Purpose is the new green

Patagonia made headlines this week when its founder, Yvon Chouinard, decided to give the company away. As reported by 纽约时报 , "rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization. They were created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe."

"As of now, Earth is our only shareholder. ALL profits, in perpetuity, will go to our mission to save our home planet.”

Patagonia was one of the first companies to become a b-Corp. A few years ago, they updated their mission to something both simple yet profound: "We’re in business to save our home planet.” So in some ways, it's not surprising to see the company doubling down on their commitment to fight the climate crisis.

“Instead of ‘going public’, you could say we’re ‘going purpose’,” said Chouinard. “Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”

If you haven't yet, I'd encourage you to read this op-ed by Charles Conn, the chair of Patagonia.

" ... responsible purpose-led companies will attract more investment, better employees, and deeper customer loyalty. This is not woke capitalism.?It’s the future of business if we want to build a better world for our children and all other creatures."

I hope this will inspire others to do more for our environment. Regardless of who we are and what we believe in, we all have one thing in common: Earth is our one and only home.

Speaking of purpose, I spotted this in Manhattan this week: Eat with Purpose.

When I think of the word purpose, another word often comes to mind: intention. It is something that I have been writing quite a bit about lately, including my recent piece in the Fintech Futures about being unconditional and intentional in fostering diversity.

Here comes one of my favorite pictures this week:

Notice anything interesting in the photo above? I took it during Finovate Fall in New York City this week. It was an "Investor All Stars" panel, featuring the wonderful Peggy Mangot , along with Sarah Hinkfuss , Julia Huang . and Alexa von Tobel .

All women rockstars and standing room only.

Not only was this Finovate Fall the biggest ever, the marvelous Katie Gwyn-Williams got us to 50/50 in gender split for speakers.

Still think there aren't enough incredible women to speak at your events?

Think again.

From artificial intelligence, blockchain, and voice tech, to payments, wealth management, traditional finance, and frontier tech, there are many amazing experts waiting for their first chances. The onus is on all of us, to bring more voices to the table and to give them the mic. Remember, we are all beginners once.

Let's do more – with purpose.

__

Previously on One Vision ...

Our world has changed, and along with it, our workforce and their expectations. Employees are increasingly looking for purpose beyond a paycheck. "Make inclusiveness part of your culture" is a crucial cornerstone of successful companies; yet, driving a long-term D&I strategy is easier said than done.

In this episode of One Vision, I welcome Vanice Hayes , Chief Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Dell Technologies , to discuss how businesses can break through and lead with empathy – from reskilling to more diversity to digital inclusion. Vanice also shares insights from Dell’s Breakthrough Study and the company’s latest efforts in advancing digital inclusion and education for underserved communities around the world.?

Give this episode a listen and let us know what you think.

"D&I is not just about numbers. It is not a trend. It's about people and it is business critical. It is a belief." ~ Vanice Hayes

__

Beyond Good is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble,?Bookshop.org, Kogan Page and anywhere books are sold. You can check out what others are saying about our book?here.

***