Nature in chains - not something you’d expect to see on a panel at a business convention. The Better Business Summit certainly did things differently.
The two-day summit took over Manchester Metropolitan University Business School for two days of debate on doing business in more sustainable and ethical ways.
It included speakers from companies such as Patagonia, Ecotricity, Tony's Chocolonely and Faith in Nature, with delegates coming from across the country. And it concluded on Thursday night with a mass ‘action hour’ where hundreds of delegates wrote letters to their MPs asking them to push towards Net Zero.
Yesterday saw debates on degrowth, B Corps and young leaders - as well as a session called “What shall we f*** with next” about how to give nature more of a voice in business.
That session featured Radcliffe-based eco-beauty business Faith In Nature, which made headlines in 2022 when it appointed “nature” to its board. And nature was also represented at another popular debate, called “Your people need a break” - in the form of a delegate who was wearing a chain and a mask to symbolise how nature had no voice.
Nature did, though, pull back the mask briefly to tell the room that the natural world should always be considered when making decisions in business.
The debate, hosted by broadcaster Ngunan Adamu, focused on how companies can take their staff with them as they promote positive change.
Outdoor clothing firm Patagonia is known for its longstanding support for environmental activism. Luke Broster runs Patagonia’s store in Manchester - and said the message that Mother Nature is the boss was embraced by all of the company’s teams.
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“That trickle down from leadership permeates the whole culture,” he said.
When companies have missions and staff buy into that, those employees can be tempted to push themselves too hard.
As Luke said: “I work for a mission-driven company. I love what I do. I’m going to work really hard. The flip side of that is I love what I do and I’m going to work really hard… and I'm not going to take a break.”
So Patagonia has a policy where staff can have an extra three floating days a year to recharge their batteries, with individual teams even having the right to close their stores for those days.
Luke said that when his team members first got those days, they all wanted to stay together. So they decamped to a farm in Wales for the day - “and it was probably one of the most wholesome days I’ve ever had in my life”.
Schoolwear specialist One+All, from Stockport, is proudly owned by its employees.
Beth Moore from One+All said she was happy to be part of a radical company - “What’s radical is that we’re being nice to people and paying them what they should be paid and not exploiting them”.
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She said employees got involved in all aspects of the company’s work, including its rebrand to One + All. And she said the company’s mission was “making prosperity for everyone” including employees and the supply chain.
She said employees always had the opportunity to try working in different parts of the business, and could learn more about the company and not just the division they work in.
Beth, Luke and Ngunan talked about the importance of inspiring leadership, and of taking employees’ views on board.
And Beth reminded the audience “don’t just ask the questions you want to hear the answers to!”
The summit was founded by Hannah Cox, who also founded the Better Business Network. She said she wanted people to leave the event committed to taking action, not just talking about it.
“My vision is that we look at the existing systems and see how we can subvert them,” she said. “So an example of that is that we’ve just become the third company in the 海角视频 to put nature on the board of our organisation. That means nature has a voice in our business, and it means we’re considering that when we’re making business decisions.”
At a time of climate emergency, maybe more businesses need to give nature a voice.