The Emergence of Conscious Capitalism

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of talking with my friend and publisher Tami Simon, founder of Sounds True, a purveyor of wisdom through audio recording, books, and now through video and other media on line. As part of the release of my book, Working for Good: Making a Difference While Making a Living, and as part of our ongoing conversation about Conscious Capitalism®, and Tami’s Insights at the Edge podcast series, Tami and I recorded a video podcast, which Sounds True will distribute sometime this fall.

One of the questions asked me, only as Tami can, was something to the effect of “do you think this Conscious Capitalism movement is really happening and really going to make a difference?”

My short answer was an unequivocal “yes, it is really happening. And I do think it can and will make a difference.” Here are some of the reasons why I feel this way and some of the things I said in my more detailed response to Tami.

In 1981 I wrote a study of the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Movement for Robert Rodale, then Chairman of Rodale Press. At the time, the SRI was in its infancy. In the past several years it surpassed $1 trillion.
At the same time as trust in business and in business leaders is at an historic low, support for companies that serve their communities is at an all-time high. The marketplace is demanding more conscious and responsible business.
Meaning is becoming more important than things to the aging Baby Boomers (in what is being called the Age of Transcendence) and money and material success alone does not provide the depth of meaning people hunger for.
The Millennial generation will stand for nothing less – as employees, consumers, community members, and in all of their roles. Integration between values and value, between work and the rest of life is essential to them.
More and more businesses employing the principles and practices of Conscious Capitalism are building exemplary, successful companies.
It makes common sense and it works better.

In the same way that I witness the growth of the social investment industry, I am witnessing the emergence of a Conscious Capitalism movement and where I found myself alone in the woods or the desert (so to speak) for most of the past decades, I now find countless colleagues, collaborators, teachers, and others who share similar values and visions of how business can and must be conducted to manifest a healthier, sustainable society, and who are living it daily, building substantial companies of all sizes.

While greed-based, devour and conquer capitalism is not going to disappear anytime soon, if enough of us focus on the emerging Conscious Capitalism, build, work for, buy from, challenge (to help them improve) and otherwise support Conscious Businesses, whose products and services make a difference, and whose conduct of business deliver value to and bring out the best in all of their stakeholders, then we may see a very different reality in the years ahead.

Yes, I am an optimist and an idealist, but I also observe what I encounter and I notice changes over time, and Conscious Capitalism is a garden that is growing. With the right attention, care, and nourishment, I trust it will become an ever more beautiful and bountiful one.

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

Conscious Capitalism is a registered trademark of Conscious Capitalism, Inc. Working for Good is a registered trademark of Working for Good, Inc.