Approaching Business Holistically

On August 19, the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group composed of the nation’s leading CEOs, announced a major change in its definition of the purpose of the corporation.

Previously, important, organization-focused decisions were made in the best interest of company shareholders, but are now broadening to include workers, consumers, local communities, and society as a whole.

The purpose behind this transition is to move away from only trying to maximize profit and to instead view business from a more holistic approach that provides greater benefits not only to the company, but to the world around it.

This shift in business culture relies solely on the implementation of comprehensive business approaches and for business leaders to be inclusive and mindful of all stakeholders involved in the business.

The B Corporation Movement

This sentiment, however, isn’t new for leaders in the B Corporation (B Corp) movement. B Corps meet the highest standard of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability to balance profit and purpose. They aspire to be a force for good to solve social and environmental problems.

This movement has over 10,000 companies that are certified B Corporations, and it expands across 150 industries and 60 countries. These corporations are the leaders in implementing the actions needed to change the narrative of business in society by working to support people and not just profit.

With this new announcement, the B Corp community now has the opportunity to model to other businesses how to balance profit and purpose by delivering value to all stakeholders.

Doing Well and Doing Good

At Participate Learning, we have been a proud certified B Corp since 2011. Since 2013, we have won B Corp’s elite “Best for the World – Overall” award seven times (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019). To achieve this honor, we scored in the top 10 percent of B Corps across all categories and industries. We’ve also been awarded “Best for the World – Customers” three times and “Best for the World – Community” twice.

Our dual language program, global leaders program, and ambassadors help drive forward our mission of uniting our world through global learning. We strive to do well and do good by being a force for good that connects teachers and students through global education programs to foster human understanding and create peace around the world.

Our hope is that our people-first business model has a positive and long-lasting impact on our staff, schools, teachers, students, and families in the communities that we serve and that it inspires other businesses to consciously act as a change for good.

To learn more about our journey to becoming a B Corp, read this blog post or contact us.