and compelling, as well. Personally, I'd love to see CCI act as a leader and catalyst to all forms of “business for good”...

With its strong foundation in business school academia specifically & its ties to existing conscious capitalists, I think the group is in an ideal position to research, analyze, organize and articulate the facts and the ever-growing and complicated lexicon on the broadest view of the topic, including and differentiating between and among social enterprise, triple-bottom-line, sustainable business, BoP, CSR, L3C and more. Further, by collaborating with like-minded organizations determined to move our country’s economy forward in a more enlightened path of leadership for this century, I would be thrilled to see CCI play a major roll in terms of convening, educating, empowering and supporting the next generation of capitalists ~ conscious capitalists ~ whichever term they use, so long as they are both transparent and authentic.

A key to success, in my opinion, is the ability to champion the efforts of a broad range of truly conscious capitalists ~ whether they be starry-eyed, young undergrads, recently-enlightened but authentically-well-intended business practitioners or social entrepreneurs who arrive at the proverbial table already embracing the concept of caring for all stakeholders and using best business practices ~ a combination of existing and emerging approaches that ultimately answer Stonyfield's CEO's question, “Is it possible to create an enterprise where everybody wins?” with a resounding, "YES!"

Not only do successful conscious capitalism models and pathways to a sustainable economy need to be identified, but the barriers to success, the "challenges" must be identified and solutions or, to the forward-thinking among us, "opportunities" must be identified, even created, as well. A key challenge that comes as no surprise is the ever-present issue of funding these "yet unproven" concepts. Though the success stories shared help provide some serious "proof" of success, there are miles to go on this important matter of money, using it as a tool, the energy, as was stated by some, to drive socially-motivated and environmentally-sustainable positive change.

If CCI can step forward as a leader, not only to academicians and successful pioneers in conscious capitalism, but to grass-roots social enterprise activists and triple-bottom-line enthusiasts, engaging the hearts and minds of socially-minded investors as well as conscious consumers as necessary complements to the movement along the way, we might just be recalling these early meetings on the topic of conscious capitalism as a pivotal step toward positive change in our society, our world, even as the likes of the Dalai Lama are predicting a brighter future.

Thanks again for the summary, Gael, and the opportunity to share my point of view. While I’d love to have written a full summary to the event myself, I've got to learn to balance my fascination for the theoretical discussions with my passion to create my own social enterprise, one that will catalyze change in suburbia... (All positive energy and support are welcome!)

Carpe Diem ~
Nancy Darcy Gallant
Social Entrepreneur
Founder/Time Well Spent
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TimeWellSpent
Twitter: http://twitter.com/NancyTWS

p.s. We won't go into the definition of “consumer” v. customer ~ though it was a good one... Folks should Google it ; )

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