Business for Purpose Network (B4PN). Weekly Announcement. Update #21 — April 16, 2021
Opportunity to help! TODAY April 16, 2021
MaRS is a Strategic Partner to the Impact Management Project (IMP), a forum for building global consensus on how to measure, manage and report impacts on sustainability.
As part of these efforts, the IMP facilitates a group of standard-setting organizations that are collaborating on a website to help enterprises and investors navigate the existing standards and guidance, and identify when and for what purpose each can be used.
This website is currently in its design phase and you are invited to help choose a suitable name for it. Feedback is welcome by EOD today and can be submitted via this survey link which should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. THANK YOU
1.0 ADVICE FROM CONSULTANCIES.
- Deloitte’s Chief Business Officer (that’s a title now) outlines 3 Ways Companies Can Embed Purpose Into Their Organizations in this Sponsored Content HBR article. April 12, 2021. The three actions are: Empower your people through inclusive work; Dig deep with your clients, customers, and partners to amplify impact; and Differentiate impact in your community to scale change.
- McKinsey shares this insight: Executives, mind the purpose gap. “85% of execs and up upper management told us in a recent survey that they’re living their purpose at work. The exact same number of frontline managers and frontline employees told us they are not”. Read the entire article in Help your employees find purpose — or watch them leave. April 5, 2021. They recommend (3) actions: start with the organization’s purpose; Reflect, connect, repeat; and Help people live their purpose at work.
2.0 PODCAST. Pinsent Masons, based in the UK, explains the link between purpose-led business, B Corp certification and the Better Business Act and in this podcast Richard Foley of Pinsent Masons and Lisa MaCallum of Inspired Companies discuss How purpose is re-shaping the world’s companies. They do a great job of explaining Purpose and how it differs from ESG etc. Worth a 32-minute listen or just read the transcript.
3.0 UPCOMING EVENTS.
- International. Impact Summit, Europe’s Leading Purpose-Led Business Event is being held May 19th and 20th. With a theme of People; Planet and Tech you can get your tickets here. Registration includes a Pay What You Can option.
- Canada. The B4PN has identified procurement as a lever of change. David LePage has been working on Social Procurement through Buy Social for many years. Hear from him and Jenn Harper of Cheekbone Beauty at the latest Conversations on Purpose webinar hosted by Sarah Saso and Verity Dimock on April 21st at 1 pm. Registration is free.
4.0 WBCSD. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has released a series of reports entitled Vision 2050. Time to Transform which states “business action can drive the key transformations needed to build a world in which 9+ billion people live well, within planetary boundaries, by 2050.” Their (9) Transformation Pathways are: Energy; Transportation and Mobility; Living Spaces; Products and Materials; Financial Products and Services; Connectivity; Health and Wellbeing; Water and Sanitation; and Food.
5.0 TELUS POLLINATOR FUND FOR GOOD. TELUS worked closely with MaRS, a mission-driven organization with a stated purpose “to help innovators create a better world” to design and launch this fund. MaRS is the co-founder of the B4PN and our goal is to make innovation mean something (as demonstrated in this ad).
We’d love to see other businesses follow the lead of TELUS. Check out this video for more details on this partnership and the purpose of this $100m fund for good and reach out to me if you want to discuss this in more detail.
Quote of the week: “Economic growth accompanied by worsening social outcomes is not success, it is failure”
- Jacinda Ardern. Prime Minister of New Zealand. Thanks for the share Michelle Baldwin.
Enjoy the reading and enjoy the week-end … on purpose!
Allyson
BONUS: The Skoll World Forum 2021 #SkollWF. This past week I was able to join several sessions at the Skoll World Forum from the comfort of my home office. While not directly related to our work on “purpose” there were a few deeply relevant sessions, such as the one featuring Paul Polman that is worth checking out. The Skoll team is incredibly efficient and they have already posted the archives of the sessions here
_____
What is the Business for Purpose Network? The B4PN is an initiative catalyzed by the JW McConnell Family Foundation and the MaRS Discovery District to help build a movement engaging companies to put purpose at the core of their work.
Past editions of the B4PN Weekly Announcements are available on LinkedIn and on Medium.
Interested in joining this movement? Please contact Allyson Hewitt, VP Impact at MaRS at ahewitt@marsdd.com to indicate your interest in this work, to join the mailing list or to unsubscribe. We’d also love your comments on anything you read here or to promote any relevant articles you would like to share with others.
