Looking Beyond Profits

In the 20th century, the phrase was, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” And we all waited for the prosperity to trickle down. Many were convinced to a certain extent that Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) was right when he proclaimed in the movie, Wall Street, “Greed is good.”

Well, in the 21st century, General Motors had to be taken over by the government, and the latter day Gordon Gekkos are behind bars. And as the first glimmers of recovery are beginning to appear, we are left looking for a new business model that will continue to produce profit for the investors without a return to the same old self-destructive habits.

The latest model goes by different names and has started in several areas, such as California. For some it is known as a B Corporation; for others, it’s just the right way to run a business.

“While still relatively new, the concept of legally structuring a company to be socially responsible is gaining traction nationwide. The more progressive states, such as Connecticut and California, tend to be the first to adopt new kinds of business legislation, particularly when it favors improving the social good,” says Jeff Woodward, an attorney with Stites & Harbison, who is leading the movement in Georgia. “Then, as businesses adopt those practices, those practices spread across the country and also are implemented in the Southeast and Midwest.”

Woodward says this trend comes under the general umbrella of social enterprises. “Social enterprises are for-profit companies that approach business with a triple bottom line,” he says. “These companies look beyond the traditional focus of profits to emphasize the ‘three Ps’ which are profits, people, and the planet. The simple premise is that you can do well in business by doing right by your fellow man and the environment, and that we have a responsibility to do so.”

Kate Emery joined the social enterprise world when she had a baby. Emery, CEO of Walker Systems Support, a technology concern located in Farmington, Conn., began to re-think her priorities. “My first thought was to sell my business and do something to help people and society at large to create a better future for my child and the world she would grow up in,” Emery says. “But then it occurred to me that it might be possible to do this through my business.

"Businesses can do more than make a profit," she says. “All we need to do is rethink our priorities and reset our goals. I believe this could become a new business model that revitalizes Connecticut. It offers a sustainable, and immensely rewarding, way to make a living and provides business owners with the opportunity to leave a tremendously valuable legacy."

This model includes working toward enhancing the three Ps. She notes that Connecticut is an ideal location to develop this new model. With educated workers, a solid academic base, and a progressive social attitude, all come together to make this Yankee state amenable to honing a new capitalist model.