On the anniversary of Milton Friedman’s prophetic—and now contentious—statement that the sole social responsibility of a business is to produce a profit, we spoke with one of the foremost champions of the B Corp movement.
B Corps, of course, are businesses built to drive returns for the “triple bottom line” by balancing purpose and profit. To talk about the movement, the future of purpose-driven business, and how things have changed since the Friedman days, we welcome Chris Marquis, PhD, a professor at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and expert on the B Corp movement.
Be sure to pick up a copy of his newly-released book, Better Business: How the B Corp Movement is Remaking Capitalism.
Listen for Marquis insights on:
- Why and how the B Corp movement started, and how it has evolved—today encompassing 3,522 companies representing 150 industries, across 74 countries
- Why pursuing the triple bottom line is better for business, and how companies large and small, global and local, are focusing or refocusing operations, culture, and innovation on it
- How business, capitalism, and stakeholder relationships have changed since Friedman’s statement, and what the future holds for companies that commit to serve all stakeholders—not just shareholders
Links & Notes
- (00:00) – Welcome to Purpose 360
- (00:44) – Introducing to Chris Marquis – Cornell
- (02:29) – Chris’ New Book
- (07:25) – Chris’ Background in B-Corps
- (09:49) – Writing the First Case
- (11:06) – The Movement’s Potential
- (13:35) – What Is a B-Corp?
- (17:45) – Why Patagonia Is So Impressive
- (20:31) – Smaller Companies
- (23:05) – Natura and Acquisitions to Evolve Culture
- (27:35) – Increased Accountability
- (31:30) – B-Corps in China
- (34:17) – The Role of Young People
- (38:30) – B-Corp Lessons for Big Companies
- (40:59) – The Playbook
- (42:25) – Creating an Internal Shift
- (44:42) – Creating a Movement
- (48:26) – Movement Growth Fears
- (50:46) – Citizen Voices
- (53:47) – Dreams for Chris’ Book
- (55:12) – Three Insights
- (57:10) – Wrapping Up
