By:  Roberta Favitta and David Bullock

On March 26, the community was treated to an introduction to Conscious Capitalism at the GV ASTD Chapter Meeting. Tom Brady, Founder of the Rochester Chapter of Conscious Capitalism, gave the keynote address. His segment was followed by a panel discussion where Tom was joined by Patty Kaminski of Wegmans Food Markets, and Jim Nortz, and international expert on ethics and compliance. Here is a summary from the meeting.

Why Care? Why Now? Can we get there? Is there light at the end of this tunnel?

This is how the meeting started, which brought to light the essence of Conscious Capitalism is… it’s a business culture that believes that life and business should hold a deep meaning and profound purpose. It isn’t about the bottom line but about the way we get there which is through cultural empathy.

92% of millennials believe that business should be measured by more than just profit and should focus on a societal purpose.

The movement for Conscious Capitalism has been increasing by leaps and bounds which is refreshing in this age of greed and immediate gratification. It speaks to the value starting with the employee. When the employee feels valued in the organization, everything else rolls much smoother.

Engagement improves as well as the impact of trust on the business.

Management can manage bottom up (conscious) or top down (dictate). The goal is to satisfy growth needs of the company through the employee. This “reflection of leadership” value will filter up to the management team and impact the organization positively rather than negatively. The companies who have realized this have been listed in “Firms of Endearment” .

In 2007, Wegmans was one of 31 companies in the Firms of Endearment. Today there are over 70. This is a huge kudos to the realization that the success of an organization starts with its’ people. These companies believe that by spending 80-90% of their time developing their people. A high engagement level will reduce turnover which can lead to higher wages which ultimately will improve the bottom line faster than anything else they may do.

• Highly engaged employees identify with the company.
• They care passionately about the future of the company.
• They bring passion and purpose to their work.
• They are willing to invest their discretionary effort to make the company a success. (WANT to…not HAVE to)
• They want the company to do the right thing.
• They want to feel pride in the way the company behaves.

Today is the day of Conscious (the act of being aware with a purpose) Capitalism (of the impact of the conscious activities in a company to its probability of success and growth). It boils down to a single equation: Trust = Relationship x Time.