Business Should be a Force for Good
Our founder and CEO Britnie Turner recently addressed a Q Commons global program about using business as a force for good. Here’s an excerpt from her presentation:
We all want to transform the world. That’s why we’re here. If you look at the science of transformation, you’ll find that it has five recurring elements: people, influence, funds, energy and dedication. Business is the greatest vehicle for transformation and it already has these elements.
While attending a leadership and survival school to prepare for missions in Africa, I learned how real estate could fund my missions work. Some years later during a mission trip to Africa, I discovered I could use business as a vehicle for transformation and change lives through the built environment. During that trip, I used my real estate skills to help secure land in Kenya for a new orphanage, create the site plan and write a business plan for how that orphanage could be self-sustainable by producing and selling enough vegetables, milk and eggs in the marketplace to cover overhead.
I learned two things during that trip to Kenya: my business principles could really make a difference; and, creating opportunity through capitalism is the fastest and most sustainable way I can help people. That insight led me to change my business model from just building houses to strategically transforming neighborhoods into places people want to live and empower the residents already living there. Today, we are developing and honing this model in urban areas of Nashville so we can apply it in other countries in the future.
There is a new movement of executives who keep the big picture in mind as they create for-profit, socially conscious companies that are vehicles for change.
We want you to #JoinTheForceForGood. How can your business enrich the world and bring a sense of meaning to everyone touched by it?