Weekly Announcement #60. February 11, 2022
Image of MaRS Discovery District, looking West on College Street. Toronto. ON
Welcome to this week’s B4PN Weekly Announcement. If you know someone who might enjoy our newsletter, please let them know that they can sign up here.
Compiled by Marek Nakonieczny / Associate, B4PN / edited by Allyson Hewitt / VP Impact, MaRS Discovery District.
#ONE — Conference: All Things People
We’d like to get this event on your radar for the end of March. Venture for Canada’s All Things People “is a virtual event designed to help anyone interested in scaling diversity and belonging put the ‘people’ in ‘people operations’.” Specifically, the keynote by Jarret Leaman, Founder & CEO of Akawe Technologies, co-founder of the Centre for Indigenous Innovation and Technology (CIIT), and member of the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR). Jarret will be speaking about the E in DEI, or the role of equity, in creating an inclusive and diverse workplace. March 24–25, online, with a variety of student, individual, and group conference rates available. Thank you to Serena Nguyen, the MaRS Chief of Staff and Executive Director of CILAR, for sharing.
#TWO — Article: Purpose at Work
We turn to Forbes contributor Simon Mainwaring for a look at the purpose agenda of the world’s largest brewery, AB InBev. Integrating a common purpose across a massive enterprise is no small task for Michel Doukeris, who has been the CEO since July 2021. Their new purpose, We Dream Big to Create a Future with More Cheers, has more to do with sustainability, the future they want to shape, and how they can realize it, than it does celebrating with a ‘cheers’. In this article Doukeris shares insights on how to integrate purpose across a large enterprise, while also citing challenges along the way. While there is clearly a focus on market share and growth, his team leans into the 2020 Davos Manifesto and its Universal Purpose of a Company Statement, using benchmarks derived from the UN SDGs to demonstrate that “profit and purpose are interlinked.”
#THREE — C-suite insights: How purpose delivers value
Deloitte has provided evidence that purpose is far more than a tagline, but rather “the best framework to keep focused on long-term value and to navigate complex risks. It makes the company more valuable, focused, and resilient.” Their 2021 survey entitled C-Suite Insights: How purpose delivers value offers some key insights:
- The entire C-suite has an important role to play in implementing purpose, but the emerging role of Chief Purpose Officer can enhance outcomes.
- The leaders surveyed “viewed talent impacts as the greatest driver of value by far, with 79% agreeing that purpose supports talent recruitment, engagement, and retention.”
- Links to executive compensation for delivery on purpose should be stronger to drive impact and accountability.
Thanks to B4PN Founding Member, Coro Strandberg for sharing, and for more timely access to articles like this, don’t forget to follow Coro on LinkedIn.
#FOUR — Article: 5 Questions Every Manager Needs to Ask their Direct Reports
HBR is also weighing in on talent migration in this piece providing five measures to boost retention. What’s of particular interest to us? Question 2 of 5: “Do you feel a sense of purpose in your job?” Author Susan Peppercorn shares that “helping employees feel a sense of purpose must go deeper” than just connecting them to how their role contributes to the organization, it must also connect them to “their own values.” This question, along with the others, can help individuals feel seen and valued.
#FIVE — Initiative: Social Acquisition Incubator
The Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience (WISIR) is recruiting an executive board for their Social Acquisition Initiative from February to April 2022. The initiative aims to advance social acquisitions, “the process by which a conventional enterprise is acquired and restricted into a social purpose organization,” as a business recovery, succession, and resilience strategy for Canadian business owners and communities. To learn more about the project, how to apply to be an executive board member, and how the process will play out before the first official board meeting, click here.
quote of the week
“At The Knowledge Pledge we match experts with social ventures to share their knowledge and help shape the world pro bono. Signalling that many individuals have an opportunity to partake in a new P&L, that of Purpose and Legacy.”
– Alain Chetrit, Chair, The Knowledge Pledge.
Please note: MaRS VP Impact and B4PN Co-founder, Allyson Hewitt, is a member of the TKP Global Advisory Board.
Allyson
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.
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