My reflections on the Better Business Summit 2023
On 19th January 2023, 350 people came together in Manchester for the first ever Better Business Summit. And for the first time, nature also had a prime seat – right at the front of the room, a silent but prominent member of every single panel discussion.
Nature had a place on every panel
Here are some of the things that stood out for me…
My lanyard
We’re all changemakers
It didn’t matter whether you were a speaker or a participant, every one of us was labelled a changemaker. It set the tone for the day right from the start.
Putting nature on the Board
After we were introduced to the beautiful ‘nature chair’, Hannah Whittaker of Faith in Nature kicked off the event sharing why they’ve chosen to give nature a place on their Board.
"Nature is the boss. What if nature really was the boss and had a say on all the decisions we make in this boardroom?"
Here you can watch a great video about why they did this and the approach they took.
Rather than just talking about nature being important, they’ve made legal changes to integrate it into their corporate structure. And they’ve created an open source guide so other businesses can do it too.
When making decisions, everyone can ask "what would nature say?". We might not have the answer. That doesn’t matter. It’s about asking the question.
Seed for change
Paul Myers, co-founder of Farm Urban, shared a close-up photo of a sprouting seed. That image has stuck with me.
He challenged each of us to think about our vision for the town / village / city that we call home. What’s your vision? How are you going to make it a better place in 10-15 years’ time? What seed are you going to plant as an individual or a business?
Transforming businesses
Kyle Soo of B Lab UK talked about the need for deep rooted, transformational change within business. B Lab wants to be the catalyst for that sort of change where a business completely transforms its organisation, its governance, its ownership structure, embedding ‘better business’ into everyone’s day-to-day role.
New B Corp standards are currently being developed and the intention is for these to be more rigorous. To encourage transformation and prevent B Corp from becoming a box-ticking exercise.
When it comes to change, Graeme Hayes of Manchester Metropolitan University shared three important ingredients of successful change – time, agility and courage. For example, courage to try things that haven't been done before or haven't been done in your sector.
He talked about the power of encouraging businesses to think about what the world will look like in the long term. And then ask “how will our business thrive in that world?” The world won't look like it does today so we can’t create a vision based on the current world. He gave a great example of working with a packaging company that concluded "we need to be a packaging company that eliminates packaging". How transformational could that be?
A discussion around innovation
Someone who blew my mind was Ethar Alali of Automedi who are doing something very exciting with circularity and plastics. Enabling many different types of plastic (including bioplastics) to be turned into new useful products which are manufactured on demand. And the technology they’ve developed means this can be done on a hyper-local level using minimal space and electricity. So much to love about this technological innovation and its business model that should enable it to scale its impact.
And Rebecca Heaps of Tentshare talked about the power of the sharing economy in reducing the amount of ‘stuff’ we collectively own, whilst simultaneously building community and local relationships.
How can we really change the world?
This was the final panel of the day and one which definitely got my brain whirring.
Here were my top takeaways…
"If you cannot imagine the world differently then you're stuck with the one we've got" Erika Rushton
Erinch Sahan of Doughnut Economics Action Lab
An Oxfam report earlier in the week showed that two-thirds of newly created wealth goes to the richest 1%. This design of finance and business is a choice that's being made.
If we want change then we need to talk about the deep design of business.
We’re in an experiment to design a new economy.
We need to design structures for businesses that are different to traditional companies and talk about what these enable us to do. How does that design structurally change what’s possible?
We need to speak up about the structural changes that are needed to transform businesses. Who owns the businesses? Who sits on board? Where do profits go?
We can then start influencing policy to help create a new type of business, demanding collectively that these structures have to become mainstream.
Erika Rushton of Kindred:
We must disrupt business models, borrowing ideas from one world and applying them in another. Don’t be constrained by current definitions or ways of doing things. If we want a different kind of business then we need to design it and start it.
We must collaborate rather than compete. Tell people how fantastic other people are … rather than how wonderful you are.
Encourage the behaviour you want rather than attacking the behaviour you don't.
Phil Korbel of The Carbon Literacy Project:
We need to tell the story of what thriving really is and must reframe what we mean by prosperity. This includes looking at the co-benefits of climate action and not just focusing on saving carbon tonnage.
Those of you who’ve watched my TEDx talk will know that I love a good question! Here are some brilliant questions for us to ask ourselves:
How can we help a business find out what its right size is? How can we help them be comfortable with being that size and no bigger?
What's the fastest simplest way we can get there? Could we do it a bit simpler or faster?
What is nature saying to us through its actions?
If future generations were in the room, how would they judge your actions? How would they judge your excuses for not doing things? How would they tell you to redesign your business?
We must shed the arrogance that people know best. We're screwing things up. We haven't been here that long. What can we learn from nature?
Reflecting on the day
One of the parts of the conference which has stuck with me is an exercise we did towards the end of the day. By asking three questions, Janine Barron encouraged us to reflect on three things we were taking away from the day, each one summarised in a single word. Then we all stood up and, while stamping and clapping (left foot, right foot, hands together), we chanted those three words together in time with the rhythm.
Before we knew it, she’d cranked up the volume on Queen’s We Will Rock You and there we all were, punching the air, feeling motivated, energised and ready for action!
Because, 2023 is the year of action.
Better Business Network manifesto
The conference closed with this manifesto for change, which received a huge round of applause. Let’s go do this!
This is 2023.
There will never be another year like it.
Together, we can help shape how it turns out.
Let’s ask ourselves better questions,
Like “Is the world a better place because my business exists?”
Let’s embrace collaboration over competition,
And people, planet and purpose over profit.
Let’s remind ourselves daily that infinite growth on a planet with finite resources is impossible.
But a better world is absolutely possible if we all work together.
And that better world is just around the corner.
Let’s remember that GDP as a measure of success is bullshit.
Our focus should be on social and environmental justice,
Not share prices pointing “in the right direction”
And the rich getting richer.
Let’s take matters into our own hands and be the leaders the world needs.
We can show those with political power just how powerful our voices are
And what we can achieve when we work together.
Let’s be vulnerable and embrace progress over perfection.
We must celebrate positive action, no matter how small.
Let’s remember that innovation isn’t just about technology.
It’s about the new ideas, new systems and new ways of thinking.
Let’s work together like there’s no tomorrow.
Because that’s exactly what we’re fighting for.
A better tomorrow.
A better world.
Let this be the start.
The catalyst.
The spark that ignites change.
This is 2023.
There will never be another year like it.
Together, let’s make it the better year.
You can view the video here.
Big shout out to Hannah Cox for being the leader and catalyst behind the event, as well as James Dady and Trey Suarez at The Better Business Network for making it happen.
And to the team at Avery & Brown who wrote the manifesto.
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