Overcoming adversity: understanding Brazil & social impact from afar
By Alexa V.
[W]hat I think the purpose of this class aims to teach is that having a voice, maintaining diversity of thought, and caring about communities enough to want to make the right choices, the right decisions, and form right strategies is timeless. As proprietors of the future of business, it should be our mission to lead organizations towards accountability and sustainability to the best of our ability.
On Wednesday March 4th I was sitting at work setting my out of office message, and preparing to work from home the next day during the hours leading up to boarding my American Airlines flight to Rio de Janeiro. Normally, I religiously check my personal email, however, this day was different, as I was overcome with excitement to travel to Brazil and check-off South America on my ‘scratch-map’. My phone buzzed relentlessly, and at a glance my phone-screen lit up with notifications from the group message for our Brazil consulting project. The first lines of text read: “That’s some unfortunate news!” and I froze knowing that a quick check of my email would likely confirm the trip cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak. This feeling was all-too-familiar, as two weeks prior I had been notified that the Vietnam Global Immersion course that I was originally signed-up to take had been cancelled. The first cancellation was disheartening, however, I was determined to make the best of my Spring 2020 spring-break experience, which led to me joining the Brazil Social Impact Immersion course. With the latest wave of cancellations my hopes of traveling somewhere exotic to learn something new were dashed.
Despite the change in logistics, and the sudden inability to travel to Brazil to meet with our slate of host companies that were more than prepared to offer a taste of what social impact really means to them; I realized that due to globalization, social impact can occur on small and larger scales from afar. So what does it really mean to be socially impactful? Textbook definitions state that social impact is the “effect an organization’s actions have on the well being of a community,” but I’d like to broaden the scope in which that definition can ring true. The world and the individuals within it that exist form a relationship that in my mind is akin to a kaleidoscope; not just a tube containing mirrors and pieces of colored glass or paper, but instead perspective. Perspectives of those whose reflections produce changing patterns that may be visible and unique. In other words, social impact to me is not just an occurrence at the organizational-level, but can also be entertained on a personal-level. For example, organizations such as Patagonia radiate their impact on the triple-bottom-line, where it substantiates its commitment to sustainability through recycled plastic, its endorsement of the ‘re-useable economy,’ and its financial pledge to a number of social initiatives and other environmental ‘grass-root’ groups. However, in examining the concept of social impact through the lens of this course, it is evident that social impact can occur at the granular-level, as individuals seek to drive and inspire lasting change.
While sitting in the second pre-trip session, as a new addition to the course, it was illuminating to ‘crowd-source’ ideas with fellow classmates to brainstorm how to overcome potential challenges faced by companies in Brazil that have missions dedicated to impacting the community for the better. Whether it was the group that was working on profitability modeling for sustainable furniture made with excess lumber in the Amazon, or discussing methods of garnering financial support for a non-profit who’s goal is to provide electricity and solar panels to ‘favelas’ or other off-the-grid communities; it was like peering into a kaleidoscope of perspective that championed sustainable change. For my group’s project, our stakeholder desired inorganic growth for its sustainable consulting business. This project could not have hit closer to home, as I currently work in the Finance industry, and have experience in mergers and acquisitions, as well as have completed MBA coursework in “ESG” (environmental, social and governance) investing. Although finance is not the primary mode or function of thought when examining the idea of social impact, what it does provide is a method of funding, accountability and guidance when it comes to responsibly championing organizations toward creating lasting impact. Amidst further research for this project, I found a report done by the Callan Institute, which conducted a 2019 ESG Survey among 89 U.S. institutional investors regarding their approaches to ESG investing practices. The majority of the findings listed included that 42% of firms surveyed incorporated ESG factors into the investment decision-making process, key sectors of ESG investment included non-profit organizations, government, health-care and education, and 57% of firms claimed that ESG investing was spurred by a fiduciary responsibility to make smarter, and more-sustainable choices. However, the most interesting finding was the discovery of the ‘diversity effect,’ which the research stated as the fact that investors with more diverse boards and committees were more likely to incorporate ESG investing practices. To me, this is an example of a kaleidoscope; when you have an intelligent, educated and diverse population working together, individuals and organizations are more likely to share perspectives and strive to create lasting social impact.
Although we are unable to travel to Brazil to witness and hear the testimony of these firms and non-profits towards the positivity of social impact, what I think the purpose of this class aims to teach is that having a voice, maintaining diversity of thought, and caring about communities enough to want to make the right choices, the right decisions, and form right strategies is timeless. As proprietors of the future of business, it should be our mission to lead organizations towards accountability and sustainability to the best of our ability.