Initiative
B-Team

‘Big egos’ and inaction: whatever happened to the B Team? ... Critics say Richard Branson’s sustainability initiative has made no real progress one year after launch, Jo Confino calls for fewer press releases and more fist banging

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

‘Big egos’ and inaction: whatever happened to the B Team? ... Critics say Richard Branson’s sustainability initiative has made no real progress one year after launch, Jo Confino calls for fewer press releases and more fist banging

IMAGE Richard Branson Only a few of the B Team leaders have actually invested in the project. Is the B Team in troubled water? Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The B Team was set up more than a year ago by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz, the former chief executive of Puma and current director of luxury good company Kering, to “create a future where the purpose of business is to be a driving force for social, environmental and economic benefit.”

But critics complain the initiative has so far failed to make any meaningful headway. In fact, its only public pronouncements have been isolated statements such as recommending action in the wake of the Rana Plaza garment factory disaster and a call on the closing day of the Word Cup for Fifa to implement full reforms.

At the time of the B Team’s launch, I wrote that the corporate sustainability movement may be entering “a new dynamic phase” because it aligned influential business leaders running major corporations such as Natura, Celtel, Tata and Kering, with political influencers such as Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Norwegian prime minister. I hope I didn’t call it wrong.

Several people involved in the initiative have expressed concern that the lack of traction is the result of “big egos” among the business leaders, which have got in the way of agreeing on collective action. Getting them all together in the same room has also been difficult, given their hectic schedules. Another worry has been a lack of funding. The B Team has been getting by with just a handful of staff but you simply cannot build a global movement with so few resources.

While managing director Rajiv Joshi acknowledges that little appears to have been achieved so far, he insists the first year has been about building its network and resources so that it has a strong foundation ahead of formally launching its strategy next January at the Davos World Economic Forum.

He points to its work behind the scenes helping to create the We Mean Business climate coalition and says a number of members have already been trialling new initiatives. For example, Virgin, Kering and Natura have been creating their own environmental profit and loss accounts (EP&L).

Joshi also says the B Team leaders have now agreed a set of commitments (although as yet with no publicly defined targets), such as ensuring diversity and gender balance within senior management teams as well as working with governments to create progressive taxes. These will be announced in Davos and all leaders who want to join the B Team in future will be expected to sign up to them. Existing members are already assessing their own performance against these criteria and are taking action where they are falling short.

At the risk of sounding overly cynical, let’s hope that this is because these leaders genuinely see the need to improve their performance, rather than their PR advisers worrying about facing difficult questions over whether they are walking their own talk.

To scale up its influence, the B Team says it is creating geographical hubs of leaders, with pilots in China, Latin America and the Middle East. Specific initiatives it is working on include joining with the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to develop ways of measuring environmental and social impacts, while the Huffington Post, Kering and Virgin are working with other partners on an initiative to “redesign workplaces” so they drive employee wellbeing, diversity and better ways of working.

Celtel founder Mo Ibrahim, who set up the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to encourage better governance in Africa, is leading a project aimed at tackling corruption in business, and UN special envoy on climate Mary Robinson is working with partners to drive greater participation from business leaders in critical global negotiations around climate and the sustainable development goals.

The B Team still has great potential to be a force for good, but it now needs to prove that it is capable of scaling up these initiatives. That means the business leaders need to invest their time and energy. What we don’t need are more press releases; what we do need is for these leaders to collectively take to the world stage, bang their fists on the table to make their demands known.

The B Team also needs significant extra resources. Only a few of the B Team leaders have actually invested in the project and it would be good to see them all put their money where their mouth is. It is also vital for them to share some of their plentiful corporate resources to help the initiative with everything from strategy development to effective communications.

We have seen the creation of a number of sustainability initiatives in recent years but all of them are under-financed and none has so far been able to effectively take on the might of the fossil fuel lobby, which has plenty of cash and is expert at manipulating politicians and public opinion.

Time is running short and everyone needs to step up their game. If at the end of another year, all we see from the B Team are more well-meaning words and little action, then they should consider calling it a day. Let’s hope we don’t get to that point.

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Comments for this discussion are now closed. 8 comments. Showing conversations, threads , sorted 2 PEOPLE (1 STAFF), 2 COMMENTS

Guardian contributor JohnElkington 15 August 2014 6:30pm Recommend A well-balanced, thoughtful critique, Jo. And I say that, as you know, as a member of The B Team's advisory group pretty much since the outset. There are big egos involved, no question, but equally there are some pretty passionate people here, with pre-existing personal and corporate commitments to particular issues, which makes it pretty tough to crunch it all down in short order into one collective mind and voice. I remain very excited about the potential for The B Team, particularly as it opens out its national and regional B Team circles in different parts of the world. I also find it encouraging that we have seen the core team acknowledge that a key part of what they can do - must do - is to give a boost to what others are doing on related themes. It remains to be seen how this plays out, but an open source approach could pay real dividends. As you also know, and a final interest declared, I have a new book coming out next month, co-authored with Jochen Zeitz, co-founder of The B Team with Richard Branson. In compiling the book, we did around 100 interviews of leaders in key sectors, but including pretty much all the founding members of The B Team. They may have big egos, as most leaders have to, but they all share a board vision - and what came across loud and clear was their several and collective commitment to system change. What impressed me even more was that in our interview with WBCSD president Peter Bakker, he welcomed The B Team as a means of putting flanking pressure on his own corporate membership. If this initiative is to work, it must deliver in terms of this business-to-business, peer-to-peer pressure. I think it's well-placed to do so, but I for one will be looking for the real results through 2015, year of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and COP21. Clearly, we should all do our utmost to ensure that our own organisations create sufficient impact to move the needle, and that we hold others to the same sorts of standards. But, just as Rome wasn't built in a day, no previous transformation of capitalism has happened in less than a decade or three. So maybe we need to marry well-founded impatience and pressure politics with the sort of long game that drives true cultural revolutions. Report Share this comment on Twitter Share this comment on Facebook

Guardian staff joconfino JohnElkington 17 August 2014 11:48pm Recommend 0 John, thanks for your thoughtful response which adds some depth to my article. In particular, it is very helpful to see your comment that the business leaders in the B Team believe in system change, rather than tinkering around the edges. This is particularly important, given their businesses at the moment largely rely on the current system for their success. I like your comment that we need to be impatient and also recognise change takes time. It is important we hold these two in balance. The only point I would take up with you is your comment that the leaders have 'pre-existing personal and corporate commitments to particular issues, which makes it pretty tough to crunch it all down in short order into one collective mind and voice.' That of course is true and I pointed to their hectic schedules. But at the same time, CEOs should not be signing up to the B Team unless they have the necessary band width to work collectively together to drive change. We desperately need more leaders to stand up and be counted but they need to be able to follow through, because a failure to do so makes the whole movement look hollow. Warm wishes Jo Report Share this comment on Twitter Share this comment on Facebook 2 PEOPLE (1 STAFF), 2 COMMENTS

3sisters4bros 17 August 2014 12:42am Recommend 1 Jo, I have been following the work of B Team but have no insight into ego issues other than my own. Looking through the vision for Plan B, your headline of a call for more fist banging appears aligned with command philosophies rather than collaboration which I expect is the likely path for sustainable solution. I agree storming processes may be vocal at times which seems absent from public view but I have to suggest culture is in play. Our business landscape is changing so fast that in Australia, directors are calling for stronger protections as ASIC seek greater penalties. (http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2014/s4058212.htm) Business complexity is exploding and will continue until a valid business model is discovered and codified. It seems now, almost weekly, agreements from corporate members draft a new response from increased awareness of both the need and our common responsibility. It is always going to be difficult for B Team to accurately measure their impact. Raising concepts in public forums as Rebecca Mills did at TEDxAKL continues momentum whether involved directly with B Team or not. Agreed that planetary boundaries and measures in Oxfam donut , similar to B Team's own goals do not have the necessary improvement. And we have some in the community who operate without regard. But the push back from directors and governments is being met by the growth in resistance from socially responsible investment. (https://www.mywealth.commbank.com.au/strategies/why-healthy-living-is-affecting-investment-choices-blog201407) Press releases are an important symbol and should not be discounted. Each step, however small encourages others to consider new concepts and I would suggest is giving sustainable business literature for society to contemplate for their own lives. We should think about mapping Fortune 500/ FTSE/DAX etc companies on priorities listed in recent World Economic Forums. If we fail to see activity in areas of importance, with an opportunity to improve the fist banging will be from a wider audience. Report Share this comment on Twitter Share this comment on Facebook

Guardian staff joconfino 3sisters4bros 17 August 2014 11:38pm Recommend 1 Thanks 3sisters4bros for your response. The only point I would make is that press releases don't carry much weight, especially when few pick up on them. The power of the B Team rests on the business and political leaders within it taking a very public stance. We have too few individual leaders standing up and being counted. We cannot keep relying on a few people like Paul Polman at Unilever to be banging the drum. Most CEOs are too timid to speak in public and there is a power and a resonance in a number of them joining forces to stand up and be counted. The reason I write banging their fists on the table is that we need passion and determination, rather than relying on cool analysis. We need CEOs to take risks in calling for change, which is much easier when they act in unison so those who wish to see the status quo maintained cannot pick them off one at a time. best wishes Jo Report Share this comment on Twitter Share this comment on Facebook

equiception 18 August 2014 10:54am Recommend 2 Jo, I welcome you asking the tough questions about the role of the B-Team and I know you ask them about other business-led initiatives as well. As someone who moves up and down the value chain a lot I come across increasing scepticism about whether CSR is for real and whether the corporate champions of responsible business can deliver. Sceptics point to how little traction CSR seems to have on key issues of concern to workers and communities. Wages and spending power keep eroding and inequality keeps growing. Education and training followed by secure employment with social security benefits are an urban myth for millions of young people entering the global labour market. Just take the BRICS, a set of countries where history was meant to be on our side, and look at what's happening to employment, wages and quality of life. Take out China and the socio-economic realities are sobering. What can the B-Team do about this? They are up against a set of global market forces that make the task of Sisyphus look easy. Consumers, investors and producers have combined to produce the mother of all supply chains based on short term gains. This can only be satisfied by a relentless search for lower prices and shorter lead times, a zero-sum game in which everyone cuts the margin to their suppliers, so the suppliers hollow-out their products and services. Inevitably the building contractor hollows out the construction materials to the point where the whole edifice collapses. This is debasing our value system and dehumanising all of us. The B-Team represents an incredibly brave attempt to stand up and point out that this business model is running out of road, but with market forces arranged the way they are the B-Team could easily be marginalised or worse, swept away by the flood. What we desperately need is to prove that alternative business models are effective and I would love to see the B-Team leading by example. They have some of the greatest entrepreneurs on the planet around the table and if they cannot do it, who can? Report Share this comment on Twitter Share this comment on Facebook

benet123 18 August 2014 1:00pm Recommend 0 Hi Jo, The purpose of business is to generate returns for shareholders within the rules set out by Government. You talk of the B team trying to “create a future where the purpose of business is to be a driving force for social, environmental and economic benefit.” Business leaders are paid huge amounts to ensure that this does not happen, because if it did their short term profits would be reduced and their share price hammered. The purpose of business will always be to create profit for shareholders within rules set out by government. Businesses should be ensuring that they contribute to the economies in which they operate by paying their taxes and not avoiding them by licensing agreements and other versions of transfer pricing. They should meet their responsibilities to staff by paying a living wage and ensuring their suppliers do the same. Leaders should also moderate their own pay. We have CICs in this country which are really trying to bring about social change. These should be supported and encouraged, A brief glance at the RBS SE index will show how these are as yet only in their infancy. We are becoming used to a world where Governments no longer have the power to control the activities of big business and therefore we are looking to business to provide answers to the big problems that we all face, but this is not their role. Change needs to come from Government at the top and just as importantly from ordinary people from the bottom. Business leaders have organisations that they can change. They should be lobbying Government to change the rules. They should be looking at their own procurement policy to see how this can be amended to benefit change and most importantly they should be talking to their own shareholders about what they are doing and why it is their long term interest. Its Governments who have responsibility for the social environmental and economic health of the Planet. Ben Report Share this comment on Twitter Share this comment on Facebook

jembendell 19 August 2014 12:48pm Recommend 1 “The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.” ― James Yorke When at the outset Plan B engaged the sustainable business and CSR experts to advise it on its strategy, I lost some interest. Why? A depth of analysis is needed on the problem of capitalism and on how massive social change has occured in the past. Ive not experienced that much depth in the sustainable business or CSR fields. Instead, it is the 'radicals' in political economy and sociology whose assessments and predictions have appeared robust. Yet they tend not to win advisory contracts from big business. I wonder what would have happened if Plan B had engaged persons from Occupy and radical political economists or social movement theorists from the outset, and shared the agenda setting with them? Maybe they did, and I missed that? We already have WBCSD, the Global Compact (and its LEAD) and the WEF's sustainability initiatives, so we dont get much value from more similar initiatives, just years spent trying to align different institutional needs (let alone egos). With co-author T.Y. Li, James Yorke coined the mathematical term 'chaos' in 1975, as a mathematical concept for systems that vary according to precise deterministic laws but appear to behave in random fashion. Most sustainable business and CSR consultants address the surface chaos, rather than work on the underlying forces. Therefore, after almost 20 years dabbling in CSR, I turned more to those deeper forces, as described in my book Healing Capitalism. The intro of which is free online until the end of the year http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3799 For me, and many working in the sustainable business field, its past time for a real Plan B. Report Share this comment on Twitter Share this comment on Facebook

Mike Riddell 20 August 2014 9:59am Recommend 1 Problems such as climate change, poverty, the economy and social injustice are too big for one organisation to solve on their own. They require solutions that involve the grass roots, as well as the celebrities and big names referred to above. Some recent work that Stanford have done has inspired we in community to develop a wider community of like-minded people willing to defend the common good. Our vision is 'to show the world what good looks like'. To execute this vision our community of communities is organising itself around five rules: 1. Common agenda – we share a vision for change that includes a common understanding of the problem, and a joint approach to solving it through agreed upon actions 2. Shared measurement – all participating organisations within our community are measuring and reporting success in a standardised and uniform way, and have a list of common performance indicators that they use for learning and improvement 3. Mutually reinforcing activities – we coordinate a set of differentiated activities through a mutually reinforcing plan of action, and bring together a diverse set of stakeholders from different sectors 4. Continuous communication – all members engage in frequent and structured open communication, the purpose of which is to build trust, assure mutual objectives, and create a common motivation 5. Backbone support – an independently funded resource that dedicates itself to the community’s cause by providing ongoing support: * That guides the vision and strategy * That supports aligned activities * That establishes shared measurement practices * That builds public will * That advances policy * That mobilises resources Persuading people to do things differently requires an incentive otherwise what's in it for them? In the end, it's all about rewards. @mikeriddell62