We are a funny species. And immensely arrogant…
George Carlin on saving the planet:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw[/youtube]
… BUT our arrogant species IS causing damage to our habitat. If we don’t want to go extinct it is in our best interest to stop destroying it. The good news is that lately I’ve been seeing some incredibly inspiring initiatives taking place…
Yesterday I went to a talk by Prof Muhammad Yunus, the dude who started Grameen Bank – a microfinance who lends tiny amounts of money to the very poor so that they can start their own little businesses. I was sceptical about microfinance until I heard him talk. This bank even provides health insurance for $2.5USD per family per YEAR!
Muhammad emphasised CREATIVITY as the means to solving to our problems. And his new creative solution is an alternative form of business that is not aimed at earning profit – “Social businesses”.
He pointed out that our economic system misinterprets humans as ONE-DIMENSIONAL beings with a sole purpose to make, accumulate and spend money. Businesses reflect this with their sole measurement of success being PROFIT. Countries measure their success by GDP ie PROFIT. Even as individuals we measure our success by profit we have accumulated. The system as it stands is based on selfish goals which are embedded in us as a mechanism for SELF-PROTECTION.
But humans are MULTI-DIMENSIONAL… and social business provides an opportunity for us to actively explore these other dimensions.
Social businesses are CAUSE-DRIVEN – aimed to solve a particular problem in society/the world. That means investors invest their money and receive quarterly/yearly reports on how the business is going with their particular aim.
For example, Danone yoghurt have teamed with Grameen Bank to create a social business dedicated to produce and deliver a yoghurt with added nutrients to children in Bangledesh. If a child eats this yoghurt twice a week for six months they are delivered out of malnutrition. The annual statement for investors reports the number of children their investment has delivered from malnutrition this year. That’s a pretty rewarding news to receive!
The big difference from social business and profit business is that the investors don’t get a profit. Investors do get their money back but after that, any financial profits made are put back into the business and used to expand further on the social cause. Investors continue to own a percentage of the business and forever more they can take pleasure in the people-oriented and planet-oriented goals they are achieving.
An alternative to profit: two options so that when we are satisfied with what we have ourselves, and want to give to others, it can be easy for us to do so. Maybe one day there will be two stock markets – one for financial profit and one for social profit. Maybe even our superannuation funds will give us the option to invest a certain percentage into social profit, and a certain percentage to monetary. Maybe one day even the big bankers and those with the biggest bank accounts will join in. There really is much more happiness to be gained from a statement that states the number of people you have helped in a year, as opposed to the number of meaningless digits you have accumulated.
I feel inspired. And I pose the question: Can success (individually and collectively) be defined by more than just money?