OCTOBER 20, 2017

This article appeared in the Austin Business Journal on October 20, 2017 on page 8.  It has been reprinted by the Austin Business Journal and further reproduction by any other party is strictly prohibited.  Copyright ©2017 Austin Business Journal, 504 Lavaca Street, Suite 1008, Austin TX 78701

AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL

A misconception persists regarding conscious capitalism that its adherents don’t care about being profitable.

Rest assured, they do. What’s different about conscious capitalism, though, is that it’s not a zero-sum game.

“We’re creating sustainable practices where everyone benefits — the consumers, the employ-ees, the investors, the vendors” and himself, Bri-an Schultz, the owner, CEO and founder of Dal-las-based Studio Movie Grill Concepts I Ltd.

Schultz was among more than 230 U.S. and international executives who attended the 11th-annual, invitation-only Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit held earlier this month at Hyatt Lost Pines Resort, about a 30-minute drive east of downtown Austin.

Co-founded by Austin-based Whole Foods Market Inc. co-founder and CEO John Mackey, the conference serves a forum on the tenets of conscious capitalism — and a source of inspira-tion for business leaders to apply those tenets for

the betterment of all.Four principles compose conscious

capitalism:

R A higher purpose in addition to making the profits that enable business to survive. Com-panies that infuse what they do with mean-ing engage stakeholders, employees and customers.

R A rejection that a company’s only responsibil-ity is to its shareholders. Instead, a company is responsible to all players that exist within its

MANAGEMENT

Behind the scenes with the braintrust that cooks up conscious capitalism

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey was front and center at the event.

OCTOBER 20, 2017

This article appeared in the Austin Business Journal on October 20, 2017 on page 8.  It has been reprinted by the Austin Business Journal and further reproduction by any other party is strictly prohibited.  Copyright ©2017 Austin Business Journal, 504 Lavaca Street, Suite 1008, Austin TX 78701

AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL

ecosystem: employees, customers, suppliers, funders, supportive communities — as well as shareholders.

R Leadership that seeks to serve all those within the company’s ecosystem.

R A culture comprising values that foster love, care and trust among those within the com-pany’s ecosystem.

It all sounds a little gushy for the corporate world, but its followers are ardent and insist the path leads to profits.

“By delivering a genuine, no-baloney product for our guests and environment for our employ-ees to work in, we then could deliver for our shareholders,” said Ron Shaich, CEO and found-er of St. Louis, Missouri-based Panera Bread Co., who was a conference speaker.

Starting from that place of authenticity and caring “profoundly about the lives of other peo-ple” leads to better financial results “because of the way the economy and capitalism works,” said Shaich, who joined the board of Whole Foods in April.

Prior to Panera’s $7.2 billion acquisition ear-lier this year by Luxembourg-based JAB Holding Co., “Panera was the best-performing restaurant stock of the past 20 years, delivering a total share-holder return up 86-fold from July 18, 1997, to July 18, 2017, compared to a less than two-fold increase for the S&P 500 during the same peri-od,” Shaich said. “What’s more, our stock gener-ated annualized returns of 25 percent in the same time frame, which I’m proud to say is better than the returns of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hatha-way during the same period.”

Steve Wanta came away from the conference brainstorming ideas of how to use technology that would make it easier for low-income entre-preneurs to obtain loans.

The co-founder and CEO of Austin nonprof-it Just Community LLC, which operates as JUST, said Pascal Finette challenged summit attendees to think exponentially.

Finette is the entrepreneurship chair at Sin-gularity University based at NASA Research Park in Moffett Field, California.

“As leaders, we have an opportunity and a need to do this, especially in the midst of the greatest tech revolution ever,” said Wanta, who leads an organization that provides “capital, coaching and community” to low-income start-up founders.

“We could use tech to virtually walk people through the process of receiving a loan,” said Wanta, who worked with Mackey for 10 years as global program director for one of Whole Foods’ three foundations, the Whole Planet Founda-

tion. Wanta oversaw the commitment of about $70 million of entrepreneurial funding in 59 countries.

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) closed its acquisition of Whole Foods in August 2017 for $13.7 billion.

“The more we leverage tech, the more we can provide what we believe is a human solu-tion: Humans supporting humans,” Wanta said.

Brett Hurt, co-founder and CEO of Austin-based Data.world Inc., called the summit “the most important leadership event I attend each year.”

Speaker talks and conversations with fellow attendees supply him with “new methods, new strategies to apply to my business, new cultural ideas to try out and new ways to attract talent and win more business,” he said.

“It’s renewal for my soul as a leader,” said Hurt, whose Austin company is a data and anal-ysis social network that connects those drawn to societal challenges. Hurt was also recently named as ABJ’s 2017 Best CEO legacy award winner.

The presentation by Daniel Pink — who’s written seven books, including the upcoming, “When: The Scientific Secrets to Perfect Timing” — on the significance of endings was particularly thought-provoking for Hurt.

Pink told the attendees that endings of all kinds leave indelible impressions on how peo-ple remember things. Endings also “elevate” us

to live more intentionally, he said.“That made me look at how I can do a bet-

ter job inspiring people inside and outside Data.world,” Hurt said.

A key driver in growing popularity of the conscious-capitalism movement is its focus on long-term success, said Alexander McCobin, CEO of the San Francisco-based nonprofit Con-scious Capitalism Inc., which operates as Con-scious Capitalism International and organizes the summit.

McCobin described “the increasing number of investment firms and financial institutions which recognize the need to reverse the priority placed on short term gains” as “vital.”

A February 2017 Harvard Business Review study of companies, regardless of type, backed that strategy: “New research, led by a team from McKinsey Global Institute in cooperation with FCLT Global, found that companies that operate with a true long-term mindset have consistent-ly outperformed their industry peers since 2001 across almost every financial measure that mat-ters,” the authors wrote.

McCobin cited examples of “conscious ven-ture capital firms” including Satori, Big Path and Gratitude Railroad.

“A more conscious approach to corporate finance has the potential to create more value over time, which creates ultimate win-win-win situations for all stakeholders involved,” he said.

SoulPancake CEO Shabnam Mogharabi on stage.

Author Daniel Pink previewed his latest book.

OCTOBER 20, 2017

This article appeared in the online edition of the Austin Business Journal on October 20, 2017.  It has been reprinted by the Austin Business Journal and further reproduction by any other party is strictly prohibited.  Copyright ©2017 Austin Business Journal, 504 Lavaca Street, Suite 1008, Austin TX 78701

AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL