B Corp: Reasons To Retreat

by | Sep 9, 2015 | B-Corporation

B Corp Retreat

There are 1,381 Certified B Corporations, in 41 Countries, across 121 industries, with 1 unifying goal – To redefine success in business. Annually, the B Corp Community comes together for a global gathering called the B Corp Champions Retreat. This October Amavida Coffee and Tea will attend the 2015 Retreat. Dan and I are excited (and fortunate) to connect with over 220 people representing Certified B Corps from across the globe.

In early August, while visiting the sign-up page to register, I discovered “the waitlist”. My heart skipped a beat! Fortunately for us a few spots opened up since that day and we were notified by B Lab as our place on the list lined up. What would it mean to miss out on attending an event like this? To answer that question it is best instead to discuss the question, why is it important to attend? Allow me to elaborate a little on how I expect Amavida and I will benefit from the experience, as well as, where I believe we will give greatly.

Why it is important to attend?

For Amavida Coffee, it is essential to fulling our mission & vision that we participate at events like the B Corp Champions Retreat. To serve as a leader in the coffee and tea industry it is essential to continue learning, growing, and performing with a focus on sustainability and fair trading practices. At the Retreat, Amavida Coffee will have a chance to do exactly that. We must seek out, connect, and work with similarly spirited organizations and individuals to achieve success as we envision it.

For me it is the same, attending is essential to fulfilling my personal mission & professional goals. It will always be my dream job to work in ways that help others succeed. One reason I love working with Amavida Coffee is their culture for creating opportunities and cultivating continued development. In order to positively impact the success of others, as an individual I must consistently learn, grow, and perform with a spirit of interdependence. Fellowshipping with people from other B Corps will offer opportunities to discover new ways of pursuing my purpose and strengthen my ability to work with others not only to achieve, but also to sustain success.

How do I expect we’ll benefit?

At the retreat I expect Amavida Coffee will connect and find ways to work with others who make it their business to eliminate harmful outcomes of operating while working to create positive impacts in the communities and lives of those with whom they work. By fully immersing Amavida Coffee in the B Corp Community, we will build relationships with companies both closely related & extremely different from us, and we will see how they work to support employees, serve communities, and protect the environment. I believe Amavida Coffee will B Inspired by those we connect with through this experience and return more equipped to be the change we seek.

I expect the experience will further shape my perspective of the world and energize ideas for how I can have a good affect on it through more mindful decision making. We’ll be meeting with a group of people with extremely different backgrounds and professions who are working with a shared vision. While at the Retreat, we will discover more ways why we use our unique talents to “build bridges toward a new economy.” I also expect attending the Retreat will expose real challenges in the world and help me understand more deeply how the choices I make as a individual, in my own time and on the clock, relate to the possibility of meaningful change & how as a collective of unique individuals we can change the world.

Where do I believe we will give?

Amavida Coffee is one of a kind and will give by sharing challenges we face and solutions we’ve found. We will also give by participating is discussion to find further resolve and learning leadership through practice. Through open, honest interaction we will offer unique perspective into our industry and where we work to make a difference. Hopefully the companies we join will learn how Amavida Coffee works toward its sustainability goals, as well.

I believe Dan and I each have a lot to offer at the Retreat and will serve by networking with other professionals and working to help make connections where we can. We will share our experiences and those of other companies in our community & people in our lives who embody the vision of sustainability we see. We will give mostly by working to lead by example and take ever action with our mission in mind.

My final thoughts: When Amavida Coffee certified almost two years ago (May 2014) we connected to a group of 1,368 like-minded companies who are cultivating a measure of success in business that includes social and economic successes as part of the equation, in addition to financial health. This is wonderful. However, getting in the same room with them and sharing practices is pivotal!“Together we are building a new economy that is more inclusive and sustainable and that will influence the next generation of leaders to come” B LAB. Missing the Retreat would have meant missing opportunities to discover ways we can improve and work together use business as a force for good and create a more sustainable world.

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