The Four Tenets of Conscious Capitalism
Higher Purpose:
Elevating humanity through business begins with knowing WHY your company exists. Without this, you have no compass to get and stay focused on your True North. Businesses should exist for reasons beyond just making a profit. We see profit as a necessary means to achieving your purpose—not as an end in and of itself.
Stakeholder Orientation:
Critical to achieving your purpose is to value and care for EVERYONE that touches your business. This includes your employees, customers, suppliers, partners, investors, community, environment, and sometimes even your competition. Motivate all stakeholders by creating “win-win-win” outcomes for all who are impacted by your business’s decisions.
Conscious Leadership:
Conscious businesses cannot exist without Conscious Leaders. They are the stewards, the pioneers of good. They keep the business focused on its Purpose. They reject a zero-sum, trade-off-oriented view of business and seek creative, synergistic solutions for all stakeholders. Without better leaders, there is no better world. Period.
Conscious Culture:The culture of your business is its heartbeat. Without a healthy one, the business will ultimately fail. Cultures are as unique as the people who comprise them, but commonalities include trust, accountability, transparency, integrity, loyalty, egalitarianism, fairness, personal growth, and love and care.
The Why Behind the JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, inclusion) Work:
We are prepared to the difficult work to dismantle and re-design where needed a new version of conscious capitalism that is truly equitable, diverse, inclusive, and creates opportunity for all.
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We believe that the conscious leaders and businesses understand at their core that the journey to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion is one that is done individually, interpersonally, organizationally, and systemically.
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We see that some of our members and the people we serve are being harmed by a global system of economic inequity. We acknowledge that this system is perpetuated by historical global institutions of oppression. We appreciate the beauty of human diversity and also see that the system divides and distributes resources unequally. For this reason, CCBA is committed to promoting a sense of inclusion and finding progressive solutions to the problem of inequity.
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It is our intention to be the organization whose name is on the lips of anyone who wants to run their business as a conscious company.
We have had the conversations and now we are committed to taking ACTION.
We are committed to courageously implementing these strategies, aware that we will not do this perfectly, and are open to dialogue in response to our learning and evolving strategies.
Conscious Capitalism Bay Area is deeply committed to:
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Learning, understanding and enacting justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion practices which are essential to sustaining and expanding the impact of Conscious Companies in our Bay area community. We both learn from and deliver education for the community on a range of JEDI topics.
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Consistently reflecting the broad array of diversity across people, sectors and industrieson our leadership team and in our membership.
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Presenting and affirming the voices of those who have been historically and traditionally marginalized: people of color, women, LGBTQI+, disabled, and those whose ages are on the fringes of the spectrum.
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Helping businesses and organizations willing to do the challenging work of creating diverse, equitable and inclusive businesses in attitudes, behaviors and policies --- not just giving platitudes and having good intentions.
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Serving as a role model of how CC chapters can be authentically and truly diverse, inclusive and equitable, knowing that we are building the plane while we fly it. When we make mistakes, we make amends. We have courageous conversations. When we know better, we do better, to paraphrase Dr. Maya Angelou.
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Helping businesses learn how to operate both sustainably and profitably, releasing the illusion that they must choose one over the other. We are committed to changing the face of capitalism to one that is just and equitable for everyone.
