Initiatives
The B Team

Derek Handley and The B Team unleashed ... It’s going to take a very powerful force for good to steer us out of troubled waters. Our planet needs a Plan B.

Burgess COMMENTARY
The B-Team launch event was quite inspiring. I was pleased to have metrics as one of the top challenges, which then leads to incentives as the second of the top challenges.

My work in this space over quite a long time suggests that it would be more effective to think in terms of metrics that relate to people, place, planet and profit ... 4Ps ... rather than the Triple Bottom Line that is about just people, planet and profit.

My reason for including place is that even though I am a former corporate CFO, I am an enthusiast about 'managing by walking around'. I can walk around a place and if the metrics relate to both organization and to place, it is possible to have metrics that are easy and meaningful and actionable.

The history of big companies leaving a an appalling mess after they have finished working in a place is pretty obvious and easy to document, and in turn get used to force accountability. Take care of the planet, one place at a time.

Peter Burgess TrueValueMetrics
Peter Burgess

Derek Handley and The B Team unleashed

Without having to go into a lengthy doomsday list of ways the world is in trouble, an analogy that represents the severity of the issue is the Titanic heading for its iceberg, except the captains of Earth actually know the iceberg is there; cracking, melting, disappearing.

It’s going to take a very powerful force for good to steer us out of troubled waters. Our planet needs a Plan B.

Enter The B Team.

London, 9.30am on June 13, 2013, founders Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz announced The B Team challenge leaders and the first three challenges they’ll be taking on in their united mission to change the values that drive businesses; to “prioritise people and planet alongside profit” and to move beyond the obsession with short-term growth.

Spearheaded by New Zealander Derek Handley, the young B Team CEO has a stunning inaugural line-up of B Team Leaders actively supporting the not-for-profit initiative. The starting line-up includes laureate Muhammad Yunus – father of microcredit and social business and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Arianna Huffington – president and editor in chief of the Huffington Post, and Kathy Calvin – president and chief executive officer of the United Nations Foundation. Add to this eclectic mix Unilever CEO Paul Polman and first woman prime minister of Norway and deputy chair of The Elders, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and that makes five of the 14 inaugural members. All 14 are prolific in their industry.

The initial B Team Leaders were selected by a global network of advisors and have come together as a group to focus on execution and action, catalysing and amplifying others’ efforts by undertaking specific global challenges, breaking down entrenched barriers, engaging other leaders and acting as a catalyst to help deliver Plan B.

In a live online broadcast to more than 500 gatherings in more than 115 cities around the world, The B Team Leaders also issued a joint declaration today, acknowledging key global problems such as growing inequality, unemployment and the unsustainable use of natural resources.

I attended an event in Auckland, hosted by B Team Global Strategist Rebecca Mills. I met this big-brain Kiwi about eight months ago, and I’d say she’s clocked in more hours this past year than anyone I know. It takes a lot of dedication, time and tenacity to sift through the momentous challenges we face as a planet, and identify what it takes to overcome these obstacles; countless conversations with scientists, academics, entrepreneurs, environmentalists and activists. There are no cliques, no hidden agendas, and no power struggles – the challenges will be led by example. This hands on commitment is outlined in the declaration, signed by The B Team members and posted on The B Team website.

“And before we comment on the practices of others, we ‘Pledge’ that we will ‘Start at Home’. We will focus on ourselves, our own businesses and industries, and do our utmost to ensure we meet the principles of better business. As members of The B Team, we will work to overcome large-scale challenges where our collective voices can make a difference.” The B Team will address three initial challenges: “The Future of Leadership”, “The Future Bottom Line” and “The Future of Incentives” to help focus business away from short-term gain and to balance the long-term benefits for our people and our planet.

During the Q&A session, Mo Ibrahim, whose foundation was created to support good governance and leadership in Africa, summed up the movement best when he said, “Light of transparency now shines on us all. Business must find its moral backbone.”

This blog post originally appeared on Jamie Joseph's blog Rise and Flow.