There are some people who are loaded to the gills that I respect. Richard Branson is one of them. From the time he was young, Branson has been tuned in to making money. He started at 16 with a mail order business, founded Virgin Records, and now controls more than 400 companies through his Virgin Group. Through all of these varied enterprises, Branson tries to operate in an exemplary way, ethically. I admire him for that. If I were in his position, I like to think I would be the kind of entrepreneur he has been.
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| Richard Branson |
By all appearances, Richard Branson takes a very respectful approach to the environment in his businesses. A great example is Virgin Airlines. From early on, Branson has taken a proactive approach to climate change. He created a company that converts planet biomass into jet fuel, recognizing that jet fuel coming from plant material could have a mitigating effect on climate change. Living plants suck CO2 from the atmosphere, converting it to plant material. That green biomass can then be processed into jet fuel at the same or less cost than petroleum-based jet fuel, and with half the CO2 impact on the atmosphere of petroleum-based fuels. This is no small initiative. Branson expects to make a lot of money with his plant-based jet fuel. Good for him. He's a pioneer with a genuine commitment to doing what's right for our planet, our people, and the living biosphere we all depend on. He also seems to have a lot fun. It's nice when you can make a lot of money doing the right thing.
I love Richard Branson's style. The B Team is his latest life-affirming initiative. He's wants to reshape the world's seriously corrupted business playing field. He wants to put public interest before profit. That is what you call a tall order. I totally appreciate that Branson is making the effort.
The piece below from Sustainablebusiness.com is about the B Team, Richard Branson s latest, 'good guy 'billionaire' initiative.
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Sir Richard Branson Launches The B Team to Revolutionize Business Goals
06/13/2013
SustainableBusiness.com News
It is time for business to be a "force for good," says Sir Richard Branson in describing his new venture, The B Team.
His other recent ventures include RenewableJetFuels.org, which is spurring the aviation industry to invest in promising forms of biofuels, and Carbon War Room, which has been working to increase efficiency in the shipping industry and other ways to cut carbon emissions at the gigaton level.
The B Team is his new global non-profit that promises to champion "a new way of doing business that prioritises people and planet alongside profit - a "Plan B" for businesses the world over." "Plan A - where companies have been driven by the profit motive alone - is no longer acceptable."
Co-founder Jochen Zeitz, former CEO of Puma, explains that while business is integral to society, it has "also created most of the negative environmental challenges of this century." At Puma, he initiated environmental profit and loss accounting, where companies put a cost on their environment impacts and include that as part of their total accounting.
"The B Team will help to catalyse a shift away from the existing short-term, unsustainable mindset, towards the long-term interest of people, the planet and the wider economy."
Today they announced leaders that will join them in recruiting others and who will begin breaking down entrenched barreirs. They include Arianna Huffington, Chair of the Huffington Post, Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever and Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group.
In a live online broadcast to over 500 hundred gatherings in more than 115 cities around the world, The B Team Leaders issued a joint Declaration, which acknowledges key global problems of growing inequality, unemployment and unsustainable use of natural resources.
The Declarations starts by saying: "We, the undersigned, believe the world is at a critical crossroads. Global business leaders need to come together to advance the wellbeing of people and the planet. In fact, we think business has to think this way in order to thrive ...
Business is now waking up to the reality that:
If we carry on using the natural resources of the world unsustainably, they'll quite simply run out.
With a burgeoning population, more people are still living in poverty than ever before and inequalities are increasing in many parts of the world.
Unemployment rates are at frightening levels.
Non-Profits alone cannot solve the tasks at hand, while many governments are unwilling or unable to act ...
These are not the outcomes we envisioned as we grew our companies; this is not the dream that inspired us.
And the overwhelming conclusion we've reached is that businesses have been a major contributor to the problems, and we as business leaders have the responsibility of creating sustainable solutions."
"The Future of Leadership" Challenge will seek to accelerate a new kind of inclusive leadership underpinned by a moral compass of being fair, honest, positive and creative. Based on cooperation, it will be aimed at generating long-term value for society, the economy and the environment.
"The evolution of business leadership away from a focus on short-term profits is essential for the future generation of leaders," saus Arianna Huffington. "We need a "Plan B" for the way business is managed, starting with leadership more committed to well-being, wisdom and sustainable business success."
The "Future Bottom Line" Challenge seeks to accelerate a move away from single-minded financial "short-termism" towards a focus on the long term, and will aim to expand corporate accountability beyond financial gains to include negative and positive contributions to the economy, environment and society.
"The Future of Incentives" will help focus business away from short term gain and to balance the long term benefits for our people and our planet. B Team plans to work with partners to develop new corporate and employee incentive structures and to identify and map both positive and harmful subsidies.
"Positive market incentives operating in the public interest are too few and far between, and are also up against a seemingly never-ending expansion of perverse incentives and lobbying," says Mo Ibrahim, Founder of Celtel.
The B Team will be holding a series of community events over the coming months. They are encouraging the public to submit their views on a new charter for better business at their website:
© 2013 Sustainable Business.com. All Rights Reserved.
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Here is a link to Richard Branson's bteam website ....www.bteam.org/
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