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BetterWorld was happy to speak last week at ASBC’s outreach event about the important role that businesses can play to support a just and sustainable economy. Sponsored by BetterWorld, CAMEO, AquaBella, and the Green Chamber of Commerce at New Resource Bank, the gathering attracted many Bay Area sustainable leaders, including many BetterWorld customers and partners.

American Sustainable Business Council runs public information campaigns that educate and inform the public and policy makers about specific opportunities to create a more vibrant, just and sustainable economy. Another branch is the American Sustainable Business Council Action Fund, organized under IRS code 501(c)(4), which focusses on legislative and regulatory advocacy. The Council spans a growing network of over 60 business associations across the United States, representing over 165,000 businesses and 300,000 business executives, owners, investors, and others.

Recent campaigns include the Marketplace Fairness Act , supporting the Go Farm Act, opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. For more information about joining or supporting ASBC, check out asbccouncil.org.

Computer skills in today’s world are not optional, in fact, even those seeking help and training are often hampered by resources designed for them that exist online.

Lack of training and lack of access to technology mean seniors, non-english speaking communities, and those earning less than $25K a year often are not able to access vital resources online.

Community Technology Network is an umbrella organization based in San Francisco that connects volunteers and organizations to increase digital literacy through hands-on training for disadvantaged communities. CTN is part of a larger “digital inclusion” effort to bridge the digital divide in the Bay Area.

CTN Staff & Volunteers

Tackling the digital divide is part of our focus here at BetterWorld Telecom. From enabling broadband access and job training programs in the Virgin Islands to providing discounted services for organizations supporting disadvantaged communities, we’re passionate about moving society beyond the digital divide. So it was a natural progression for BetterWorld’s President Matt Bauer to step up in supporting this local organization, as a recent board member of Community Technology Network.

CTN Co-founder Kami Griffiths was previously at TechSoup Global, a nonprofit technology distributor, and knows the landscape of nonprofits tackling digital literacy in detail. With thousands of volunteer digital literacy training hours administered over the last few years, CTN is making a tangible impact to make technology accessible for everyone.

Check out Community Technology Network to learn more or donate.

BetterWorld was honored to speak recently, as part of a panel at Net Impact’s annual conference, Net Impact 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Net Impact is a global nonprofit that works to inspire the next generation to work beyond business for a more sustainable future through chapters, events and professional development. Nearly 2,800 attendees converged to help celebrate Net Impact’s 20th anniversary conference. As an organization that apparently started in a hot tub as a conversation between  visionary business leaders, Net Impact has grown up considerably, with over 30,000 members and widespread recognition.

Our panel, Small Business, Big Engagement: Using Social Media to Tell Your CSR Story was led by Julie Dixon, of Georgetown University and featured  Josh Helland, CEO of Sleep with a Purpose, and Bonnie Shaw, Engagement Specialist and faculty at Georgetown University. Sleep with a Purpose operates with a similar model to TOMS Shoes, buy a bed, give a bed to someone in need.

The overarching theme of the conference was aligning good business with good works and speakers ranged from Teach For America Founder Wendy Kopp, whose organization has grown to have lasting impact in inner city schools, to Auret Van Heerden, CEO of the Fair Labor Association, who shared a searing tale of his experiences as a labor organizer and surviving torture in South Africa.

One of the most intriguing panels highlighted business partnerships between sustainable brands and mainstream partners, with two case studies of Honest Tea and Coca Cola, and Waste Management and Recycle Bank. In the realm of sustainable brands, purchase by large household brands is a common story. In this panel, both companies set about convincing the audience that the benefits of distribution and resources of a large corporate partner outweigh the potential for watering down purpose and/or altering quality. Honest Tea is a BetterWorld customer and a fellow Benefit Corporation, and we love what they do. However, the contradiction in purpose was highlighted in an audience question regarding the recent California proposition 37 (regarding labeling of genetic foods), which Coca Cola campaigned against, and Seth Goldman, TeaEO of Honest Tea, admitted that if they were an independent company, Honest Tea would likely have supported.

Net Impact has a broad reach and the companies interested in recruiting sustainably minded MBA’s in the event expo included brands not necessarily known for their sustainability credentials, such as Monsanto, Disney, Pepsi, Target, Verizon, and Dupont. The question remains whether passionate business students will tip the scales within those companies or assimilate into the business status quo.

Perhaps the most encouraging theme at this conference was that when it comes to risk management and longterm planning, it turns out corporate citizenship is not just the right thing to do, it is sound business practice. One striking example of this was Coca Cola, who has hired researchers around the world to thoroughly evaluate watersheds that impact their supply chain, threats to those water sources, and features of those ecosystems. In some regions of the world, that research is the first and only resource for government planners and local communities.

Sustainability conferences can fall into an echo chamber of self congratulation and lauded case studies, but this one contained substance.  We applaud Net Impact for furthering the conversation, inspiring the next round of business leaders, and helping push sustainability into the mainstream corporate sphere.

We were inspired and touched recently at the annual Ella’s awards ceremony put together by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (a BetterWorld customer).

Founded in 1996 by Van Jones and Diana Frappier, the Ella Baker Center unlocks the power of low-income people, people of color, and their allies using grassroots organizing, direct action, media advocacy and legal service. Two examples of their successes include the Books Not Bars campaign and the launch of the Oakland Green Jobs Corps.

The 2012 Ellas were awarded to the following heroes:

Father Greg Boyle, Founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention organization in the nation. Serving at-risk and gang involved youth with a continuum of services and programs, Homeboy Industries also runs four businesses that serve as job-training sites.  Father Greg has been an advocate for at-risk and gang-involved youth in Los Angeles, and around the world, for over 25 years.

Rinku Sen, President and Executive Director of Applied Research Center, a racial justice think tank and home for media and activism.  ARC is built on rigorous research and creative use of new technology, with a goal of popularizing the need for racial justice and preparing people to fight for it. Rinku is a leading figure in the racial justice movement, combining journalism and activism to make social change.

Mujeres Unidas y Activas.  MUA is a grassroots organization of Latina immigrant women with a double mission of promoting personal transformation and building community power for social and economic justice. Since 1989, they have have helped hundreds of women get out of domestic violence, become strong leaders and take an active role in the movement for immigrant’s rights and social and economic justice.

BetterWorld recently co-hosted the first Market Street Forum, a new quarterly gathering of Bay Area leaders, with a focus towards the intersection of the broadband economy + future of work + the resulting benefits for our society and environment.

In collaboration with Varsity Technologies and the American Sustainable Business Council, BetterWorld launched Market Street Forum with featured guest speaker, President of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, David Chiu.

Chiu was an excellent speaker to address current and future changes to the San Francisco business environment, specifically in the heart of the city. As companies and organizations from the Bay Area continue to lead the way towards the new Access Economy, there is a growing trend of tech businesses moving into San Francisco. This trend can be attributed in part to the work of Chiu. The widely publicized move of Twitter into the Tenderloin/Mid-Market area of San Francisco is a direct result of city policy championed by Chiu, through providing business tax incentives and the elimination stock options taxation for startup companies.

Chiu also sponsored recent legislation providing contracting preferences for Benefit Corporations.
Ushering the legislation through many rounds of fine-tuning, Chiu was ultimately successful in sending a strong signal to the private sector that San Francisco wants to do business with companies committed doing good.

The discussion was lively, with topics ranging from the resounding success of SFMade, B Corps, to the politics of city hall, eliminating red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy, the need for a collective voice from the B Corp community and the lack of processes to survey the business community to determine the most urgent pain points.

SFMade is an organization that has grown steadily in the last two years, promoting and supporting the value-add manufacturing sector in San Francisco and leading to both more friendly city policies and the creation of more manufacturing businesses.  When asked for an example of red tape, Chiu highlighted the hurdles for new restaurants, who must deal with 11+ separate permit offices before being able to open, which usually causes a delay of 2+ months.

Chiu has passed several pieces of legislation that are first in the country including:

• Requiring strict energy audits requirement for commercial buildings
• Expansion of urban agriculture opportunities in San Francisco
• Decreasing the distribution of unwanted Yellow Pages phone books
• Greening nail salons by phasing out the “toxic trio” of chemicals in nail polish

San Francisco is a city that has historically been at the forefront of public policy nation-wide and the inspiring discussion at the Market Street Forum made it clear that Chiu is dedicated to upholding that precedent. Chiu is running for re-election in November, 2012 for President of the Board of Supervisors.
More about Chiu at http://www.votedavidchiu.org/

BetterWorld was out making change with fellow local businesses at this year’s BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The 2012 BALLE Business Conference: Real Prosperity Starts Here conference connected more than 700 community innovators, business owners, and investors to people, resources and ideas to unleash local prosperity.

BetterWorld President Matt Bauer stopped off to speak with Rob Trube of BizWestMichigan and talk a little about BetterWorld, B Corps, Worldblu, and BetterWork™.

BizWestMichigan Interview at BALLE 2012

BetterWorld Telecom was excited to attend the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC) Business Summit this past June in Washington DC.

ASBC is an organization dedicated to the creation of public policy that acknowledges the large and growing community of sustainable and socially responsible enterprises.

With a growing network of nearly 50 business associations across the United States, representing over 150,000 businesses and 300,000 business executives, owners, investors, and others, ASBC is already a strong voice for change. These associations endorse principles of sustainable and socially-responsible responsible business, and they support the development of strong local Main Street economies.

More specifically, the mission of American Sustainable Business Council is to advance public policies that foster a vibrant, just, and sustainable economy. This is achieved through research and communication with businesses, policy makers, and the media how a sustainable economy based on broad prosperity is good for business and good for America. Also, ASBC provides a platform to enable businesses and business associations to engage executives, owners, investors, entrepreneurs, and other business professionals in the public debate. We’re proud to work with ASBC to help further both sustainability and economic success of Main Street small businesses.

Business and commutes are at a standstill today after an extreme fire in West Oakland put the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) system completely out of service between the East Bay and San Francisco. The resultant traffic and chaos from commuters attempting alternate methods of ferry, buses, and carpooling will likely result in something of a local holiday - as highways turn into parking lots. The growing density of the Bay Area and many urban corridors, puts individuals and businesses at the mercy of transit systems that are both fallible and already pushed to capacity.

If your business has flexible work systems in place, then a “carpocalyse” such as this won’t have nearly the destructive impact that it otherwise could on your team’s productivity. Creating company policy that effectively utilizes remote work and harnesses communication technology is a matter of resiliency and adaptation, not a radical leap or indulgent management style. The future of work requires this shift in managerial and company mindset. Despite the fact that many knowledge workers could efficiently and effectively do their work from home, most businesses default to a management and evaluation style designed for factory workers. It’s time for policy to match reality, we need to work more intelligently - for our health, productivity and transportation sanity.

But maybe you’re not convinced.  What does remote work look like exactly? What about the needs to have a home office, the benefits of face-to-face, the prestige of a nice office and coffee chat time? The reality is that shifting to a more flexible, remote work model with your organization is likely going to be a bit like a new exercise routine. The best tactic is to start small and build up a system that is tested and optimal for your team, activity, and industry. Obviously not all jobs can be done effectively in a remote work framework. The end game is not a one-size-fits-all solution, it is more about facing the reality that without this flexibility, your business and team are vulnerable to disasters like this morning’s commute on the Bay Bridge.

Here at BetterWorld, we’ve created a framework for working more effectively, called BetterWork (TM). The BetterWork whitepaper is the findings from a nine-month study at Bainbridge Graduate Institute on the impact of virtualization of communications infrastructure and remote work.

There’s also a large library of useful links on remote and flexible work in our Delicious link library. The majority of academic research in this area has been funded or motivated by transportation improvement efforts. But the benefits for companies and workers extend far beyond decreasing wasted hours spent sitting in traffic. Satisfaction, productivity, loyalty, in study upon study, all of these measures improve with a flexible work environment. For optimal productivity and company resiliency, flexible work needs to be taken seriously. This effort needs to be moved out of the category of traffic mitigation and into the spotlight as the key to our future - evolving our workplace frameworks  to catch up with the reality of this modern world.

What steps can you take to build a resilient organization? Are you prepared for a bridge closure, severe weather or public transit failure? The successful companies and organizations of tomorrow will be the ones who implement resilient, flexible work structures today.

“Innovation is an unreasonable request” says Adam Lowry, Co-founder of Method, the ground-breaking San Francisco-based company who has taken soap to heights of “coolness” normally reserved for electronics and pop culture. Lowry was just one of many business leaders in discussion at the inaugural Sustainable Corporation conference, put together recently by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and held at Oracle’s campus in Silicon Valley.

Although there were many inspiring stories of sustainability, (including the famous case study of Serious Energy’s groundbreaking eco retrofit of the Empire State building), Lowry’s insights from the trenches stood out. Method is a company so centered on design thinking and product excellence, that their sustainability credentials are an after thought.

Much like software innovation, Method has created a culture and internal process heavy on proto-typing, with resin, shelf design, photography, and bottles all easily created, evaluated and modified. Method’s motto of “progress > perfection” is strikingly similar to Facebook’s “move fast and break things”. Both encourage an environment that supports creative confidence and a norm of learning and creating by the whole team. This is the Method method, which, incidentally, is also the title of a book about the company due out later this year.

Lowry’s claim that innovation is an unreasonable request hinges on the operating imperatives of a company. Because true innovation is sweeping in scope and usually impacts the core functions of a company, it is not readily embraced - no one wants to threaten the engine of a company. However,  sustainability requires innovation, and for that to be possible, a company must have a culture open to change in the first place.

Lowry emphasized that the competitive benchmark of the future is the experience economy, whether the iPhone, the interior of a car, or Method soap. The “how” is the disruptive part of a product, not the what. “Green is not a differentiator,” says Lowry, “people don’t want a badge, they want a better product”.

We’re committed to sustainability here at BetterWorld. But above all, we’re committed to excellent service and world class products. Because caring for people and planet is just one facet of what a really great service and company should do. That’s the future of business.

And that’s the future of telecom too, it epitomizes the change we seek to be within the telecoms industry.

In service,

The BetterWorld Team

BetterWorld was out supporting locally made industry and products yesterday at SFMade’s Ramp It Up celebration at SpeakEasy Brewery in San Francisco.

Established in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, SFMade is the only organization of its kind focused on building San Francisco’s economic base by developing the local manufacturing sector.

SFMade’s works to build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco,  sustaining companies producing locally-made products, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, and creating employment opportunities for a diverse local workforce.

Along the way, we ran into a few great BetterWorld customers including Dharma Merchant Services and New Resource Bank.