Public-benefit corporation (B Corps) designations are a fascinating example of one way to redefine efficiency. This legal designation is a way to recognize when a company explicitly and purposefully values social and environmental benefits, thus encouraging company leaders to rethink the need to “maximize shareholder value at all costs.”
Here’s my favorite quote from this story (This quote is attributed to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and reported by Katie Gilbert): “[M]ore and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximizing profits.” I think this speaks to the idea that we are affected by many things any given company produces (both intentionally and unintentionally), profits being only one small part of that equation.
Erin Clark Frost 