On December 13th, 2019, VoiceAmerica launched the first episode of a radio show titled Conscious Business for a Flourishing World. The second episode, along with a Conscious Business magazine edition, will debut in January 2020. VoiceAmerica is the leading worldwide producer of radio programming. The broadcaster covers topics like health and wellness and empowerment, and the World Business Academy’s Founder and President, Rinaldo Brutoco, was featured in their business section on Conscious Business for a Flourishing World.
“This VoiceAmerica special preludes the forthcoming new magazine imprint Conscious Business. In this broadcast, and a second in January, the guest editors of Conscious Business, Steve Farrell of Humanity’s Team and Peter Matthies of The Conscious Business Institute interview major thought and business leaders… Dr. David Sloan Wilson (Prosocial World), Paul Polman (former CEO of Unilever), and Rinaldo Brutoco (associated with JUST Capital, among other ventures).”
In Rinaldo’s interview segment, he and Peter Matthies engage in rich discussion using Business Roundtable’s declaration of business as having a purpose to serve all stakeholders as a basis. Rinaldo thoughtfully explains that stakeholder responsibility will undoubtedly lead to flourishing businesses. His knowledge and “strategic brain,” as another speaker on the show describes, go along well with the fact that he is one of first people in the conscious business world and has been involved for more than 30 years.
Rinaldo defines conscious businesses as seeing themselves as aligned with the institutions, or societies, that gave rise to them. A business must see itself in the context of the community in which it arose, and the community will grow with the business.
Too many people, including those on Wall Street, see business and society as separate. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Businesses are part of the bigger social whole and must see themselves that way to play a role in it, and only when this happens will business boom.
Such values as feeling a connection to society and the environment are what drive stakeholders. If business prospers, it will be here in the future and provide good for all stakeholders.
But how will we keep businesses accountable for this reinvented definition? Business Roundtable is very admirably determining scoreboards to hold businesses and themselves accountable, although it is equally if not more important that an independent group is assessing them as well. In the public eyes, an independent group’s assessment is more valuable than self-assessment, and that is where JUST Capital comes into play.
JUST Capital, a new venture of which Rinaldo is a founding member, actualizes those assessments by looking at the one thousand largest public companies and keeping updated scorecards to measure how they are performing in regard to stakeholder interests. This keeps the Business Roundtable statement in touch with its implications and stakeholder interests. Businesses cannot forget the societies in which they arose.
Looking at Rinaldo’s success as a businessman and economist, many may wonder how he does it. He shares his wisdom through simple yet crucial steps for success: know yourself; meditate; be mindful; never stop learning and seeking knowledge; always be curious. It is important to get in touch with yourself through meditation and mindfulness to align yourself with your values and center your internal awareness. Instead of having an ego, seek service and advice from generations past. These fundamentally different values have helped Rinaldo, and many, many others, achieve success in a competitive, ever changing world.
Rinaldo swears by his daily readings: Financial Times, The New York Times, and The Economist just to name a few. While he recognizes differing views, he uses these outlets as a source of knowledge and education for what this world was, is, and will become.
Matthies brings up the question of employee engagement, to which Rinaldo passionately explains is driven by the desire for purpose and care. Companies are aggregates of individuals, real people, who want to help the world. In his new Business Warrior Monk, Rinaldo sets out a series of core principles about what works in life based on the quotation that “in our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.”
The interview also addresses climate change and businesses’ relationship with the environment. Rinaldo alludes to the Academy’s June 2019 publication of The Methane Accelerator which emphasizes the scientific phenomenon of methane drastically speeding up climate change. They also briefly discuss topics like fossil fuels, the need for renewable energy, and a carbon tax. Ultimately, Rinaldo explains that climate change is not a religious issue. It is a pressing, real, and severe environmental concern that is scientifically proven.
Finally, Rinaldo revisits the idea that everything is in the business of climate change. With this crisis and every other one, business leaders must look for the opportunities above all else.
To listen to the first episode of Conscious Business for a Flourishing World, click here.
