Collaboration, education and inspiration
When we began the process of becoming a B Corp, we made a commitment to do things better, and to keep doing them better. Our Finance Director and B Corp pioneer, Jane Grimsted, attended Louder Than Words fringe festival earlier this month as part of that commitment. Her blog explores some of the key takeaways from the event.
Jane Grimsted, Louder Than Words
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending Louder Than Words festival. It was a chance for over 2,000 B Corp representatives to come together and share their experiences and ideas for the future. I’m not a born networker so it was daunting meeting up with so many inspirational people. But I took a deep breath and headed to Oxford.
Attending sessions like Speed Networking and Networking without the Cringe helped get the conversations flowing and I’m so glad I took the plunge. It was a jam-packed two days full of inspirational talks, workshops and collaborative sessions with people all working towards the same thing – a better future.
Inspiring leaders and collaboration
Not only was it an opportunity to speak to people in the same boat as ourselves, but I also had the chance to soak up some incredible speeches from inspiring leaders.
With a background in Finance, I was keen to hear from Amy Clarke at Tribe Impact Capital and Chris Skidmore, who resigned from the Conservative government due to a lack of climate action. Their talk on change for a better economy was eye-opening.
The most memorable collaboration for me was between non-profit Saheli Hub and Brompton. They emphasised the importance of local action. Living and working in Bristol, a hub of environmental and social activism, it is easy to see the impact a local community can have when they come together with shared values. Hearing Saheli Hub and Brompton talk about the importance of local action rang true for me and is something we’ll be considering as we plan for the future.
Two action-packed days later
At the end of the event, we were faced with a big question: What are you going to do or change as a result of your learnings at Louder Than Words?
After all, actions speak louder than words.
We knew we were far above average in some areas of the B Corp standards, such as our team-centric approach and governance. The event confirmed this for us but there are areas we want to improve on.
- Developing our environmental approach and being more sustainable internally
- Implementing some ideas to improve our carbon footprint
After soaking up as much knowledge as possible, thanks to an informative session on climate scenario analysis, I’m confident we can begin to plan more effectively around climate risk.
Something a little more personal
As I immersed myself in the days’ activities, I found myself wondering how I could apply all this in my personal life. One talk from Patrick Grant of Sewing Bee fame led me to think about my own impact and consumer behaviour at home. The takeaway was to ‘focus on need not want’. It’s something I will carry with me.
When all is said and done
I am so grateful for the opportunity to connect with other B Corps. It’s a powerful community and we’re so pleased to be working with some great companies off the back of the event, helping us to strengthen our efforts internally even more.
It’s hard to weigh up what was more valuable, the insights from speakers or connections with purpose-driven businesses. Both were useful but, for me, it was connections. The B Corp community continues to be a place to share ideas with like-minded people and learn in a practical way.
I’m hoping next year, a few more of the team will be able to come with me, but until then we’ve got some planning to do.
