B Lab Inspires Organizations to Use Business as a Force for Good
Bart Houlahan, the co-founder of B Lab, recently dropped by the Energage office to update our team on the progress of the B Corp movement.
B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
Energage and B Lab started around the same time, and from the get-go, it was clear we were mission-aligned at deep level. That’s why we signed on as a “Founding B Corp” the very first-year certification was available.
Today, there is a growing community of more than 2,500 Certified B Corps from 50 countries and over 130 industries. They’re part of a movement that’s working together toward one unifying goal: to redefine success in business. Visionary leaders believe in the power of free enterprise and the profit motive to achieve great results. But they have also seen the destructive side of unbridled profit-at-all-costs. And despite what Gordon Gekko may have said, greed alone, it turns out, is not good.
The commitment to being a B Corp is more than an external seal of approval. It’s a fundamentally different way of setting up the charter and legal framework for an enterprise. Just as the Top Workplaces program requires a long-running commitment by senior leaders to establish a healthy corporate culture, the B Corp certification demands a deep-rooted commitment to balancing the interests of shareholders, from investors and clients to employees and the environment.
We were delighted to hear from Bart about the ongoing success of the B Corp movement as well as the tremendous breakthroughs he and the rest of the team have accomplished. This includes convincing large, well-established (and sometimes public) enterprises in working towards a B Corp charter.
Similar to Top Workplaces, there are many organizations that aspire to be certified. Yet, many fall short of the stringent standards of the B Corp Impact Assessment. But having that benchmark – and a roadmap – to certification has inspired more 60,000 companies to take the test and start to develop incremental steps towards improving their impact on the world.
Energage is proud to be a founding member of the B Corp movement. Every day, we focus on building a vibrant and profitable organization while also building a long-term legacy of positive impact. We believe in its mission, and we invite all organizations to join the movement by adopting a similar charter.
