"Practicing" Conscious Capitalism

After attending some great conferences recently we are continually inspired by the growth of the Conscious Capitalism movement. While there is still an astronomical amount of work to be done, the movement continues to make great progress. And we hope that more and more companies begin "practicing" conscious capitalism. If unfamiliar with the influential practice, “conscious capitalism” is a business model with a mission to inspire, educate, and engage with all stakeholders, and not only support the communities you serve but enrich lives.

In a blog by Tim Hughes called Practicing Conscious Capitalism, Tom shares how his companies and others are trying to get this “practice” right. As developing a socially conscious business model that gives back to the community, while also turning a profit, is no easy task. As, Helena Foulkes, the executive vice president of CVS Health, knows this well and speaks of the challenges in an article in Inc., called “This Business Move Cost CVS $2 Billion (but It Was the Smartest Decision It Could Have Made).”

However, the Millennials keep making headlines with regards to their leadership in this movement, as evidenced in an article recently published by Triple Pundit called “Should We Take Millennials’ ‘Rejection’ of Capitalism Seriously?” As the media keeps trying to figure out why so many of them support (or even love!) Bernie Sanders, a new survey brought up somewhat more surprising news: The majority of millennials reject capitalism in general. A bit surprising? Maybe, but it may indicate that millennials indeed associate capitalism mostly with the great recession of 2008 and therefore have negative views about it. Which causes them to look towards a more conscious way of doing business. No matter what generation is driving it we are seeing change happening. “Today, companies are taking proactive approach to investing in areas where they think this consumer is going and that’s going to have profound effect on the consumer economy going forward.” (Goldman Sachs)

“Because of its focus on four key tenets -- higher purpose, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership and conscious culture -- that are netting significant business results for companies, the movement has developed a national following that is agnostic to company size or business model,” states Tina Young in her Entrepreneur article entitled 4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Practice 'Conscious Capitalism', which gives some great concepts for the business owner to wrap their brain around in their efforts to begin the practice.

There is great work being done by the various Conscious Capitalism groups around the country to help in the movement and to give the conscious (or desiring) business owner concepts to consider and tools to use, such as these Five Domains published by the Colorado group.

The movement will continue to grow, as the consumer pressure continues, and business leaders become more conscious-minded and learn how to apply a balanced stakeholder-based model and teach others to do the same, the "practice" can continue.