In these B Corp diaries, I want to share the journey we’re going on as we work towards accreditation.
Spring 2022
If I’m completely honest with myself, I thought it would be easier.
We’re a relatively small organisation, we all work remotely, and our carbon footprint couldn’t be that bad, could it?
But, like everything worthwhile, it’s the depth and complexity that makes it valuable.
Halfway through the initial assessment, I started to have that sinking feeling, that I’d bitten off more than I could chew. That my naïve perception of what it meant to be a B Corp was, for want of a better word, lacking.
So, I stopped.
I began to appreciate what B Corp was all about. I began to see it for what it really is – ripples in the water.
It’s so much more than I had initially thought. It’s an ideal, a way to operate a business, that if you hold to it, will create positive effects that resonate across the world in which you operate. Ripples in the water indeed.
It’s given me so many questions to think about and work through.
- What’s the purpose of our business?
- Who is our community?
- Who should be our suppliers?
- How should we organise ourselves?
- How do we create the environment that will enable the results we want?
- How can we shift working towards these goals into our organisational DNA?
It’s made me think about the business in a different way. It’s challenging my sense of what’s really important, broadening my perceptions of our place in the world and how we should contribute.
Deep.
It’s made me think about the value we want to bring to our customers, our people and the communities we operate in.
Alongside this, a friend recommended Simon Sinek’s Infinite Game to me. I lapped it up. It’s become an important part of the journey. A challenge to me as the owner of Listen + Learn, to question what we’re all about, to find a bigger purpose for our life’s work.
Now it’s time to get back on it.
It’s time to finish the assessment, look at our score then, together, work out how we can evolve our business practices to become more aligned to the ideals we believe in.
It’s going to be a long road, but one worth walking.
Until next time.
By: Jeremy Hollow