Beyond B Corp

Let me say at the outset that I love the B Corp movement.? It has been foundational in forming our company purpose and culture, but I believe as business leaders we need to go beyond B Corp if we are to significantly impact the world.?

My company, Cotswold Fayre | B Corp , was part of the launch cohort of around 40 B Corps in the UK.? To our credit we had created a company where benefitting both our people and the global community was just as important (if not more so) than profits, although every company needs to make profits to do more good in the world.?

I had come into business from the charity sector and having spent years mopping up the mess in people’s lives created by business and government policy, I was determined to start a business that put people front and centre.? I had been doing that, albeit in a flawed way, for 15 years before discovering the B Corp movement.? To encounter other businesses that were putting people and planet first was a revelation.? Here were many other businesses (largely in the USA at the time) who believed exactly what I did about business and were also incredibly successful business from a financial point too.

The B Corp certification tool measures how good companies are for the world in five areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers.? Depending on the size and sector of your business there are around 150-250 questions to answer and wherever you are scoring points for your answers, evidence that you are doing what you say you are must be provided.? If the company reaches a score of 80 points, you are entitled to submit for audit and become a B Corp.

From the small start in 2015, the UK B Corp community is now the fastest growing in the UK with around 1,500 companies now certified.? Within the food and drink sector within which we operate it is a particularly strong influence with around 25% of UK B Corps being food and drink businesses.? Indeed, Cotswold Fayre has 60 B Corp suppliers now, which is the highest of any B Corp, we believe.

All this is very good news, of course, but if certifying as a B Corp is a destination rather than a beginning then we will fail.? There is a danger that companies can treat the certification similarly to an ISO standard, maybe tweak a few things, but largely carry on as before.? There are a minority of B Corps where this is the case, and, of course, there are well publicised examples such as Brewdog, who have been ejected from the movement.?

A fellow CEO wisely counselled me not to become annoyed about these examples, because even these businesses are better than they were due to the changes they had made as part of the certification process.? However, to effect radical change, in our businesses and the world we need something more than a certification.?

Excited by our first few years of a B Corp and wanting to encourage more businesses to become a force for good in the world, I wrote my first book, Forces for Good, which was published in 2019.? However, in the writing of that book, I came to the strong realisation that if we are going to change the world for better, socially, and environmentally, then we also need to change ourselves.? We must become people and leaders with more compassion, more heart, and more soul.?

Changing starts with the mind and setting new intentions for our businesses, but real change involves deepening into more love and spirituality, whatever that word means for you.? Typically, good business is measured on the triple bottom lines of people, planet, and profit – I have added personal change (or some would call it spirituality) as a The Fourth Bottom Line and that is the title of my second book on 50 characteristics of good leadership.

Our main business as a wholesaler of speciality food and drink diversified in 2021 into a 7,000 sq. ft retail and restaurant business called Flourish.? In that busy customer-facing environment the face-to-face interactions between leaders, workers and customers are seen every minute of every day.? Customers notice heartful interactions and it is very evident that we are different to other businesses they visit.?

Yes, the B Corp framework is a fantastic tool for becoming a better business, but we need more than that.? In today’s broken world full of injustice on a rapidly degrading planet,

we need leaders and businesses that are reaching out in compassion and love to nature and people.?

Will you join me?