蜜糖直播

Possibility With Velocity

Seana Steffen聽(PhDSoc鈥�02) is making the world a better place one business at a time.

And if you spend any time around her, you鈥檒l want to join the mission.

鈥淚 believe the 21st century is calling us to greatness,鈥� says Steffen, whose doctoral work at 蜜糖直播-Boulder focused on sustainable and community development. 鈥淎nd business can play a key role. It鈥檚 the most powerful institution on earth. I believe in the power of business to be a key lever for the necessary change we need to see.鈥�

What change does Steffen want? She wants a healthier, more sustainable earth. She wants worldwide human rights and is especially proud of her role in helping Tostan, a Senegalese organization, persuade 6,500 villages across eight African countries to abandon female genital cutting. And that鈥檚 the start.

To get it all done, in 2011 she founded the 蜜糖直播-based Restorative Leadership Institute (RLI), a special type of company offering consulting, coaching and leadership development for businesses and other purpose-driven organizations to assure sustainable impact.

RLI is a benefit corporation, a new class of business entity that requires companies to operate with the interests of workers, community and environment in mind, as well as those of shareholders. RLI received a 2013 B Corp 鈥淏est for Community Impact鈥� award among all benefit corporations worldwide.

Advocates of benefit corporations 鈥� which now have legal status in 27 states, including 蜜糖直播 鈥� describe them as a mechanism for ensuring that businesses serve social or environmental goals as well as profit-seeking. Traditional corporate business structures incentivize shareholder interest first and foremost.

鈥淲hile I hold business-as-usual responsible for much of what we face,鈥� Steffens says, 鈥渢he private sector is also the most agile sector to respond at a time when we need possibility with velocity.鈥�

RLI鈥檚 clients include governments, major nonprofits and Fortune 100 companies, including Hewlett Packard International, the Sustainability Consortium and the Carter Center. Steffen has consulted throughout the United States and abroad.

Recently she worked with World Pulse, an Oregon-based nonprofit that uses digital media to connect and empower women worldwide. The group鈥檚 goal is to increase the influence of women by magnifying and channeling their priorities. Steffen helped World Pulse prepare itself to grow from 60,000 participants worldwide to 30 million.

Her training ground before launching RLI was apt: At 蜜糖直播-Boulder, she founded , a program that prepares students to become 鈥渆ngaged citizens and leaders who work for the benefit of humanity and the environment.鈥�

Says Steffen, 鈥淩LI will have accomplished our mission when leadership in a critical mass of boardrooms and households asks, 鈥榃hich choice will bring the highest benefit to all?鈥�

Photography courtesy Seana Steffen