Introduction from Sarah Parsonage

Introduction

One Question believes that business is society, and society is business. But today there is a delta between the two. Social profit and economic profit can align if we better understand the role our businesses play in society and equally society’s impact on our businesses.

For the last five years, I have had the unwavering belief that conversation can create change,and that improvement is best sought and found through conversation. In short, that conversation can close the gap between business and society, if only you ask the right question.

On the 14th of September we hosted a member conversation to discuss this year’s question, is education the answer? Hearing from many different individual and industry perspectives.

I am not defining education in terms of the traditional education system, via an institution in which one person imparts knowledge to another based on an agreed set of principles. Rather, we explored what opportunity or responsibility

might the legal system, the communications industry or the media have to educate society?

Over the last few years, I fear we have lost the ability to listen and be listened to, we have lost the appreciation of context. We see society and business as black or white, good or bad. Nothing in life or indeed business is black or white, and very few things are all good or all bad.

During the seven conversations I invited members to step out of our everyday echo chambers, allow ourselves to be vulnerable, and listen without judgment to perspectives and experiences that might differ from our own; that through such conversation and forging new relationships, we can balance building more profitable and sustainable businesses whilst creating genuine societal change.

The report that follows is our review of the conversations, and our invitation to be part of the next conversation.

Sarah