We Need to Shift How We Do Business—Personally, Practically, and Systemically
Shift 2021 Digital Event Gives Voice to Change Agents
“Business as usual” isn’t working. My company underwent the process of B Corp Certification, guided by the belief that those of us who build and scale businesses have a responsibility to address urgent social and environmental inequities and actualize a more just world. In restructuring our business model and priorities, we aim to support those movements effectuating change in the areas of environmental crises, systemic racism, gender discrimination, financial inequality, and other injustices.
The number of Certified B Corporations, social ventures, and organizations developing and promoting responsible business practices is rapidly growing. Momentum is building, but not quickly enough. It’s time for all of us — from solo entrepreneurs to corporate business leaders to ecosystem players — to step up in big and small ways.
We need a fundamental SHIFT internally (in our mindsets, approaches to leadership, and how we personally measure success and impact), practically (in the ways we build teams, approach capital, and plan for an uncertain future), and systemically (by acknowledging the imperfections of the social impact sector, committing to its maturation, and rising to the occasion of supporting businesses that drive meaningful social and environmental change).
But Where to Start? And Who Can We Look to for Guidance?
The social impact movement is a catalytic force encouraging businesses and organizations to become more responsive, accountable, and adaptable across all sectors. By definition, “social impact” is the measure of how organizational actions affect surrounding communities and drive positive social change. In an effort to catalyze change at every level, a group of social impact movement leaders and I collaborated to launch Shift, a digital event focused on upending business as usual and giving voice to change agents.
Among those partners working together to produce Shift 2021 are B Lab, Zebras Unite, Echoing Green, the GIIN, SOCAP, Village Capital, Conveners.org, SVT Group, JB Media, GatherLAB, Faith + Finance, ImpactableX, Common Future, Social Venture Circle, Impact Entrepreneur, StartSomeGood, and a number of other organizations using business as a force for good.
At Shift 2021, happening from April 14 to 16, you will discover the latest thinking from impact leaders and attend action-oriented workshops that will inspire you to redefine your work in measurable and meaningful ways. Through live, virtual sessions and interactive workshops, we will explore anti-racist business practices, ethical entrepreneurship and leadership, inclusive capital, climate action, impact measurement and management, and the B Corp movement. You’ll grow knowledge and cultivate skills to:
- Become a more conscious business leader.
- Build a human-centered company culture.
- Achieve sustainable growth through responsible practices.
- Help solve critical social and environmental challenges.
- Apply today’s best practices in measuring and communicating your impact to investors, partners, and consumers.
Through focused networking events, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs and changemakers from across the United States, Canada, and beyond.
Shift Conversations
Want to get a sense for what Shift is all about? In the lead-up to Shift 2021, you are invited to join Shift Conversations, a series of free, live-streamed events on February 26, March 11, and March 25. These conversations will feature small groups of cross-sector leaders engaging in intimate, perceptive dialogue on the present and future of the social impact movement.
Conversation One: The Future of Impact, Friday, February 26
- Amit Bouri, The GIIN
- Cheryl Dorsey, Echoing Green
- Jed Emerson, Blended Value
- Fran Seegull, U.S. Impact Investing Alliance
- Laurie Lane-Zucker, Impact Entrepreneur
Conversation Two: What Will It Take to Build a Truly Inclusive Economy? The Role of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Impact Capital in Fostering an Economy that Works for All, Thursday, March 11
- Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, Native American Entrepreneur, CFO, East Bay Foundation; Former CEO of Social Venture Circle
- Rodney Foxworth, Executive Director, Common Future (formerly known as BALLE)
- Alfa Demmellash, CEO/Co-founder Rising Tide Capital
- Kim Coupounas, B Lab
Conversation Three: A Fireside Chat with Edward Dugger III, Founding Partner and President of Reinventure Capital, Thursday, March 25
Join Us at Shift 2021
Shift 2021 is a new digital conference built by and for socially conscious business professionals who are ready to make the necessary changes needed at every level. It’s an opportunity for people to exchange ideas and connect through the shared goal of realizing a diverse, equitable, and inclusive world, one in which “social impact” is more than a buzzword.
Please join us for Shift 2021, April 14–16, and share this event with other entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Together, we can make shifts toward consequential, lasting change.
Justin Belleme is the Founder of JB Media Group, a B Corp digital marketing agency based in Asheville, North Carolina.
B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
