Seeding Innovation

9Risk Mitigation and Transparency

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

—Walt Disney

IF ALL OF us woven together create a fabric that we call “humanity,” then all consumption put together is the thing we call “GDP.”

But as we've already discussed, GDP does not distinguish between good or bad consumption or take into consideration the long-term consequences of toxic subsidies, externalized costs, and environmental damage. So is it the best metric for tracking what companies are doing to the planet—if they're boosting GDP but destroying the resources we need to survive?

GDP, as we currently measure it, doesn't care. A business can trash the planet and boost GDP. A business can make families sick with polluted water and boost GDP. A business can blast the soil with so many chemicals that the next generation doesn't want to farm, and guess what? They've boosted GDP.

We are obsessed with a metric that doesn't tell the whole truth. It's a terrible relationship to be in, and it's become increasingly abusive of people and the planet.

Thankfully, there are innovators who continue to not only call this out but to act on it around the world.

The Value of the B Corp Certification

There is an entire movement growing to address the injustice of externalized costs, again, not a moment, but a movement. The B Corp certification recognizes that business, whether they want to admit it or not, have an impact beyond the bottom line. Some companies take responsibility ...