FIELD NOTES FROM THE B FOR GOOD LEADERS SUMMIT 2023
Witnessing the tribes of B-Corp ‘go at it’ is officially now a summit tradition, BUT WHERE’S THE MIDDLE GROUND?
On one hand there’s the Eco-Socialist Degrowthers agitating for urgent change to avoid planetary collapse. And on the other we have responsible financiers, working within ‘the system’ to create incremental change at a pace that avoids an economic crash, but risks the planet.
It’s two tribes trying to politely communicate using subtly different languages born of contrasting value systems.
There’s plenty to learn from both groups, and plenty to be frustrated by too: Don’t giggle at the wooly simplicity of doomer rhetoric. Resist throwing something pointy at the bankers with their dead end risk calculations. Is there an actionable middle ground? That has to be the reason for attending, to be part of the live debate, it’s complicated, exciting, urgent, and classic Craftory.
Honestly, you have to work hard at the B Good Summit. It’s all about letting the bonkers discussions and non sequiturs hit you and stimulate a better path forward for you and your organization. So what might the actionable middle ground look like? Here are five possibles I gleaned from B For Good Leaders ’23:
1: Immediate efficiency drive
The wasteful practices of our current economic models are a barrier to transitioning to a circular economy. If we can address the practices that create waste we’re halfway there.
Review regulation so as to make being wasteful prohibitively expensive
Invest big money in waste collection infrastructure and recycling technology
Institute a global ban on non-biodegradable single use packaging
2: Learn the true nature of happiness
Anyone living in poverty is going to roll their eyes at this one. It’s a message that needs to be heard by people living in developed, mass affluent societies: The consumerist pop culture tells us buying more stuff will make us happier, however behavioral science has proven this is a lie, a self-destructive addiction. A fairer long term goal would be to lift the global community out of poverty, establish access to a base level of food, education, healthcare etc, and to dial-out the empty consumption of needless crap.
3: Shift to patient capital investment
Our extractive economy is failing, and the term ‘extractive’ covers not just mineral extraction and depletive agro but short term capital extraction from businesses too. We need long term investment to drive systemic change, specifically: The regenerative economy might look less profitable in the short term but it’s delusional to think we can go on as we are. It’s going to take fiscal leadership to get us over the hump. At the Craftory this is a pillar of our investment thesis.
4: Bring diversity to the boardroom
Diverse organizations outperform their less diverse competitors. Diverse organizations are wiser too because they draw from a broader experience base. Implementing a significant increase in holistic diversity in board level decision making is a message heard time and time again at the summit. If a business wants to be truly responsible it needs to listen to all stakeholders across the widest sweep of its activities. The good news is many businesses seem to be doing this. The bad news is strategy does not always influence BAU. One moderator told our group she hates the phrase ‘business as usual’ because it’s used as an excuse to avoid meaningful change.
5: Implement triple bottom line accounting as the new standard for quantifying value and risk
This is a perennial subject at B Summits. The eco-socialists see it as mandatory. The prog financiers wrestle with reliable accounting models for people and the planet. It’s critical because globally accepted accounting methods for people and the planet (not just profit) will give us the ability to redefine value and risk - thereby unlocking the chance to move the global economy to a sustainable capitalist model.
We’re into this at the Craftory and suggest the following triple bottom line accounting standards:
Planet: SBTII: the best of the best reference to account for your carbon footprint and act on it.
ESG standard: SASB: a framework to track ESG metrics across 77 industries
To end here’s a classic B moment from this year’s summit
In one session (which will remain anonymous) we began with a guided group meditation - by means of prosaic language, heavy breathing, and choreography we time traveled to the year 2030, a version of 2030 where the wildest hopes and dreams for our businesses were manifest:
Open your eyes JP, tell us where you are and what you see?
I’m in a supermarket. A colorful, busy supermarket.
Walk the isles JP!
As I dream-shop I realize each brand and product I encounter is offering efficacy underpinned by a common promise: the ability to kamikaze itself into nothingness. The much desired ability to work well and leave no trace is finally at my fingertips. No longer do I have to worry about impact, every aspect of responsible business is catered for by the brands I select. All I have to do is choose-pay-use, and trash with care.
Suddenly I’m back in the Berlage, my Craftory CPG utopia paused. The room is silent. My neighbor leans in and in a clear kiwi accent says - I’m changing my answer to that.
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JP Thurlow is a partner and brand specialist at The Craftory, the progressive investment fund on a $550M mission to back the world's boldest cause-driven CPG brands.
