Last week, Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's was in Ann Arbor at the Ross Net Impact conference to talk about social enterprise and distribute little cups of ice cream to the MBAs in attendance. Jerry discussed starting and growing a business while prioritizing social responsibility, and the difficult experience of selling to Unilever (if you’re unfamiliar, a summary). I think a number of Jerry's points are worth repeating and relevant to DLB as we continue to think about how to grow business at our little design firm. Here’s what Jerry thinks:

Businesses should be responsible to society.
Since business is one of the most powerful forces in society, business should look out for the general welfare of society. Most firms, Jerry reminded us, operate with themselves as the major focus, which is unhealthy and even dangerous to society. In the traditional business sphere, making money is the focus, and doing good is something separate: the prevailing wisdom is that you can't be successful and help society as well. Jerry's belief is that there is value in integrating the two and that business strategies can - and should - be used for good.

Align your mission, metrics for success, and your values.
When Ben and Jerry initially decided to grow their business, they insisted on "growing the business in a reasonable way." This meant that they added value to the company by doing business that was aligned with their values. At one point, they saw a need to redefine the bottom line and how to measure success, so they decided to report not just financials, but to also create a social report to maintain accountability around social and environmental performance (see recent examples here).

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