The Emerging New Business Paradigm: Social Justice, Equity, Allyship
By Mary Anne Harmer, BCFG Co-Founder Emeritus
Many of us are disheartened by the daily news. Our society is increasingly polarized with fear and hatred of the “Other”. And many of us wonder what businesses can do.
Given the reality of the times, perhaps we need to evolve the triple bottom line with more clarity to the “people and planet” parts of the equation -- as the old best practices may no longer be sufficient. For sadly, despite efforts to focus on the triple bottom line, our communities are still divisive, and more disparities are emerging. A business focus toward Social Justice, Equity and true Allyship may be an important step in the right direction.
In a 2020 Harvard Business Review article, entitled, “We’re Entering the Age of Corporate Social Justice”, the author Lily Zheng states:
“Consumers and employees are now looking for more than Corporate Social Responsibility – they are looking for what I call Corporate Social Justice…which requires deep integration with every aspect of the way a company functions.”
What does this mean?
It means that companies consider the impact of business decisions, actions and strategies on marginalized communities, on communities most experiencing disparities and inequities in our society today before proceeding. It is a commitment to take a pause before moving forward with day to day business operations to check if there is potentially another way to do business that also promotes social justice and equity.
More specifically,
It is a lens that features equity and social justice prominently in the mission, vision or manifesto statement.
It’s a lens that means businesses take a stand with actions to further social justice policies around racism, job, education, and justice system inequalities. Sprout Socials 2019 “Get Real Survey” revealed that as many as 70% of consumers want companies to take a stand on social and political issues. This is a 66% increase from the prior 2017 survey.
And from this same study, 80% of Millennials say it’s important for brand to take a stand, and over half of consumers would boycott brands whose stand on social issues is not aligned with theirs.
It’s an environmental lens that focuses on the impact of global warming on low resourced and marginalized communities – not just recycling or litter patrols.
It’s a lens that goes beyond just verbal support and promotion of BIPOC and LBGTQIA+ communities, but concrete allyship efforts offering tangible resources to these organizations (money, space, grants, pro bono services)
It’s a lens that emphasizes volunteer activities, by leadership and their employees, toward supporting marginalized communities or organizations whose purpose is social justice.
It’s a lens that recognizes that to further justice or equity, it is crucial to do so in partnership with stakeholders who represent communities suffering inequities.
It’s a lens where strategic planning of an organization puts equity, social justice and allyship goals first and includes representatives from customers/clients from marginalized communities, compensating them for their involvement in the planning process.
Some Corporate Examples
Here are some examples thanks to the 2019 Sprout Social report, “Brands Creating Change in the Conscious Consumer Era”:
Social media sites such as Snapchat have integrated voter registration technology into its platform, resulting in more than 400,000 new voters
Whirlpool launched its “Care Counts program”, that provides clean clothing to children in need
Etsy provides its US workers a federal day off to vote
AirBNB launched a campaign to provide short term housing for people most in need, from refugees to disaster survivors.
Real efforts reflecting this new paradigm can be expressed in smaller companies as well. For example: local businesses can hold their events in community spaces of BPOC or LGBTQIA+ organizations garnering grassroots support; businesses can offer free technical support to these communities; businesses give small monetary grants to small entrepreneur businesses from these communities.
In Summary
Businesses can proactively reach out and simply asking how they can help to address inequities, and not just as a gesture, but to commit and follow-up with real action and behaviors.
It’s a change in attitude and thinking that makes Social Justice and Equity a driving force within any business.
In a 2022 Rolling Stone article by Madison Butler, with a focus on Equity, the author states, “Equity must exist in every corner of your organization… it must live within every thread of your organization… and to do this we must zoom out and examine how all our systems impact ignored communities. “
This approach may alienate some, and not everyone will be happy. In truth the leader must feel ok, even if losing some business from certain groups but it’s time for some business soul searching.
Let’s finesse the triple bottom line, as the movement toward equity, social justice and allyship is the new imperative for business … and for the future livability of our communities.
~benefitcorporationsforgood.com~