you can ensure that it’s win-win-win, as opposed to tradeoffs (win and lose). The third key principle is around
servant leadership, [which] requires that leaders recognize their role in ensuring that it’s a purpose-driven busi- ness, and that they need to be focused on serving their people and leading their people toward the purpose of the business. The last piece of it would be that most conscious businesses are making decisions for the long term as opposed to short-term gains. The cool thing about Conscious Capitalism is that it isn’t just a nice way to run a business — it’s a proven business strategy that, in fact, provides higher brand loyalty and return for their stakeholders.
Even though associations aren’t capitalistic enterprises, can’t they also share these kinds of values? I would agree, [although] I haven’t 100 percent figured out the transition from the capitalist into the association world. There are certainly some principles that can be shared — a strong sense of purpose is incredibly important and relevant to associations. At their core, I think most medical associations have a noble purpose. The question is, do they focus on the purpose or do they focus on strategy — where their focus might be to recruit or educate new [mem- bers], or whatever. This goes back to the whole idea of pcma[’s mission] — is it preparing our members to be the most equipped to develop and execute great meetings? Or is there a higher purpose? Ultimately, what we believe is that the human condition can be improved as a result of getting people together — we so believe in that that we are going to ensure that our members and our sup- pliers are in the best position to enable that to happen.
What does a company practicing Conscious Capitalism look like? If you look at The Container Store or Whole Foods, Southwest Airlines, Nor- dstrom, Trader Joe’s, or Panera Bread — all these companies may or may not label themselves as Conscious Capital- ists, but they demonstrate the attri- butes. And, they are also highly regarded brands that have enjoyed financial success — which goes to prove the idea that it’s not just the right thing to do, it’s a great business strategy. We are trying to get them [to identify themselves in that way]. I attribute Freeman’s suc- cess to the fact that we have been for 80 years a company steeped in Midwest values — we are more concerned about our customer’s [success] than our own, we care about our employees, and we give back to our industry. That’s why I say that we have been an unconscious conscious business.
Do you think that — given all the recent examples of corporate greed and deception — the public is more ready to embrace Conscious Capitalism? I absolutely think that the time is right. Capitalism has taken a real brand hit as a result of the financial collapse. Cor- porate greed has become almost inter- changeable with capitalism — and they are not the same thing. Fortunately there are a lot of [good] companies out there. We want more businesses to act like these businesses. John Mackie, the founder of Whole Foods [and Conscious Capitalism founder], and Raj [Sisodia, professor at Bentley University,] are writing a book called Conscious Capital- ism that’s going to hopefully [make this concept] a little more mainstreamed.