Conscious business is predicted to be one of the top five workplace trends in 2023. Employees and customers are developing a deepening expectation that business can be restorative for the environment. The conscious business movement recognises this through the concept of a triple bottom line – one in which profit, people and the planet are considered in equal measures.
Are we ready? We have no choice – in essence the quantum economy requires a harmonic principle of service to the earth and her people as a first principle.
The conscious business movement has already taken off in the UK and the US. Now Australia is on the cusp, perfectly poised to follow suit.
A Harvard Business Review article found that socially conscious businesses were those that consistently ranked favourite with consumers. It suggests that people are more likely to be loyal as customers and employees of go-to-brands they trust.
Also gaining greater traction are workplace design concepts that enhance and uplift occupants. For instance, the popularity of biophilia, the inclusion of living plants in workplaces for better health and wellbeing, is rising fast as is the shift toward better lighting and air quality.
Pressure for further change in design and the workplace in general will come directly from individuals as environmental, social and governance (ESG) and similar policies increasingly become front of the mind for employees, employers and executives everywhere.
For over 20 years, Davis Demillo (an associate director from Atelier Ten) has been actively finding ways for buildings and precincts to tread more lightly on the planet and bring a human approach back to the workplace. He shares his views about Conscious Business:
“When I think about what ‘Conscious Business’ means, it isn’t a something you adopt once you’ve left home and gone to work and then turn off at the end of the day.
“A person can’t conduct business in a ‘conscious’ manner with no self-awareness or be generally apathetic towards life. It’s an extension of who we are as individuals. To become conscious means having to reflect on who we are as individuals, which can be confronting for many people. But once we do, we start seeing beyond our own survival and start realising that all the little things we do have a cumulative impact on everything around us.
“Of course, this is not to be confused with those who are fully aware of their actions and generally don’t care – these people are the cancer of society.”
Hard-working and honest citizens don’t seem to realise that their banks or superannuation portfolios are investing in firearms, fossil-fuels, tobacco, gambling, live animal export
To elaborate, most people just want to make an honest living and don’t really think much about who they work for or what they do, as long as they have a regular income to survive or buy the things they want. In each generation, it’s rinse-cycle-repeat. It’s a system that our ancient taskmasters created to keep us all in line, so they could stay in power. Back then, it was pure slavery.
Now it is a subtle form of modern day slavery. The difference being is that now we have just enough money to go and buy the things we want, so “they” can keep us pacified/hypnotized/etc.
While we’re on the topic of money, hard-working and honest citizens don’t seem to realise that their banks or superannuation portfolios are investing in firearms, fossil-fuels, tobacco, gambling, live animal export, etcetera – all of which destroy people and our environment.
Unfortunately, profit-only driven enterprises prey on the desperate and those who want to make a quick buck, and usually at the expense of the environment. When people make the choice to bank or invest ethically, you take away funding from these industries and they fail.
As we reach a critical mass in diverting funds away from destructive enterprises, our quality of life improves, wealth is distributed, and the environment starts to regenerate and thrive.
As a young engineer, I was quite vocal in my refusal to work for petroleum companies because they liked to dictate how I should do my work and what I should or shouldn’t include in my reports. Sound familiar? How many large consulting firms have sold themselves to environmentally and socially damaging projects just so they can make a significant profit at the expense of native habitats and local communities.
All eyes focus on the cowboy state up north with a particular coal mine built by Mr A or “that company” that likes to blow up sacred indigenous sites all over the country.
This is all under the guise of “creating jobs” and boosting the economy without factoring in long-term repercussions or its adverse effects on those affected. Thank God, we’re now seeing people start to adopt ‘conscious’ voting as we saw in the last election.
The economy cannot exist without humans and humans cannot exist without the natural environment
Whilst the concept of Conscious Business is based on the triple bottom line for sustainability, most businesses will still prioritise the financial sphere over the other two, so you never really get an equal balance. In other words, the equal-sized circles representing each aspect that we often see are misleading.
In reality, we need to understand that the economy cannot exist without humans and humans cannot exist without the natural environment. With this in mind, adopting the alternative models where the economy and people are nested inside the environment demonstrates a better understanding by businesses that there are limits to growth.
This then allows for achieving a thriving enterprise that goes beyond sustainability.
As people become more conscious of who they work for, who their clients are, the nature of their work and how they conduct their businesses more ethically, we’ll see more restoration of a thriving natural environment and create healthy and enjoyable places for people, to live and work.
There are already people doing this, we just need everyone else to.
A focus on people and planet has a strong impact on attracting talent.
As Davis Demillo highlights, this topic is not just for owners, leaders and influencers of business but for everyday people to hear and share practical ways we can transform the way we impact people and planet.
That is the rationale behind the creation of a conscious business network Australia to bring dialogue back to the people. We need to change the narrative and in turn the culture that we as businesspeople have created.
As culture at a local level diminishes in this global village, we need to shift the culture of the biggest influencer – business. Who shapes our future? Well, at the moment it’s big organisations. In 2023, let us instead become the force that shapes our futures by joining in on the discussion.
Examples from multinational organisations who are moving in the direction of a conscious business
CBRE has built into their 15th annual corporate responsibility report many initiatives to positively impact people & planet. Edward O’Dwyer, originally a farmer from Allora, Queensland, who specialises in natural capital, biodiversity and impact in the agribusiness capital markets says: “It is becoming increasingly evident that reducing global emissions alone will not help us reach our carbon target.
“We must look to actively sequester carbon by supporting biodiversity and healthy ecosystems – nature and its natural services. The real opportunity here is to use our land and work with those managing it to realise true progress in our fight against climate change and in making the world a better place”.
The company’s president and chief executive officer Bob Sulentic, states: “Driving progress on ESG issues not only drives positive outcomes, it’s also a business imperative. Our annual report highlights how we deliver exceptional results for our clients while also focusing on our company’s role in creating positive impacts for people and the planet.”
Conscious business should be a topic within every business and household.
How do we create the new narrative?
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“Conscious businesses tend to expand beyond the familiar constructs, systems or institutions to imagine what’s possible. For instance, when we attempt to use the same constructs to create change, we’re likely still tethered to the very system we want to transform. In contrast, conscious businesses are informed by current systems while developing innovative approaches.” – Forbes, 2021.
Let us be the change we wish to see in 2023.
The Conscious Business Network holds monthly events in Sydney. Kirsten McLauchlan, Davis Demillo and Edward O’Dwyer will feature at diner events in Sydney and Manly on 28 February and 14 March respectively.
