Today’s elite talent are focusing less on salary and gravitating toward personal fulfillment, social entrepreneurship, and love. Yes. Love.

Capitalism is undergoing a transformation and becoming more conscious. Building a company culture that attracts the top talent requires understanding what employees and customers want from the business world. When it comes to Millennials, over 70 percent want their employers to focus on social or mission-related issues. Gallup, Inc. looked at nearly 50,000 business units across 49 different industries and 34 countries. They confirmed margins and mission are not at odds with one another.

In order to stay relevant, innovative, and attractive to today’s most impressive talent, an organization must have a strong culture. Companies need to begin by asking what purpose the organization serves, and why they do what you do every day. Authenticity is contagious, and the culture of the company rises and falls according to the authenticity of the leadership’s mission.

Study Time: Learn the Components and How They Fit into a Conscious Culture

The positive effect your company has on its community defines it in the eyes of that community. Actions - more than mission statements and executive seminars - communicate the culture of a company, and a strong culture is necessary to attract today’s top talent. Let’s start from the ground up; what do you need to begin your journey?

Lead the Charge

The Conscious Capitalist paradigm is inspiring business leaders around the world to innovate and come up with new ways to act more consciously. When leadership is connected, inwardly and outwardly, these solutions come organically, often directly from employees or customers. Successful Conscious Capitalism requires three main pillars:

YOUR GUIDE TO COURTING AN ELITE CANDIDATE: Entice the Top Talent with a Conscious Culture.

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Inclusive Environments

A recent Kinsey report found that only 16% of executive leaders in the U.S. are women, and 97% of senior leadership teams in the U.S. fail to accurately represent the nation’s diversity. This paradigm is changing, and it is changing fast! Inclusive environments are the minimum that will be necessary for a company to stay competitive and attract new talent.

“We’ve evolved from equality to equity. Equality says everybody gets equal. Equity says no, everybody gets what they need. Part of building an inclusive environment is not how you’re going to change the person. It’s how you’re going to change the environment in which people will succeed.”

Kaiser Permanente’s Bernard J. Tyson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente

C-Suite Diversity

Diversity means representing every voice in the conversation. Just like in the natural world, diversity is necessary for health and longevity in the business world. Sidelining new or contrary ideas narrows a leader’s ability to adapt to new challenges and emerging markets. Bringing diversity to your leadership is not filling the gap with a certain candidate. It’s recognizing which portions of society and your customer-base are underrepresented in your ranks. In order to reach those underrepresented customers, you have to understand them.

A recent Kinsey report found that the top companies for ethnic diversity were 35% more likely to exceed industry financial returns. Which makes sense when you consider that multicultural consumers made up 92% of the total growth in the US population between 2000 and 2014. The combined buying power of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans in 2014 was $3.4 trillion.

For gender diversity, diverse companies were 15% more likely to exceed that average. According to TD Ameritrade Institutional, women control $8 trillion in US assets and areprojected to control some $22 trillion by 2020. This is the impact of diversity: pooling diverse perspectives, ideas, and approaches results in innovation, improves internal collaboration and employee satisfaction. 2

Going Completely “Local”

Inward vision must be accompanied by outward vision to achieve a conscious balance. The environmental and social footprint of a business stretch deep into local communities. On the other side of that coin, businesses simply cannot succeed if their community fails. From infrastructure, to labor pool, to public and government interaction, it is impossible to separate a brand from the community in which it thrives.

The relationship between company and community is very deeply embedded in online culture. Mega-corporations that tread on the environments they serve fair poorly in the court of online opinion. A nasty comment in the early 2000s may have been inconvenient and unfortunate, in 2017, the Internet’s opinion of your authenticity can determine whether or not you remain in business.

Leaders, Listen Up!

Leaders must listen at all times. They must absorb the feedback coming from employees, management, and customers, and then translate that feedback into successful strategies. Give your candidates the power behind a board and executive team that reflect, and can communicate with, their employees and customer-base.

There Are 2 Sides to Finding The CandidateThere are two sides to every coin, two sides to every story, and there are two sides to finding the right candidate for your team. Successful relationships are built on self-awareness and compatibility. Before you can feel like home to an elite candidate, your company will need to know itself intimately.

SIDE 1: Who Are You? Really?

Consumers demand a high-level of self-awareness from companies. The digital age and the online business world have created customers who use their loyalty to speak out about the causes dearest to them. Organizations that fall short of their mission, or are insincere about their intentions, pay a heavy price on social media, and that’s bad for the bottom line.

“As business owners, we do not operate in a vacuum. We benefit from our interaction with everyone in the supply chain. If we are blessed enough to prosper, we have a moral obligation to reach out beyond ourselves and our corporate interests to serve humanity.”

Betsy Babcock, Founder, Handsome Brook Farm 3

Consumers Want to Help Shape Corporate AdvocacyWhen the members of a board and executive team reflect, and can communicate with their employees and customer-base, they can effectively predict and fulfill their expectations. The advocacy-minded consumer spends more time and money with brands that pursue social goals that they hold dear. Authenticity is the key.

“We don’t lose sleep over a few people who may disagree with our advocacy efforts. What keeps us up at night are rapidly proliferating social and environmental problems.”

Ann Krcik, Senior Director of Brand Communications and Outdoor Exploration, The North Face

Doing The Right Thing Is the Right StrategyBy letting brand and culture guide advocacy, companies can differentiate themselves from their competition and more intimately bond with their customers. By letting your values align you with community goals, your conscious organization becomes an irresistible magnetic attraction for candidates that feel passionately about your values. By cultivating a moreconscious Capitalism, you are welcoming these strong advocates to your organization.

Gauge Your Company’s ConsciousnessNathan Havey, a founding Partner at Thrive, has outlined five levels of business consciousness. Dig deep and determine where your company ranks.

BAD ACTOR – Lie, cheat, and steal to make a profit.At this stage, a business has an almost total absence of purpose beyond making money, and lacks ethics and concern for others.

RULE FOLLOWER – Obeys the letter of the law.At this stage, a business will obey the rules of the game, and also take full advantage of others however it legally can. These companies won’t act unless it is legally required.

FAIR PLAYER – Do no intentional harm, but “business is business.”A business that has an ethical core of “do no harm.” Its leaders will not consciously act in a way that takes unfair advantage of, or inflicts pain and suffering on people. They will, however, compete fiercely to maximize shareholder return, which they see as the purpose of their company.

GOOD CITIZEN – Take measures to have a net-positive impact.These companies accomplish a net-positive impact by encouraging employee volunteerism, contributing to a wide range of charitable concerns, and striving to create an enjoyable work-place culture. Investing in social capital and goodwill creates important returns.

CONSCIOUS COMPANY – Embody a specific, measurable purpose beyond profit.A company is aware of its power to achieve a specific, important purpose beyond profit, and is structured to fulfill that mission. Growth and profit remain important, but no longer for their own sake – they are a necessary factor of achieving the purpose.

Scorecard

Now you have an honest, baseline gauge of where you stand as a conscious company. It’s time to go beyond your mission statement and straight to your core principles: what is your company trying to accomplish? Understanding what makes your advocacy unique, and what makes

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its approach effective, is the first step. Now, you need the tools to communicate those principles to your customers, and to potential leadership candidates.

SIDE 2: What Are You Gonna Do About It?

You know why Conscious Capitalism is important to talented candidates. You’ve engaged in an honest and thorough assessment of who you are as an organization, and what drives you.

It’s time to get started on the how and do some house cleaning.

What I Really Want

The post-World War II business model of top-down hierarchy and lifelong careers is sputtering out rapidly. Cutting-edge entrepreneurs and innovators, not just Millennials, recognize that job security and retirement benefits are scarce and going the way of the Dodo. Today’s candidates have more in mind.

INFLUENCEWhat happens in the world as a result of my work? What is the mission of my organization? How am I serving a group or idea that is bigger than myself? Loyalty is no longer the legacy of choice. Candidates want to be where they can do the most good, and feel good while doing it.

MASTERYWhat skills am I deepening? What are my opportunities for professional development? How fast is my pace of learning? Candidates are focused on growth and evolution, companies that open those doors retain the best talent.

FREEDOMHow is work integrated into my overall life? Do I have the ability to work remotely, or take a vacation? Do I have good health insurance? Freedom and stability are difficult to balance, most of the time you settle for a little more of one at the expense of the other. Freedom has taken precedence and candidates seek challenges that benefit personal and professional growth.

VALUESDo my values match those of my team? What are the working norms in my organization? Does that match the way I want to work day-to-day? Taking a stand and seeking challenges, rather 5

than comfort, defines this new paradigm. For the talent you want in your c-suite, alignment of values and a positive legacy are more attractive than bonuses and stock options.

Welcome Your Candidate Home

Reaching the talent your organization needs means taking the self-awareness you’ve gained and the knowledge you have about what candidates want, and combining them to create an environment that attracts! Let’s go back to the Three Pillars:

Inclusion Is Power

To create an inclusive environment, it is important to include everyone in the conversation. Consult diverse organizations and peers to help you identify a strategy to attract under represented groups to your c-suite. By laying a foundation with this knowledge, your organization empowers leadership to listen to and hear all voices, thus reaping the benefitsof their insight. These perspectives give your leadership the tools to understand the full spectrum of your employees’ and customers’ needs.

Diversify for Strength

Diversity programs alone are not enough. You must champion diversity, and lead by example. Organizations must reach out to underrepresented groups for advice on inclusion. Conscious companies create an irresistible attraction when candidates see a company walking the walk, and not just talking the talk. Giving your leadership the power of insight across a diverse landscape widens the possibility for success.

Be Part of the Community

AccorHotels CEO Sebastien Bazin explains: “[The locals, that live around the hotel, or go to an office around the hotel] 90% of them never dared coming into the property, because they would be asked ‘What’s your room number?’ They don’t need a room, but they may need a service.” We learn on a regular basis, that when a company runs afoul of the community they serve, it’s no longer just a local concern. Social media and ranking platforms can turn a domestic issue into an international embarrassment is seconds. By integrating with the needs and services in their community, leaders not only protect that community, they open their doors to previously unconsidered opportunities for outreach, profit, and expansion.

Happy community, happy company, happy employees. Attractive company. 6

Conclusion

You must start from the ground up to build the kind of company that attracts a Conscious Capitalist. Businesses are changing the way they form and structure themselves, and most importantly, changing the way they hire. C-suites are diversifying, managerial relationshipsare being re-considered, and communities are cooperating with organizations to the benefit of both. This is the harmony of Conscious Capitalism, and this is how the elite talent you arelooking for want to work and live.

This takes a commitment from employees at every level. Your passion is the fuel, and your example provides the high bar for excellence. This pursuit, as it changes Capitalism, will also change you - for the better.

Remember, you can thrive in the pursuit of your passion and excellence.

Tom Spry/ Executive Recruiter & Coach

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