This is an expanded excerpt pulled from an article I wrote last week "Is Your Company SICk?" I received feedback that people wanted to know more about the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and how to achieve it.
Social Impact Company (SIC) and the Triple Bottom Line?
When I was in business school, it seemed like all instruction was tagged with the line “at a profit.” Instruction like, “Provide your customers with what they want, at a profit.” I get it. I agree with it. It just wasn’t enough for me.
When I started RedEye Coffeealmost 15-years ago, I wanted to achieve a Triple Bottom Line (TBL). A TBL conceives of profit in a more holistic way. It takes into account the total impact of commerce and is committed to a mutually beneficial supply chain that considers financial profit and both social and environmental impact in determining the enterprise's success.
A commitment to a TBL drives passionate conversations in executive meetings, which I call “managing the tensions.” In these conversations, the leadership team holds each other responsible to the TBL. Why do I call it “managing the tensions?” Quite simply, a SIC can’t do everything. A SIC first and foremost must make a financial profit—employees, landlords, and the IRS demand to be paid. So, there are "tensions to be managed" between having stakeholder and customer pride all the while achieving a TBL.
Conceptually, a SIC looks like the Venn diagram on the left. This diagram drives and guides the conversations in the boardroom on how to maximize financial profits, environmental responsibility, and social good. It has been my experience that there is a bit of a transitional phase implementing the TBL. It is mostly about asking questions like, "What would be the impact if we rethought our marketing budget from traditional advertising to financially partnering with our customers to achieve the social good we want to see in the world?" It is not something that will happen overnight and it will demand your teams' best thinking. But this is a good thing when you consider that reports show that 70% of the American workforce is disengaged.
What aspiring SICs will quickly discover is the Venn won't look as pretty as the one above, it will look more like the lopsided one on the right. As a business transitions toward being a SIC and incorporating a TBL there will be anxiety while incorporating a new business paradigm. This is normal and is one of the "known knowns" in the SIC process. It is my contention that traditional corporations will need to move toward being a SIC to be competitive in the 21st Century by holistically reimagining their business model and incorporating the TBL. It's not just a good thing to do, it is the future of commerce.
Do you want to be a SIC? Contact me www.markmcnees.com
About Mark McNees: Mark is the Social Entrepreneur in Residence at FSU's Jim Moran School of Entrepreneurship, Director of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation at FSU’s Devoe Moore Center, Founder/CEO of RedEye Coffee (selected by the Newman’s Own Foundation and KIND Foundation as one of the best Social Enterprises in America), and a business/organization Social Impact Conference speaker.
No comments:
Post a Comment