In October, B Corps will gather in Philadelphia for their annual Champions Retreat, a yearly community-building gathering. This year, the theme of the Retreat is Towards an Inclusive Economy. The B Corp community envisions a shared and durable prosperity—we cannot achieve that vision without an inclusive economy. In the run-up to the Retreat, B Lab is starting a conversation and sharing our thoughts on the theme of inclusion with our community of B Corps and the broader movement of people using business as a force for good.
We’ll begin by sharing the opening remarks from last year’s Champions Retreat, delivered by B Lab’s cofounders Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan, and Andrew Kassoy. The theme of the remarks was Building Bridges, a useful precursor to this year’s theme.
If you were with us three years ago in Half Moon Bay, you might remember that we talked about cathedrals. We envisioned ourselves as cathedral builders, working together to build something beautiful that would inspire millions for generations to come. This year, we commit to building the bridges that will make it easy and fun and rewarding for those millions to join us, to build their own chapels, to paint their own frescos, to fashion their own stained glass, that will inspire millions more.
If you were with us two years ago in Boulder, you might remember that we talked about mountains. And we recognized that there are always “mountains beyond mountains” — deje mon gen mon. This year, we commit to build the bridges we’ll need to help us — and, most importantly, to help others — get to those next mountain peaks, and in turn to lead others still further. If you were with us last year in Burlington, you might remember that, while we are proud of all that we have accomplished together in a short period of time, we acknowledged that “what got us here will not get us where we want to go.” Last year, we talked about growing deeper roots and stronger branches. Deeper roots to connect with each other in community so that we could grow stronger branches to connect with others. This year we commit to turn our branches into bridges in order to help us connect with others who want to join us, whom we need to join us in order to build a more inclusive and durable prosperity for all.
Bridges help us get from one place to another more easily. Some bridges connect places, others connect people, and others connect perspectives that, at first, seem far apart.
Bridges that help us work together across political ideologies.
Bridges that help us build trust across racial divides.
Bridges that help us span the chasm of class.
Bridges that help us close the gaps between generations.
Bridges that help us cross the long distances that seem to separate us geographically and culturally.
We will need to build bridges in recognition of the fact that we are all connected, in recognition of the fact that — as we each have committed to each other in our B Corporation Declaration of Interdependence — “we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.” It is only through bridge building that we will achieve our collective vision of a shared and durable prosperity.
Every bridge ever built shares at least one trait in common. Every bridge ever built was conceived first in the mind, and only after tremendous application of will and skill could that bridge finally materialize in the world. In a year of incredible pain and suffering and dislocation and despair, from the streets of Baltimore to the beaches of Turkey, the world needs to build a bridge to what Martin Luther King called “the beloved community” and what Wendell Berry called a more “kind and conserving economy.” You are the bridge builders.
You are the bridge builders who understand the connection between economy and community.
You are the bridge builders who imagine an economy in which people and place matter.
You are the bridge builders who demonstrate the power of a business that turns on affection.
You are the bridge builders who first imagine what it feels like to be the sympathetic, mission-aligned moderates, and then imagine the bridges that we must build to help us all break out of the Business Case Jail. The Business Case Jail that constrains us from reaching our full potential as business leaders and as human beings.
If we imagine a shared and durable prosperity for all, then we must first imagine, and then build, bridges to allow all to join our global movement to use business as a force for good. All means all.
Who can imagine a bridge to connect our movement with people of faith?
Who can imagine a bridge to connect our movement with people of color?
Who can imagine a bridge to connect our movement with low-income communities?
Who can imagine a bridge to connect our small movement with the largest multinationals?
Who can imagine a bridge to connect our movement with the public capital markets?
Who can imagine the myriad bridges needed to connect our movement to millions of people in countries around the world with a passion for using business as a force for good?
You can. And if we can imagine these bridges, we can build them. And if we build them, they will come. And we will meet them where they are. And we will help them take the next step. And we will listen to them when they bring their wisdom to our community. And we will listen when they show us a better way. And we will join them. And we will get to where we want to go together.
As a community, we are not as diverse and inclusive as we want to be — as we need to be — to realize our vision. B Lab is committed to making this a priority.
We need your help.
We need your help to identify our own biases and our shortfalls. We need your help to identify potential partners who can introduce us to communities who may not know about us or who may not experience us as sharing common values and interests.
We need your help to build the bridges to help us close the gap between who we are and who we aspire to be.
Can we engage all businesses in a way that is cost-effective?
Can we engage large corporates and the capital markets with standards that are both meaningful and manageable?
How will we stand up to the increased — and welcome — scrutiny that comes with our increasing visibility and our increasing expectations?
How do we empower a global movement while keeping it coherent?
How do we actively build the relationships that will allow us to build a more diverse and inclusive community?
We’re excited about this next phase of our journey together. We can see the cornerstones of a beautiful cathedral being laid. We can see the next mountain peaks. We can feel our branches growing stronger. We can imagine the bridges that need to be built. We recognize but are not daunted by the difficulties and dangers ahead. We remain inspired and optimistic because of what we have seen in you for the last eight years.
You are the bridge builders.
After these remarks, our community discussed this poem called “The Bridge Builder” which inspired these remarks and the theme of the Retreat and used it as a jumping-off point to discuss what bridges each of us is inspired to build.
We invite you to share with us: what bridge will you build?
