What a year for the world, and what a year for Conscious Capitalism. Little did we know that after March 13th, all of us would be staying home, creating new ways to engage, and become experts in producing Zoom events!?
2020 events started with a “Fireside Chat on Conscious Capitalism” in February at the Maryland Innovation Center. This chat was led by C3MD Executive Director Wendy Moomaw and members of the Conscious Collaboratory. We discussed Conscious Capitalism…What is it and why does it matter? How can startup businesses both thrive and focus on elevating society, partners, investors, customers, employees, and the environment?
Our next event wasn’t until May, due to the COVID-19 pandemic shifting the way we do things. We started with a workshop “Got a Business? Make it Conscious. A C3MD 5-Part Workshop Series” over Zoom for 5 Wednesdays.
As the business and global landscapes shift, what strategies and opportunities are entrepreneurs finding to navigate the waters? Conscious Capitalism is a way of thinking about capitalism and business that better reflects where we are in the human journey, the state of our world today, and the innate potential of business to make a positive impact on the world. What can we learn about the Conscious Capitalism model as we continue to shift.
Explore the foundational principles of Conscious Capitalism in C3MD’s five-part workshop series. Each week, one of C3MD’s leadership team members will focus on a pillar of Conscious Capitalism and share how courageous businesses are evaluating risk and creating value.
WORKSHOP ONE: Conscious Leadership
“To Pivot or not to Pivot? An Inside Look at Conscious Leadership in Business”
Hosted by: Wendy Moomaw, Board President of C3MD and Founder of the Conscious Collaboratory, Guest Speaker: Dan Simons, co-owner of the innovative Farmers Restaurant Group
Every business owner ponders whether they should pivot and when the timing would be best. In this workshop, we take a closer look at one area of growth opportunity for leadership to both expand their capacity internally and their ability to simultaneously support the external effects on the business from the outside in. Learn from Dan Simons, co-owner of the innovative Farmers Restaurant Group that pivoted their business to help everyone in their communities with food, drink, and the provisions needed to stay healthy, happy, and well-fed.
The recent planetary shift in how we live, work, and lead is accelerating the pivot process for leadership and businesses. This workshop will reveal what matters most in conscious leadership and reveal how one conscious business owner arrived at the decision to pivot and how they led and scaled the pivot to serve their organizations.
WORKSHOP TWO: Stakeholder Orientation
“Stakeholder Orientation as a Strategic Catalyst”
Hosted by: Onyemaechi Nweke Dr.P.H., MPH, Principal, Triconcepts International, LLC, Guest Speaker: Nneka Chiazor, Regional Vice President Government and Public Affairs, Cox Communications
Two distinguishing factors for conscious capitalists are their appreciation for the extent of the ecosystem within which they exist, and a way of thinking and doing that is about creating value for all stakeholders. This workshop examines the tenet of stakeholder orientation and explores how businesses can integrate the needs and interests of all stakeholders while doing what they do best.
WORKSHOP THREE: Higher Purpose
“Harnessing Purpose Amidst Change”
Hosted by: Wendy Baird, Owner, insight180 Brand Consulting & Design; Sandy Young, PE, CCM, LEED AP; Construction Manager and Secretary, C3MD
Guest Panel: Josh Massey, COO & Co-Founder, Ortus Academy; Liz Richardson, COO/Co-Founder, Indigo Ink; Wendy Slaughter, President/Owner, The Wendy Slaughter Team of Elevate Real Estate Brokerage
Why does your business exist beyond making money? What impact do you wish to have? A great purpose acts like a powerful magnet that can align all stakeholders, whether a large corporation or small business. Join our small business guests as we discuss purpose, alignment, shifting and more.
WORKSHOP FOUR: Conscious Culture
“It’s Alive! It’s Alive!”
Hosted by: Eboni Adams Monk, Director Marketing – W.R. Grace and Vice President C3MD; Guest Speaker: Christopher Fischer, Director Ag Retail Talent Management – Land O’ Lakes, Inc., Arden Hills, MN
How does culture impact an organization’s success? How will our business cultures change as a result of our new normal? In today’s changing environment, organizational culture is an important key for businesses to thrive. Join C3MD and our guest speaker to learn about how small businesses, corporate leaders and professionals can shape and evolve their organization’s culture.
WORKSHOP FIVE: Four Pillar Integration
Hosted by: Wendy Moomaw, Onyemaechi Nweke, Wendy Baird, and Eboni Adams Monk
To finish out our five-part Conscious Business Workshop Series, Conscious Capitalism Central Maryland (C3MD) will explore each of the four pillars and recap the prior four workshops. The four pillars and workshop themes are: Higher Purpose, Stakeholder Orientation, Conscious Culture, and Conscious Leadership.
After the workshop, we started a rotation of Zoom Conscious Cocktails and Conscious Coffees. In July, we held “Conscious Cocktails: A Virtual Networking Event.” Whether they were a “large” small business who’s working remotely, or a solopreneur, we’re all getting a real sense of what it’s like to be socially isolated. And while we were also maybe tiring of the virtual meetings, C3MD’s Conscious Cocktails Happy Hour is back. It was close enough to the end of the day to pour a cocktail or grab some tea. We encouraged guests to even go outside if allowed, or at least to switch rooms for a change of pace! We wanted to check in with our conscious business community to share “news and needs.”
September was a Conscious Coffee: A Virtual Event. We were so excited to host our first virtual Conscious Coffee on September 1st. We were delighted to have Challenging Racism Executive Director Alicia Jones joining us for this event. We talked about Race, Representation, Redlining, and more!
On September 2nd, we took a “break” from cocktails and coffee for “Let’s Talk About Racial Equity in Your Business.” C3MD is a strategic partner on another talk about racial equity offered by the Conscious Collaboratory. What does it mean to “center race equity?” With so many businesses and organizations talking and posting about the importance of racial equity recently, what does it mean to actually live it? To move the needle to the center? What are you doing within your organization? How can you move beyond conversation into action?
We joined Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Strategist and Founder of Culture Principles Danielle Marshall, CDP and Executive Coach & Founder of the Conscious Collaboratory Wendy Moomaw, ICF PCC Coach, as they discussed how we can start, continue and advance the conversation around centering racial equity. This webinar led to a six-week workshop series “Building Racial Equity in Your Business.”
Back to Conscious Cocktails for October, “Nourishing Office Culture in a Virtual World.” The pandemic has greatly affected carefully crafted corporate cultures and remote workers and business owners have been challenged when it comes to maintaining or improving company culture. By understanding the shifts that have naturally taken place, we discussed how employers and employees can easily shift expectations. We learned how a renewed focus improves both company and team culture as well as customer experience. We heard firsthand how an award-winning large employer has worked to strengthen and maintain a positive culture that doesn’t depend on people meeting face-to-face every day. Panelists Eboni Adams Monk, from W. R. Grace, Ashlee Eggleston, with IntelliGenesis, and Kimberly Prescott, owner of Prescott HR, provided honest, real-world examples of their (and their clients’) corporate cultures—how they were developed and how they adapted to changes in the post-pandemic world.
For November’s Conscious Coffee, we invited special guest, Dr. Hung-bin Ding, Chair of the Department of Management and International Business at Loyola’s Sellinger School of Business to discuss “Sustainability Management: From Awareness to Business Promises.” In 2020, the United Nations declared the Decade of Action (2020-2030) and urged all sectors of society, including businesses and academia, to partner together to end poverty, reduce inequality, and address the climate emergency through the achievement of 17 development goals by the year 2030. Sustainability Management examines how corporations deliver value to people, planet, and profit while creating and sustaining a competitive advantage.
Our last event of the year, in December, was “Surviving 2020: Tell Us Your Story.” It was the Conscious Cocktails virtual holiday happy hour! We wanted to hear what helped people through this tumultuous time. In the fashion of “show and tell,” we wanted to hear the best stories of the past nine months! We invited people to bring a prop, be creative, bring a book, a friend, a pet, or a movement. We also shared a recap of C3MD 2020 programming and what’s on deck for 2021.
Phew! Thanks to all of our attendees, members, special guests, sponsors and the C3MD leadership team for making this year one to remember!
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