Jo Hunter's Conscious Capitalism presentation

1. Higher Purpose & Stakeholder Orientation
Conscious Capitalism
Who is this?

2. In 2006 I had achieved my career aspirations
•Senior leadership team in a national organisation
•Consulted to large, blue- chip companies
•Good salary
•But there were aspects of the corporate world that were misaligned with my own values
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3. Three years ago I started my own business, determined to make a net positive contribution to the common good
Competitive
Damaging to the environment
Meaningless
Not living my human values
Inauthentic
Disempowered
Secretive
Soulless
“More”
growth /profit
Unfulfilled
Collaborative
Environmentally regenerative
Meaningful
Aligned with my human values
Authentic
Empowered
Transparent
Soulful / “heart”
Enough
Fulfilled

4. My goal tonight: provide a unique perspective on the notions of Stakeholder Orientation and Higher Purpose
•A case for an unorthodox view of Stakeholder Orientation
•Higher (transcendent) Purpose
•My business as evidence that it works
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5. For a long time, businesses viewed themselves in purely economic terms
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Economy

6. But a healthy economy is a subset of a healthy society
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Economy
Society

7. And a healthy society is a subset of a healthy environment
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Economy
Environment
Society

8. Each of these nested systems has stakeholders
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9. Each of these nested systems has stakeholders
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10. Each of these nested systems has stakeholders
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12. And each successive system embraces the entire set of stakeholders from the system below
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These nested systems represent a holarchy, where each component, or holon, is both a part and a whole.
Like a fractal, the patterns evident at one level can be similar to another.
There is no absolute top or bottom.

13. Businesses and philanthropists have begun to recognise the need for investment in the common good
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14. But tend to focus solely on investment into society
•Transform Cambodia
•Water for Africa
•Medical research
•Youth suicide prevention
•Children with special needs
•Impact 100 (community contributions)
•PMH
•Spinifex Trust
•Royal Flying Doctor Service
•UWA Cancer Research
•The Smith Family
•Homelessness
•Indigenous disadvantage
•Youth, arts, health, education, sports
•Special building projects
•Disaster relief
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15. Is the environment important?
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16. The problem: resource use is “coupled” to economic growth
•If we wish to continue pursuing growth, we must decouple it from resource use.
•Relative decouplingmeans resource use may increase, however, at a slower rate than economic growth.
•Absolute decouplingis achieved when resource use declines over time while the economy grows.
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17. To keep economic activity within ecological limits, we must achieve absolute decoupling
•There is some limited evidence of relative decoupling occurring thanks to efficiency gains over the last three decades.
–This means that economic growth has outpaced efficiency improvements, and there has been growth in resource use overall.
•There is little to no evidence of absolute decoupling.
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18. So why does the environment get overlooked?
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19. So why does the environment get overlooked?
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•The “invisible hand”
•Self-interest
•Reputation.
•Cycles of value creation: “shared value”.
•Pleasure.
•Reciprocity
?
•Giving with no expectation of return
•Altruism
Economy
Environment
Society

20. Our environment needs altruism –the highest human virtue
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The common good
Our definition of the common good must include all life, not just people.
Evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin believed that the highest moral achievement is concern for the welfare of all living beings, human and nonhuman.
Darwin wrote: “Sympathy beyond the confines of man, that is humanity to the lower animals, seems to be one of the latest moral acquisitions… This virtue [concern for lower animals], one of the noblest with which man is endowed, seems to arise incidentally from our sympathies becoming more tender and more widely diffused, until they extend to all sentient beings.”

21. Survive
and
thrive
Human instinct
Shareholder capitalism
Shared value capitalism
Sustainable / conscious
capitalism
Self-Interest
Altruism
Reciprocity

22. What is raising consciousness?
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Expanding the boundaries of our awareness to encompass
a larger and larger system

23. Human instinct
Shareholder capitalism
Shared value capitalism
Sustainable / conscious
capitalism
LEVEL OF
EQUALITY
UNIT OF
VALUE
MORAL INTENTIONS
& OUTCOMES
MARKET
DYNAMICS
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT
VALUE
CREATION
FOCUS
LEVEL OF OPENNESS
ECONOMIC
GROWTH
ASPIRATIONS
Survive
and
thrive

24. Human instinct
Shareholder capitalism
Shared value capitalism
Sustainable / conscious
capitalism
LEVEL OF
EQUALITY
UNIT OF
VALUE
MORAL INTENTIONS
& OUTCOMES
MARKET
DYNAMICS
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT
VALUE
CREATION
FOCUS
LEVEL OF OPENNESS
ECONOMIC
GROWTH
ASPIRATIONS
Survive
and
thrive
Self-interest
(good for me)
Competition
(survival of
the fittest)
Growth economy
(no decoupling)
Social
inequality
Individual
(egocentric)
Secretive
Profit before
planet
Emphasis on
human-made
capital

25. Human instinct
Shareholder capitalism
Shared value capitalism
Sustainable / conscious
capitalism
LEVEL OF
EQUALITY
UNIT OF
VALUE
MORAL INTENTIONS
& OUTCOMES
MARKET
DYNAMICS
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT
VALUE
CREATION
FOCUS
LEVEL OF OPENNESS
ECONOMIC
GROWTH
ASPIRATIONS
Survive
and
thrive
Self-interest
(good for me)
Reciprocity
(good for
society)
Cooperation
(creating
shared value)
Competition
(survival of
the fittest)
Growth economy
(relative
decoupling)
Growth economy
(no decoupling)
Social
equality
Social
inequality
Individual
(egocentric)
Community
(anthropocentric)
Reciprocal sharing
Secretive
Profit before
planet
Harm
minimisation
Emphasis on
human-made
and social
capital
Emphasis on
human-made
capital

26. Human instinct
Shareholder capitalism
Shared value capitalism
Sustainable / conscious
capitalism
LEVEL OF
EQUALITY
UNIT OF
VALUE
MORAL INTENTIONS
& OUTCOMES
MARKET
DYNAMICS
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT
VALUE
CREATION
FOCUS
LEVEL OF OPENNESS
ECONOMIC
GROWTH
ASPIRATIONS
Survive
and
thrive
Self-interest
(good for me)
Reciprocity
(good for
society)
Altruism
(good for the
planet)
Symbiosis (harmony
between people,
planet and profit)
Cooperation
(creating
shared value)
Competition
(survival of
the fittest)
“Steady state”
economy
Growth economy
(relative
decoupling)
Growth economy
(no decoupling)
Ecological
justice
Social equality
Social
inequality
Individual
(egocentric)
Community
(anthropocentric)
Biosphere
(ecocentric)
Total transparency
Reciprocal sharing
Secretive
Profit before
planet
Harm
minimisation
Environmental
regeneration
Balance between
human-made, social
and natural capital
Emphasis on
human-made
and social
capital
Emphasis on
human-made
capital

27. LEVEL OF
EQUALITY
UNIT OF
VALUE
MORAL INTENTIONS
& OUTCOMES
MARKET
DYNAMICS
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT
VALUE
CREATION
FOCUS
LEVEL OF OPENNESS
ECONOMIC
GROWTH
ASPIRATIONS
Altruism
(good for the
planet)
Symbiosis (harmony
between people,
planet and profit)
“Steady state”
economy
Ecological
justice
Community
(anthropocentric)
Biosphere
(ecocentric)
Total transparency
Environmental
regeneration
Balance between
human-made, social
and natural capital
Survive
and
Thrive
Appealing to
women
Human instinct
Shareholder capitalism
Shared value capitalism
Sustainable / conscious
capitalism

28. Economy
Society
Environment
The great opportunity of our time is to recalibrate
business as a total system contributor.
To achieve this, businesses must reimagine themselves as vehicles for
delivering true social and environmental value, in addition to customer value.
In other words, businesses must identify their transcendent purpose.

29. Authentic purpose must come from the heart
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30. Pollen Strategy:
•“To deliver strategic planning that helps organisations improve their performance and increase their contribution to our world.”
•“Lead a new business movement whereby more and more organisations view success in terms of their total contribution to our world, causing significant growth in social and environmental capital.”
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Purpose
Vision
Values
“If you think of vision and purpose as an organization’s head and heart, the values it holds are its soul.”
~ Victor R. Buzzotta
Intellectual curiosity
Admiration for natural systems
Power of the individual

31. Primary measures of performance
•Net Promoter Score
•Total funds contributed to social and environmental projects and charities.
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32. Enough
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What I could charge
Enough
25%
Surplus for altruisticreinvestment (can experiment)

33. Transparency
•Operating: 3 years
•Philanthropy: $68,000
•Philanthropy % of revenue: 25%
•Philanthropy % of profit: 48%
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34. ommon
Vision: a bright future where the natural world and the human spirit are perpetually enriched by the activities of business and society.

35. Kommonis a case study
•The brand we will use for investments in the common good that are non DGR.
•Purposely disassociated from Pollen.
•To eliminate cynicism –“doing good for reputational purposes only”.
•Not looking for business ROI.
•Want to conduct experiments.

36. KommonValues
•Diversity (Resilience/Complexity)
•Wholeness (Unity/Oneness/Equality)
•Connection (Systems thinking)

37. Kommoncampaigns and goals
•“Women rising”: promote the role of women in the new economy.
•Giving a voice to sustainability through art.
•Combatting the influence of the “for profit” media.
•Promotion of investment in the common good by business and individuals.
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Natalie Jeremijenko

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43. KommonSense –book gifting to CEOs
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44. It is fractal
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Pollen
Purpose
Vision
Consulting work
Philanthropy
DGR
Kommon
Purpose
Diversity Wholeness Connection
Vision
Non-DGR

45. Where I was versus where I am now
Competitive
Damaging to the environment
Meaningless
Not living my human values
Inauthentic
Disempowered
Secretive
Soulless
“More”
growth /profit
Unfulfilled
Collaborative
Environmentally regenerative
Meaningful
Aligned with my human values
Authentic
Empowered
Transparent
Soulful / “heart”
Enough
Fulfilled

46. Emergent characteristics of the new paradigm
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Generous connection
Sustainability
Love
Altruism
Vulnerability
Freedom
Spirituality
Truthfulness
Intuition
Women rising
Openness towards…
And it’s one of the easiest, lowest-risk things I’ve ever done

47. Take-aways
•Any business that makes a net-negative contribution to the common good of all life can not regard itself as “conscious”.
•The environment needs our altruism.
•The notion of “enough” is very powerful.
•Break the rules!
•Build a fractal business.
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48. 48
Who is this?

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51. Thank you.
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