Higher Purpose & Stakeholder Orientation

Conscious Capitalism

Who is this?

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

2

Three years ago I started my own business,

determined to make a net positive contribution

to the common good

Competitive

Damaging to the

environmentMeaningless

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

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

4

For a long time, businesses viewed

themselves in purely economic terms

5

Economy

But a healthy economy is a subset of a

healthy society

6

Economy

Society

And a healthy society is a subset of a

healthy environment

7

Economy

Environment

Society

Each of these nested systems has

stakeholders

8

Each of these nested systems has

stakeholders

9

Each of these nested systems has

stakeholders

10

11

And each successive system embraces the

entire set of stakeholders from the system

below

12

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.

Businesses and philanthropists have begun to

recognise the need for investment in the

common good

13

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

14

Is the environment important?

15

The problem: resource use is “coupled” to

economic growth

• If we wish to continue pursuing growth, we must decouple it from resource use.

• Relative decoupling means resource use may increase, however, at a slower rate

than economic growth.

• Absolute decoupling is achieved when resource use declines over time while the

economy grows.

16

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.

<

So why does the environment get

overlooked?

18

So why does the environment get

overlooked?

19

• The “invisible hand”• Self-interest

• Reputation.

• Cycles of value creation:

“shared value”.

• Pleasure.

• Reciprocity

? • Giving with no

expectation of return• Altruism

Econom

yEnvir

onm

ent

Socie

ty

Our environment needs altruism – the

highest human virtue

20

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.”

Survive

and

thrive

Human instinct

Shareholder capitalism

Shared value capitalism

Sustainable / conscious

capitalism

Self-Interest

Altruism

Reciprocity

What is raising

consciousness?

22

Expanding the boundaries of our awareness to encompass

a larger and larger system

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

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)

Gro

wth

econom

y

(no d

ecoupling)

Socia

l

inequality

Individual

(egocentric)

Secretive

Prof

it b

efor

e

plan

et

Emph

asis on

human

-mad

e

capita

l

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)

Gro

wth

econom

y

(rela

tive

decoupling)

Gro

wth

econom

y

(no d

ecoupling)

Socia

l

equality

Socia

l

inequality

Individual

(egocentric)

Comm

unity

(anthropocentric)

Reciprocal sharing

Secretive

Prof

it b

efor

e

plan

et

Har

m

min

imisat

ion

Emph

asis o

n

hum

an-m

ade

and

social

capi

tal

Emph

asis on

human

-mad

e

capita

l

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)

“Ste

ady s

tate

”

econom

y

Gro

wth

econom

y

(rela

tive

decoupling)

Gro

wth

econom

y

(no d

ecoupling)

Ecolo

gic

al

justic

e

Socia

l equality

Socia

l

inequality

Individual

(egocentric)

Community

(anthropocentric)

Biosphere

(ecocentric)

Total transparency

Reciprocal sharing

Secretive

Prof

it b

efor

e

plan

et

Harm

minim

isat

ion

Enviro

nmen

tal

rege

nera

tion

Balanc

e be

twee

n

hum

an-m

ade,

soc

ial

and

natu

ral c

apital

Emph

asis on

human

-mad

e

and

social

capita

l

Emph

asis on

human

-mad

e

capita

l

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)

“Ste

ady s

tate

”

econom

yEcolo

gic

al

justic

e

Community

(anthropocentric)

Biosphere

(ecocentric)

Total transparency

Enviro

nmen

tal

rege

nera

tion

Balanc

e be

twee

n

hum

an-m

ade,

soc

ial

and

natu

ral c

apital

Survive

and

Thrive

Appealing to

women

Human instinct

Shareholder capitalism

Shared value capitalism

Sustainable / conscious

capitalism

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.

Authentic purpose must come from the

heart

29

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.”

30

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

curiosityAdmiration for

natural systems

Power of the

individual

Primary measures of performance

• Net Promoter Score

• Total funds contributed to social and environmental projects and

charities.

31

Enough

32

What

I could

charg

e

Enough

25%Surplus for altruistic

reinvestment (can

experiment)

Transparency

• Operating: 3 years

• Philanthropy: $68,000

• Philanthropy % of revenue: 25%

• Philanthropy % of profit: 48%

33

ommon

Vision: a bright future where the natural world and the human spirit are perpetually enriched by the activities of business

and society.

Kommon is 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.

Kommon Values

• Diversity (Resilience/Complexity)

• Wholeness (Unity/Oneness/Equality)

• Connection (Systems thinking)

Kommon campaigns 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.

37

38

39

Natalie Jeremijenko

40

41

42

Kommon Sense – book gifting to CEOs

43

It is fractal

44

Pollen

PurposeVis

ion

Consulting

work

Philanthropy

DG

R

Kommon

Purpose

Diversity

Wholeness

Connection

Vis

ion

Non-DGR

Where I was versus where I am now

Competitive

Damaging to the

environmentMeaningless

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

Emergent characteristics of the new

paradigm

46

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

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

Who is this?

49

50

Thank you.

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