Even though the term has been around for 10 years or so, it is pretty clear that “Conscious Capitalism” is gaining currency in the business world in the wake of 2020.

There are podcasts, after all. Case closed.

According to Grand Canyon University, this is what conscious capitalism is:

It’s a more holistic approach that provides not only financial wealth to stakeholders, but also intellectual, ecological, cultural, emotional and social wealth. Conscious Capitalists consider their impact on the planet and their local neighborhood.

You can follow the link for their more extensive briefing, but GCU says it boils down to

1. Higher Purpose

2. Stakeholder Orientation (See Resilient5)

3. Conscious Leadership

4. Conscious Culture

I hear you, especially my hard-driving capitalists. We were taught that capitalism created its own social good.

I’m not here to debate that. I’d just say that current research shows that customers and employees want to see companies taking an approach in this vein. Because you need to compete for both, you can’t ignore this trend.

As Napoleon once said, “you may not have an interest in war, but war may have an interest in you.”

Furthermore, as identified in my Resilient5 program, strong relationships with your stakeholders build an organization that is resilient and ready for an uncertain future. A big part of that is acting with purpose and telling that story.

I wouldn’t worry about the labels too much. ESG, Conscious Capitalism, DE&I…see the big picture instead.

On a related note, no one is asking you to be “woke.”

Conscious Capitalism is your favorite uncle who is vegetarian but brings both vegetarian and non-vegetarian stuffing for Thanksgiving. He knows what part his nephew is playing in the school play and the name of his best friend. He gets onto the floor and plays Chutes and Ladders with the little kids.

Your woke uncle shows up at dinner complaining about the lack of non-binary bathrooms on the Turnpike, demands to know what the vegan protein will be, reminds everyone about the origin of the gelatin in the marshmallows, and finds Chutes and Ladders to be Eurocentric, preferring instead a game called Ladders.

Research Shows Demand for Conscious Business Growing

Navex is a consultancy that focuses on risk management. (Note: Risk management is the perfect lens for modern communications). They recently released a report that shows a growing demand for brands to perform on ESG and a growing commitment to do so.

“ESG is no longer an optional business imperative as stakeholders now expect organizations to address, measure and report on issues related to corporate, environmental and social responsibility,” said Karen Alonardo, VP of ESG Solutions at Navex. “Today’s data reflects organizational commitment to evaluate their ESG programs now, build confidence in their performance and illustrate their progress to key stakeholders…”

So, as communicators, when we hear words like “build confidence” and “illustrate their progress,” our ears perk up. Some thoughts:

Effective storytelling in a world of mistrust

This is probably the most important thing. Due to the decline in media influence and the lack of certifying agencies, you are going to have to do much of this work without validators.

Which will leave your bosses excited about the opportunity to say whatever you want. That needs to be resisted. We live in a world of mistrust. We can earn trust, but it is a gradual process, whereas losing trust is a non-gradual process.

We may not be under media scrutiny, but we are under scrutiny. We need to act like it.

Even negative experiences can build trust

On a related note, no one wants to talk about the negative, especially corporate leaders. This has always created time bombs, waiting for the media or a customer or the public to find out.

With good storytelling, you can take a “negative” experience and tell that story in context…where you illustrate your organization’s values through its response to a negative issue. You also build trust.

Your Killer App: Dashboards and Data

I’m a huge fan of public-facing dashboards. They provide a graphic, always-accessible tracker that scores high on transparency.

People-Centered Communication Always Matters

Having said that, in today’s big data world, let’s not lose sight of the power of human stories. We should be talking about the people we have impacted and the people who did it. Data and people, heart and head. It will build our brand for all of our stakeholders, including potential employees.