SoCap09: Punishing Short Term Exploitation

In a world that is heaving under the pressure of resource constraints and increased consumption, "sustainability" shouldn't be a bonus, a marketing tool, or even an option. For the sake of the world, companies should not be able to trade the future for short-term gain. That was the sentiment of the first panel at SoCap09 this morning. But while there are opportunities for resource maximization, there will be actors ready to exploit. The question is, how to change the rules of the game?

The morning panel was called "Forecasting a Marketplace," and featured Charly Kleissner from the KL Felicitas Foundation, Dan Cristafulli from the Skoll Foundation, Amit Bouri from the Global Impact Investing Network and SoCap convener Kevin Jones.

There was a lot of optimistic common opinion about what happens next. All the panelists agreed that there were good indications that impact investing was going to grow, and that there would be more collaboration between funders who were looking for different types of impact and returns.

There was also a sober recognition that the major challenge is that while there are opportunities for short-term resource maximization, there will be actors ready to exploit those opportunities, even at the expense of the future. Kevin Jones shared an anecdote of speaking with an investor at a birthday party who was making a financial bet today that the US would be less valuable in 20 years. When Kevin asked whether this investor felt like that was shortchanging his children, the investor said it was about making money now, and he wouldn't think any other way.

This mindset terrifies me. I think one of the major jobs of this movement is to figure out how to change the rules of the game not just to reduce incentives for this mindset, but in fact, to punish it.

I think there are a few ways.

1. Create alternative incentives. The more capital flows to sustainable businesses, the more highly those businesses are valued versus their more exploitative peers, the more that there are real, financial bottom-line incentives for companies to be responsible stewards.

2. Work Internally. BeDo founder and former Chief Marketing Officer of Coca-Cola Marc Mathieu made the comment during the panel that employee values should make us optimistic about our ability to work with corporations, and I couldn't agree more. We have an entire generation of young people coming into the work force who are less and less willing to work for a company that doesn't share their values and indeed, express their values in an active way. There is major leveragable power here.

3. Punish brands that do bad. Brands have never been more exposed than right now. As consumers we have an obligation to kick, scream, and direct our dollars elsewhere in the loudest fashion possible when a company is selling our future or perpetrating injustice right now.