Mike Walters - Managing Director
When we started Lonsdale Solutions over a decade ago, we didn’t know heaps about running a consultancy. What we knew is that our clients needed someone they could trust to have their interests at heart and to guide them through significant, and oftentimes difficult, change. And, that we wanted to build a Consultancy that behaved in line with our values.
As we grew, and got older and wiser, we learned more and more about the inherent tension between being a business and trying to “do the right thing”. As we grew the team, articulated our purpose, and did more business for more customers, our goal evolved: to do good business, and to be a business that does good.
Today, we take a huge step towards this goal: Lonsdale Solutions has become a Certified B Corporation!
So, what is a B Corporation?
B Corporations adopt a "for purpose” business model and believe that business can be a force for good. The ‘B’ stands for ‘Benefit’ and refers to companies that don’t just aim to benefit shareholders but also benefit clients, employees, community and the environment. It’s less about shareholder primacy and more about making a positive and sustainable impact.
Currently, there are only 400 certified B Corps in Australia and only 3400 globally. It’s not that such a small number of companies out there are doing good things, rather it’s hard work to gain certification.
We examined our entire value chain and used the B Corp impact assessment as a scaffold to analyse and build a better version of our company. There were nearly two hundred areas that we examined, documented, adjusted, improved, or introduced just to qualify for external audit. Then we went through numerous rounds of review to verify these changes.
Some of the changes have led to us minimising our environmental footprint offsetting our carbon footprint and minimising waste; committing a portion of our profit to philanthropy; prefacing underrepresented and indigenous owned suppliers; and introducing a suite of extra benefits for our people.
Because of the effort we have invested, we’re now more aligned on strategy and purpose and have a clearer vision of where we’re headed.
A decade older and wiser, we still believe that clients need a better type of consultancy they can actually trust. And that we can do that and remain true to our own values - to use business as a force for good.
Mike