Business for Good needs Better Connections

I had the privilege last week of being part of the For Good Leaders Summit 2023 in Amsterdam.?Some of what I say below is constructive criticism, but I will state at the start that I'm 100% passionate about the Business for Good movement and love spending time with similarly aligned CEOs.?This event wasn’t a B Corp conference (although with some deliberate branding synergy?),?but there many B Corps present and I remain fully committed to the B Corp movement as one of the first companies to certify in the UK.?and I am very proud that we now have 55 B Lab UK certified suppliers.

Yet, if we are really going to transform our broken world through business, we need more than a fantastic system of measuring how good our businesses are for the world.?We need to move faster and further than ever before.?Simply doing the old things better won’t cut it; we need radical transformation and completely different ways of working, which won’t just come through engaging our minds in a better system.?

This radical transformation requires involves transforming our heart (emotions) and our soul (the very core of our being).?

We desperately need to learn to connect at a deeper level in three ways:

• learn to connect to ourselves,
• connect with others in deep community and
• learn to connect to nature.

My experience was that connections on all these three levels could have been curated in a better way at the event last week, but there was also a fabulous stream of deep connection within the event which I will come onto later in this article.

‘We are more than our minds’

...was one of my favourite phrases in 2022, yet much of the content on the main stage at B for Good Leaders was cerebral and mind orientated.?Yes, there were some fabulous, inspiring people on stage, but the panel-type discussions were largely sharing information rather than inspiring conscious leadership.?

I can see why, on an inclusivity level, the panel format was chosen, but some inspiring, well-crafted emotional-led speakers would have resulted in more lasting change.?The mind is incredibly important for setting our intentions and helping us decide to do better, but for true and lasting change our hearts and souls need to be changed.?I am fortunate that I have spoken at several events over the past few years, where there has been profound emotional engagement at heart level, and I believe this is vital in changing for better.?

Storytelling is how humans have changed for better over millennia – let’s give space to more powerful storytelling at future conferences.

Another way of engaging our whole being is through the arts: poetry, dance, mime, imagery, music, and other forms of creativity were sorely missing during last week’s event.?It is so important that business engages, encourages, and supports (financially and otherwise) ?the arts in all their forms.?Business and The Arts is a powerful combination and will result in more lasting transformation than words alone.?(The most powerful part of the main stage presentation last week was in the first session when strong words and music were combined – that will be what many remember far more than copious words.)

One criticism aimed at the sustainability movement has been that it has been too intense and serious. ?And indeed, irreversible climate change and gross and growing inequality in the world are very serious issues, I have shed many tears for both tragedies both privately and publicly.?However, we humans need laughter and fun too if we are to prevent burn out.?And there was plenty of fun being had in the generous evening social events, ?with seemingly endless supplies of food and alcohol.?Let’s bring some of this laughter and fun onto the conference floor.

In those evening events I enjoyed making new human connections and renewing old ones, but I was struck during the two days of the summit what a curse the smartphone is to making connections at events like this – and this is from people who generally would love to connect.?In my view having an App based programme rather than paper may be better for the environment but is far worse for connecting with others.?It simply gives permission for people to have their phones out and be distracted by running their businesses rather than fully immersing in the summit.?

Far better in my view to ask delegates to turn their phones off which would help us to connect better and learn from others from different cultures.?There were several times I deliberately sat next to people I didn’t know, and conversations didn’t happen – yes, I was the one sitting quietly without my phone in my hand trying to make eye contact, but you stayed glued to your phone.

Connecting with nature is clearly going to be different at a city-based conference yet this is a struggle for some. ?I talked to one delegate who left the event on the second day purely to find some green space – it took him 30 minutes!?One way of engaging with the land would have been to give the ‘Wisdom Keepers’ a higher profile.?This was a stream of life within the conference (not a main track) and where I spent as much time as possible.?The sessions were run by indigenous people from different parts of the world and as one of them put it,

“This is where the magic happens”.?

What is this magic??Well, as you probably can guess, it was the magic of connection and through connecting with ourselves, others and nature is where we find wisdom.?We must listen more to this small percentage of the world population who are responsible for maintaining 80% of the biodiversity left on the planet.?It was here that heart and soul connection was found, here where we re-discovered our connection with the planet and here where we connected with the wisdom of others.?Fewer words and yet far more impact.

Having the wisdom keepers running some of the main sessions would, to my mind, have brought the desperately needed connections into the main arena.?We should honour and welcome these people who help us tap into our natural wisdom and not put their workshops in the basement. ?(I was told that was their choice to be closer to the earth, but either way, the optics weren’t good.)?We would do well to learn more form those who help us recover our connections to ourselves, each other, and nature.?

Yes, we need clever solutions to today’s existential permacrisis, but knowledge without the wisdom coming from deeper connections won’t save the world.?As Rumi said,

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.?Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”