Real Leaders 1 | Page 26

trading for good Corporate America is on the brink of a new age, in which the bottom line involves far more than just profit. The B corporation is the mechanism that’ll make it happen. By kerry rogers IF THE GREAT RECESSION has taught us anything it’s that greed carries limitations. Success, we know, has to be measured in more ways than one. In a drive for companies to do business more responsibly, the trend of triple-bottomline (people, planet, profits) reporting has gained momentum. These principles have been taken one step further in the design of the B corporation, or Benefit corporation. Kevin Maggiacomo (YPO New England) is president and CEO of Sperry Van Ness International, a top commercial real estate advisory company in the US. He is currently busy with the conversion of his company into a B corp and is working with certification organization B Lab to develop standards for franchisors. As yet, no precedent is in place for franchisors to become B Lab certified, and Maggiacomo hopes to become the first. “There are challenges,” he says. “But this is worth doing. B corporation’s help consumers distinguish between good companies and those who simply market their ‘goodness’ well.” What? The aim of this new class of corporation is to add public benefit to the deliverables demanded of a for-profit organisation. The reason is clear: the power o