The Best B Corp Values to Focus on in 2020

Anna Colibri
4 min readApr 22, 2020

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As a B Corp, you are held to a high standard of implementing the most ethical practices, providing transparency, and becoming a change-maker through your business. Because of these values, B Corp certified businesses make sure they benefit the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit. These values can not only help you in business, but also in your personal life.

As the international community faces the COVID-19 crisis, acting based on ethical principles and values is more important than ever. Now is a good time to consider what you think is most important and why.

Whether you are a certified B Corp, you’re hoping to be, or you simply wish to generate a positive impact in your daily life, this list will give you a new perspective on navigating 2020 ethically and successfully.

B Corp Values to Follow

Mission

B Corp businesses commit to being mission-driven. This means taking their goal of sustainability and fair business practices to the next level through their actions and ideals.

B Corps focus on the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit throughout all aspects of business. By having a mission, you are able to solve a problem with an approach that benefits all by finding practical and impactful solutions.

A mission is a tool to help you build a better business, drive a powerful and impactful organizational culture, and construct a resilient company. Applying this to your daily life can also help you have a sense of purpose and strength, and help you find unexpected solutions. Having a mission can help you focus the impact of your actions so you can find solutions that serve your community and surroundings in a way that works for you, them, and the triple bottom line.

Transparency

B Corps have an obligation to report their social and environmental performance. They have to be honest about how ethically their company is accomplishing their mission. Transparency helps them build trust with others and gives them credibility. By doing a rigorous assessment of the impact of a company’s practices on employees, customers, community, and environment, you are able to clearly see how you must improve to build a relationship of mutual trust with your community, and hold yourself accountable for the actions you take.

Being honest and open about how your company’s practices support your values and mission keeps employees happy and confident about what they do, creates an innovative atmosphere, and makes realistic and sustainable goal-setting easier. Having transparency about how and why you do what you do attracts clients who have similar values and results in better relationships with clients and customers.

Applying transparency to your professional and personal life can help you build stronger relationships, trust, and positive results.

Accountability

Accountability helps people stay focused on the important task at hand, which is implementing your values and resulting business objectives. It increases productivity because it provides a foundation for people to take responsibility for their actions. This goes for both personal and professional situations.

Accountability can help you and team members increase their skills and confidence to improve results. Having a clear target makes it easier to see the connection between daily tasks and your mission. By having accountability, your company is forced to take ownership of the solutions needed to accomplish your mission, while inspiring confidence and building trust.

Community

Building a sense of community is vital to one’s survival. Humans are social beings. We need to connect with others through sharing interests, and communicate our feelings and our stories to others. The desire for belonging and self-expression leads to creating a diverse and connected community.

Having a strong sense of community at your business encourages collaboration and establishes a healthy work atmosphere that fosters relationships and stronger connection to your company and its mission.

As an individual, building community and staying an active member of yours, both in and out of the workplace, can help you see things through a different perspective. Whether managing teams, playing sports, or simply sharing a cup of coffee with friends, feeling like you belong and are valued leads to more meaningful interactions while encouraging collaboration to find efficient solutions to take care of each other and our planet.

Takeaways

There are many values that B Corporation believes in that we can apply to business and personal life. B Corps are a great example of communities working for good and looking to generate a positive impact that improves our world. 2020, with all its ups and downs, invites us to take a moment to reflect on ways we can do better and be better. There are small steps and innovative ways of doing things that can improve our lives and the lives of those that surround us. Today might be the perfect day to reflect and brighten up your 2020.
Interested in becoming a B Corp or having tailored, mission-driven marketing for your business? Schedule a meeting with us and get your free digital marketing strategy session here!

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Anna Colibri

I work to make the web a more beautiful, accessible, and functional place. I use dreams as a form of planning. And I play because it’s fun.