goodcompany

Put your Mission Where Your Mouth Is

So how do we vet the companies with whom we do business? How do we determine which businesses are fundamentally dedicated to the betterment of their communities and the environment, and which businesses have targeted us and are simply trying to take advantage of the new target market that we suddenly constitute?

This is, of course, a hard call. There’s no question that the larger a company becomes, in size and revenue, the more challenges they face in their efforts to do good. By all accounts, GAP participates socially, is focused on sustainability and is a good global citizen, as evidenced by its Gap (PRODUCT) RED line. At the same time, the scandal about working conditions in the factories abroad called their sincerity into question. As we search for the companies that represent us, what allowances do we give and what do we demand?

I wanted to mention a few companies that I have come into contact with over the past few years, places that are, across the board, doing good. You’ll notice that most of them are relatively small, and privately owned but I will continue to search for the larger, public companies that are maintaining their profits and their ethical standards, both internally and externally.

First and foremost, when researching a company, I look for a strong mission statement that combines the social AND the commercial goals.

Take Patagonia’s mission:

Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

Or New Belgium Brewery’s Purpose and Company Core Values and Beliefs:

To operate a profitable brewery which makes our love and talent manifest…Kindling social, environmental and cultural change as a business role model of sustainable business.

Or Give Something Back Business Products’ description of the change they are seeking:

GSB seeks to delight our customers by helping them save time and money on their office products purchases. We provide rewarding careers for employees and support communities in which we do business by donating more than half our company profits to community organizations.

These are companies that have incorporated their commitment to their employees, to the environment, to their communities and to excellence in their own industries into their charter documents. As such, their businesses exist to make money, but they also exist to do good. The good is not secondary, it is part and parcel, and without it the business would cease to function.

New Generation

A few years ago Sienna and I went to Pura Vida, a yoga retreat in Costa Rica. We loved the whole experience; the food was delicious and natural, we had two yoga sessions per day and went on daily adventure excursions. The people were mostly in their mid to late thirties, successful, heath conscious, open to new ideas, and socially minded. In the midst of it all, I came to a slightly uncomfortable realization: Sienna and I belonged to an emerging target market. I was glad that there were more people like us out there, but I wasn’t used to fitting into a target group so completely.  Companies that run R&R resorts and the owners of places like Pura Vida are specifically focusing on people like me to differentiate themselves and gain market share.

Out of curiosity, I started to search for the other members of my target group, and for the companies that had pinpointed us.  Were we really so identifiable?  Did we have an age, a face, a local?  

Did we have a name?  

According to USA Today, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Times Online and The Independent, Sienna and I are “New Yuppies” or “Scuppies”:  Socially Conscious Upwardly Mobile Persons.  They pulled the term from Manhattan investment banker, Charles L. Failla, who coined the phrase, has written a Scuppie handbook, and applies the term to himself.

I am simultaneously heartened and concerned by this.  It’s great that there are enough people out there who are green, socially conscious, active in their communities and wealthy enough to put their money where their mouths are.  Still, trends, have a tendency to be just that – to come and go, and there seems to be an aura of negative connotation surrounding the Scuppie classification.  From what I can tell, and from what I hope, we are growing into something more than a catchphrase.  In this nascent stage, it’s important for us to continue to identify specifically who we are and what exactly we expect from ourselves and the companies that serve us.  

We’ll see what happens with the term.  In the meantime, as we buy more hybrids, look for more local and organic grocers, and of course, seek out more yoga retreats, we are helping to build and grow a network of businesses that will support us – that will make our goals their goals.  It’s up to us not get duped by masqueraders, and to demand more than what is trendy of the companies that serve us.  

Good Companies and a New Generation

I am writing this blog to inspire people from my generation, those of us born after the social and political height of the hippie movement.  We are under 40 years old, interested in achieving monetary success, and also fundamentally dedicated to doing "good".

This blog will take a look at my company and other companies like it that have chosen to “do good” holistically. These companies:

·        want to take care of their employees and engender meaningful workplace relationships

·        work to preserve the environment

·        make a far reaching and significant contribution to their communities

·        are, as a result of these varied attributes, growing and thriving financially

I will share my personal experiences as well as the business practices that led to the creation of kasina, my company, as well as the kasina Youth Foundation.  The blog will also highlight other successful businesses headed by my generations’ entrepreneurs that share this philosophy of doing “good”.