Group Partners Social Business Manifesto

Manifesto 002

A Redefinition Of Value

Introduction

A Frustrated Society?

In the West there’s an increasing societal urge for authenticity and integrity.

Growing cries for more care and thinking in a world that has become obsessed by material and commercial gain.

A world where reward and status (for most leaders) is still measured against profit, power and wealth.

There’s an increasing social and environmental concern about systems designed purely to create commercial gain to the exclusion of people and the environment.

There’s a growing polarisation of the wealthy and the poor. This creates conflict and resentment at the same time as it becomes easier to identify the nature and reality of these inequities.

There appear to be very few direct ways to change the system other than through activism or hoping for longer-term behavioural change – that can only be brought about through a higher level of consciousness.

It Begs The Question – do we really care?

Do we care that our frenzy for profit ensures a global rich and global poor imbalance?

Do we care that the so-called civilised West can start wars in our name, wars that have no likelihood of solving the problem of fundamentally opposed cultures and societies?

Do we care that we have so little say in the systems that we have to live within even though they may be plainly corrupt?

Do we care that our lives are moving so fast that we so easily dismiss the needs and inequities of our own fellow species?

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Social Manifesto

We live in a very challenging time.

A time to be held to account for the way we have served society and cared for our planet. A time to question our values and priorities and a time to rethink our purpose 3

Social Manifesto

Have We Forgotten Our Roots?

Since the dawning of man every community on Earth has had to consider the design of their environment in order to survive and make progress. Every community and realm has had to reflect on what makes its society work, how it will defend itself and how it will thrive in the context within which it exists.

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This is the foundation for Resilience Nowadays technology and applications can alter the very course of society.

Technology so powerful that entire governments have been brought down – several times. New solutions to society’s problems are beginning to emerge with utility of the like the world has never imagined or seen before.

Without the great engineering minds where would humanity be?

No movement across territories.

No security or safe housing for our people.

No methods of communication.

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We Care Resilience has to mean that we care about something far more fundamental Whilst we recognise that business cannot survive without being successful commercially, we believe that resilience should stand for something far more important.

It is no longer acceptable and certainly not sustainable simply to trade to make money. More and more people are recognising that other currencies of value and service, trade and exchange must become a part of the approach.

So how will business reinvent the way it thinks about its purpose? How should it operate to justify – and sustain – its position in the marketplace? And how can business give something back to the communities it serves without compromising the very resources we all depend on?

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” Elie Wiesel

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One thing is certain – challenge from all quarters has never been easier or more powerful.

With new platforms and technologies all our voices are being heard – the ‘minority’ (if it has the mind) can choose who to follow, who to elect, who to expose – ignore them at your peril!

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It was probably always this way but surely it’s still our responsibility to try to correct the inequitable nature of business today?

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Social Manifesto

Putting Resilience into Context To be truly resilient we must embrace the need to care about people and the health of our planet. In Group Partners we are not big users of the phrase ‘triple bottom line’ but we are big believers in actually delivering the massive idea that rests behind it. The world we live in today demands this of all businesses and institutions and communities wield immense power and influence.

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” Henry David Thoreau At the heart of resilience is a belief in oneself – yet also a belief in something larger than oneself. One would say that resilient people do not let adversity define them. They find resilience by moving towards a goal beyond themselves, transcending pain and grief by perceiving bad times as a temporary state of affairs.

Our Manifesto for 2013 is heavily influenced by a growing desire to do more than help self-serving business generate bigger profits.

We want to help genuinely concerned businesses become hugely successful as a result of their service to the community – because they have generated real value and used their power and influence for the very best of reasons.

This is the function of any valid system – to operate within the complexity and the constant pressure of the dynamics we live within in society.

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Social Manifesto

Our Own Exam Question?

In writing our new Manifesto we have had to face our own challenges, question our purpose and direction and test our commitment and resolve We know how much we can help organisations who are trying to change the fortunes of so many – and we find these organisations to be the ones that most appreciate the idea of resilience and that are the most in tune with complexity – all of their challenges are dynamic, variable and multi-dimensional.

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It’s a harsh reality however, that the people who need our help the most can often afford it least and of course we need to remain in business to be able to help them to create value for society.

It would be right to call this a dilemma because we believe strongly that we need to do something about it – and as this is a fundamental part of our Manifesto – so we have to overcome it.

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Social Manifesto

The Opportunity Is Out There We recognise that large enterprises and traditional businesses could be a major force for change – if we could persuade them to view their role in society differently.

We are finding more like-minded individuals and groups who see the answer in a much more integrated way – this is not a case anymore of commercial vs humanitarian, it’s a question of collaboration, mutual value and common purpose.

In our Manifesto we have declared ourselves to be on a Quest. There is no single quest, just the idea of a quest that can be started by anyone with a vision and commitment to make change happen.

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Our vision and commitment is to find those like-minded people and to between us meet the challenges of our times 13

Social Manifesto

“ There comes a time when

all life on Earth is in danger.

Great Barbarian powers have arisen.

Although these powers spend their wealth in preparation to annihilate one another, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable destructive power, and technologies that lay waste our world.

In this era, when the future of sentient life hangs by the frailest of threads, the kingdom of Shambhala emerges.”

Tibetan prophecy taken from – So Far From Home by Margaret J. Wheatley

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Social Manifesto Group Partners July 2013

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