ebbf member Chris Tara-Browne, founder of the innovative “Travelers Coffee” chain of coffee-places based in Siberia shares his reactions to the main question we will explore in ebbf’s 25th anniversary annual learning event:
what is the role of unity and of collaboration in creating prosperity-creating organizations?
“Before making a contribution to this dialog it should be noted that prosperity, as we understand it at ebbf, is not just material. Our understanding of the necessary features to creating “true prosperity” are outlined very well by the BIC’s document ‘Prosperity of Humankind’ and it is this document that is the foundation for my comments on this subject.
An organization that is trying to be “prosperity-creating” probably needs to have, first and foremost, alignment and cohesion among the entrepreneurs/owners, principles
and/or executives before this can be realized. It’s hard enough creating an organization that adds real value to society or a business that actually makes good profits year after year and stays unified amongst those who collaborate in them. When we add the extra dimension of being trying to do this whole “prosperity-creating” endeavor, which quite frankly we are at the very beginning of, then it becomes a whole different beast. This is where “the role of unity and of collaboration” come in.
When these main instigators of an organization have a unity of vision, thought and action then the organization can move out into the arena of social change. Whether through a product or a service that an organization provides they are making some type of change in the society in which they live in and if they do it right they actually become prosperity-creating. It’s when the trade offs and the compromising between various aspects of prosperity begin to seem dichotomous, i.e. quality vs quantity, ecological compliance vs growth, profit sharing vs bigger shareholder dividends, whatever it is as an organization is faced with apparent dichotomies which we know are inherently false. Only when a team of shareholders, board members, executives are unified in their collaboration can they affect prosperity-creating processes such as sustainability, eco-friendliness, fair wage practices with profit sharing, community involvement and shareholder value.”
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