Become a Change-Maker Brand: Part 1
“The Sharing Economy is about sustainable futures and offers an opportunity for businesses to rethink their structure, relationships with their workers, investors, partners and competitors to grow into the future. That means finding other definitions of value and business objectives.”
Clare Kandola, Sharing Economy business expert and trustee of charity The People Who Share.
Clare Kandola is one of 200 change-makers worldwide that I have interviewed for my forthcoming book, Generation Share. Published by Policy Press for Global Sharing Week 2019 (June 16th-22nd). Co-created with visual storyteller, Sophie Sheinwald Generation Share takes people on a much needed journey of hope to meet the change-makers who are building a society fuelled by Sharing. The book evidences how Sharing is changing the way we think, live and do business.
Previously in my blog, I have detailed the 6 all-important character traits that make up the Anatomy of a Change-Maker. Over the next six weeks, I’ll be looking at how these character traits can be applied to businesses and all organisations in order to become what I call ‘Change-Maker Brands.’ From being a Sharer to the trait of bravery, from adaptability to putting love at the heart of our business decisions; from positivity to being future-conscious, I’ll show how the 6 characteristics of being a change-maker can not only transform your organisation, but are vital for business survival.
It’s clear that with the number of social businesses on the rise and the growth of crowdsourced, peer-to-peer production, distribution and a new type of conscious, caring consumption, the traditional approach to business as usual heralds the death knell for those unwilling to see the realities of the future. As Clare Kandola, a Sharing Economy consultant and expert at my charity, The People Who Share explains:
“We are at the end of cheap, easily available resources. The Sharing Economy is about sustainable futures and offers an opportunity for businesses and all organisations to rethink their structure, relationships with their workers, investors, partners and competitors to grow into the future. That means finding other definitions of value and business objectives. I question any organisation that does not have some interest in sustainability and social impact in a world of diminishing resources and greater inequality. This isn’t a CSR output, it’s about finding ways to stay relevant and survive. Organisations are increasingly impacted by the technological revolution, changing working practices and increased costs of core resources. It is no longer acceptable to create only economic value, they need to be creating social and environmental value to survive and the Sharing Economy is a way to do just that.”
It’s clear that we are entering a new era of business where 65% of companies now rate ‘inclusive growth’ as one of their top three goals, with 77% of businesses seeing ‘citizenship and social impact’ rated critical or important.
Businesses and organisations can create the sustainable long-term change that’s needed for the future by adopting the six change-maker characteristics and over the next six weeks, I’ll be looking at what this means and how businesses can adopt these practices. Underlying this approach is the realisation that complex global problems need radical, systemic strategies, and a complete re-think of the top down, quick-win, winner-takes-all, profit-before-people tactics that have dominated at the expense of us all.
Given that the world’s largest companies make more money than most countries combined, it seems that if businesses can become change-maker brands and forces for good, they could in turn change the world.
Generation Share will be published by Policy Press in June 2019 for Global Sharing Week. You can now pre-order your copy here.
If you are a business who wants to become a change-maker brand and would like to take part in my #CHANGE! project email me benita@benitamatofska.com or join the conversation on Twitter #CHANGE! @benitamatofska
Generation Share will be published by Policy Press in June 2019 for Global Sharing Week. You can now pre-order your copy here.