The language of social business

There's a lot of labels and terms floating around for businesses that try to do good stuff.

Social Enterprise.

Social Business.

For-Purpose Business.

Not-for-profit, but not-for-loss Business.

Triple Bottom Line.

Let's get serious here: A business going good stuff isn't anything special. It's just good business.

It's only special, because it isn't common.

Good, isn't common in business.

Buying Fairtrade isn't a do-gooder decision, a business model or a story used to sell a product: It's called paying a fair price. Businesses reliant on low-cost supply chains are at risk, because at some point you'll need to pay.

Deliberately pushing against the status quo, unconscious bias and systemic injustice within your business isn't a noble purpose: Diversity drives performance. We're better when we work together.

Solving societal problems, even in just a small way for a small group of people, isn't charity: It's necessary to regenerate and sustain society. Business doesn't happen in a vacuum, it happens in society.

Collaborative decision-making isn't a style of community engagement: It's the best way to (attempt to) keep pace with a rapidly changing world.

Making people's lives better isn't an optional extra that deserves to be applauded: It's called being human, and loving

When we all look after each other first, and ourselves second, we'll find ourselves very well looked after indeed.

The clutch is missing in the property system

On the one hand, we have people missing out with the way things are.

On the other hand, we have people with the skills and resources required to move us to the way things should be.

And both sides are aware of the situation. They just don't seem to be coming together in any significant and meaningful way.

What's the clutch?

My hunch, is that focussing on the fringes with a social business approach to property development could bring some pieces together. 

We need a scalable approach, translatable infrastructure, holistic design principles to make an impact. If needs to work for people on the fringes for there to be real systemic change, meaning that it works for all of us.

Which means we'll need to understand alternative ownership models. We'll need to understand the intersection of community development and property development. We'll need to understand communities in general, and our neighbourhoods specifically.

We'll need to think differently, work together, and dream.