There are three moments that have proven to be pivotal in my conscious business journey so far…
1 > I’m driving the Alaska-Canada Highway deep in the Canadian Rockies and I’m listening to Firms of Endearment. My heart is racing and I feel like I need to pull over and jump up and down because I have finally been presented with hard evidence that the pro-people way I wish businesses could operate is not only viable, but is better for performance than profit-first business as usual. In that moment, I found my calling as a Conscious Capitalist.
2 >> A year later I’m sitting around a campfire on South Manitou Island passionately summarizing the four principles of Conscious Capitalism to a few people I’ve never met. The next morning, one of those people gives me his card and tells me to call him. Five years later, Michael McFall, Co-CEO of BIGGBY COFFEE tells the story of that night as the beginning of his conscious business journey. Our work together would help me build my consulting practice and create a $100 Million and 3000 person-strong ally as committed to spreading the principles of Conscious Capitalism as I am.
3 >>> A couple of months ago, I’m sitting across the table from the Amandas at a restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen that isn’t technically open yet. It’s our first face to face meeting and it’s going well. I’m hearing about their work at Conscious Capitalism, Inc. to grow the movement and I’m telling them about the year-long Conscious Capitalism curriculum Thrive wrote for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the 90-minute on-demand course we built for Conscious Company Magazine. In the follow-up email they send me that night, they float an idea that Conscious Capitalism, Inc. has been developing for a while that they think we could collaborate together on: a certification program for Conscious Capitalism consultants…
The idea intrigued me. Over the years, there are three things I’ve longed for as I built my consulting practice.
- A community of fellow consultants who are hungry to grow this movement leader by leader, company by company until conscious capitalism is the new business as usual.
- Somewhere to go to show my work to people who understand this stuff and who can help me get continually better at what I do.
- And for Pete’s sake, I’ve wanted some way to make business development easier so that I can spend more time doing the work I love to do.
If I had those things, I know I could increase my impact. I saw how a certification program could deliver all of that. I started to get excited. What’s more, I thought, if there is one thing I’ve learned after hundreds of coffee meetings with other current and aspiring conscious business consultants across the country, it is that all of us want these same three things. If we all had them, all of us could increase our impact. The combined effect of that would be like rocket fuel for the movement. Now I was really excited.
I’ll admit that I’m prone to let my imagination run away with me and I indulged in thinking about how a certification program could grow and what it could mean for the adoption of Conscious Capitalism…
Hundreds of certified consultants hard at work bringing the principles of Conscious Capitalism to life in companies all around the world. Leader by leader, company by company, they will support bringing the promise of the Conscious Capitalist Credo to life as conscious businesses help evolve our world so that billions of people can flourish, leading lives infused with passion, purpose, love and creativity; a world of freedom, harmony, prosperity, and compassion.
Lofty as it sounds, this is the future I have been dreaming about. I know it is a great opportunity and responsibility to work with Conscious Capitalism, Inc. to make this real, and I am going to do everything I can to that end.
But it won’t become real. Not unless those hundreds of hypothetical consultants start as a few of “us” today.
If this is resonating with you then this might just be a pivotal moment for you. If you want to join in creating a future like this, please refer to the Consultant Certification page for more information!
