Our thinking

To B or not to B

10 December, 2020

With great power comes great responsibility, and business certainly has a lot of power and a responsibility to create a positive impact on society. But how can businesses prove that they are ‘doing good’ and having a positive impact, and how can we hold them to account for this? 

Our friends at Aesop have now joined over 3,600 other companies in committing to ‘being a force for good’ through becoming a B Corp, a business that meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.  

There are big challenges inherent in any certification scheme, particularly the trade-off between how rigorous the certification is, particularly when it’s applicable to multiple companies and sectors, and making sure it is accessible and attainable. 

The fact that it’s a universal standard also means that, while it’s a brilliant stamp of responsibility for a business to have, it can’t show what makes their approach unique and different, or paint a picture of their specific purpose and path. 

So for us it’s best used as part of the overall narrative for a business or brand, but an important part that lends credibility to everything else.  

And the greater the momentum around the movement the greater the value it has – both for those that are part of it, but also for the business world as a whole. It acts as a signal of the direction of travel, and the growing energy around positive business futures. 

By Patrick Bapty