One World: The new way of business

By Maggie Mah

Special to The Almanac

The world is demanding a lot more of businesses these days. The bottom line is still important, but organizations in all sectors are being held responsible for much more.

Deloitte’s 2018 report on Global Human Capital Trends declares that “a profound shift is facing business leaders worldwide: the rapid rise of what is called the “social enterprise.”

In a January 2018 letter to shareholders, CEO Larry Fink of Black Rock Capital, one of the world’s largest investment funds, said, “To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.”

“Social impact” is the term used to define this concept. Helping companies to develop and increase their social impact is the mission of “One World,” a Palo Alto-based company founded in 2015 by Scott Saslow.

One World works with all kinds of companies, from small startups to large corporations — Biocellection of Menlo Park is an example of an enterprise One World has supported. Saslow explains: “We get into the culture of the company and design a program to get into a more social impact mode.”

Saslow comes from what he refers to as “a traditional business environment.” Prior to starting One World, he attended Harvard Business School, worked for Microsoft and was involved in seven different startup teams.

On the weekends, however, he followed his heart and coached Special Olympics teams. His idea that business and passion needed to be kept separate eventually changed. Saslow now sees his personal evolution as being very similar to the changes that many organizations are making now.

Why now? Saslow says: “Inequities are big and getting bigger. There is widespread recognition that the public sector (local, state and federal government) is less able to deal with the changes going on in our society.”

Consumers, especially “millennials,” are also demanding that for-profit organizations contribute in some way to the betterment of society. The Deloitte study also found that 80 percent of millennials say they will work only for companies that have a social impact commitment. “A lot of millennials feel there are only so many hours in a day and want to combine work and follow their passion at the same time,” Angelina (“Angie”) Mertens, One World’s program director, explained.

The concept of social impact is different from the more traditional and familiar idea of corporate social responsibility, or CSR. While many businesses contribute a certain percentage of their profits to particular causes and support their employees in doing community service, “social impact” companies have a mission to address major societal issues while maintaining profitability.

“It used to be that the only way companies could increase their social impact was to give away more money and therefore be less profitable. There are limits to that. We are looking for the places that social impact can be done and still be profitable,” Saslow said. “One of the fallacies that we are trying to bust through is that SI costs money.” Using Levi Strauss as an example, Saslow described how the San Francisco-based company changed the process used to make denim garments, and in doing so made a dramatic reduction in the amount of water used and also lowered manufacturing costs.

Saslow pointed to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015 as offering guiding principles in the development of social impact programs. Described as a “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all,” the interconnected goals address global challenges. (For more information go to tinyurl.com/UNgoals-sustainability.)

“A lot of our programs are designed (for) for-profit companies, but we think that it applies to nonprofits, too,” Saslow said. “If you are to be a sustainable (nonprofit), you have to have a reliable source of income. You will attract more resources and scale your work, and therefore increase your impact.”

One World is also an investor focused on early stage for-profit companies based in the Bay Area, including BioCellection. Regarding BioCellection’s CEO Miranda Wang, Saslow said:

“She is a classic example of a social entrepreneur. Running a great for-profit business, out to solve a huge environmental problem, and achieving great success.”

For more on One World go to oneworld.training.

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