Jean Oelwang, CEO, Virgin Unite
Last month Sir Richard Branson's book, Screw Business as Usual, was published. In it he presents his vision for the future: "Time to turn capitalism upside down and switch from a profit focus to caring for people, communities and the planet." And he tells the story of Virgin Unite, the foundation pitched to him in 2003 by Jean Oelwang, then joint chief executive of Virgin Mobile in Australia.
The world's most famous goatee gave the nod and eight years later, Virgin Unite now helps both the group's 200 businesses and 350 entrepreneurs worldwide to drive positive change.
"We've seen the emergence of exciting new businesses and that inspired the book," says Oelwang. "Social media and the growth of the mobile phone has put power in consumers' hands and they're now demanding businesses that put people and planet at their core.
The smart companies realise that and in the past year we've seen an incredible demand from businesses which want us to help them transform or start something new."
Oelwang acknowledges that this is just the beginning and the obstacles ahead are still huge. "Fundamental to driving change is
the merger between government, the social sector and businesses," she says.
"Foundations have been created on silos and to break those down is hard but we're starting to see it happening."
Oelwang is emphatic that social responsibility makes good business sense. "It is proven that it is good for your bottom line. There's loads of data showing that it is good for your staff as well, making
them 18 per cent more productive. And then there's
the competitive pressure – businesses will get eaten alive unless they have people and the planet at their core.
"We've seen huge older businesses, such as GE, starting to make that shift and across Virgin Group we have MDs of all ages who are enthusiastic about this."
But how and where should businesses start? When Oelwang and her team work with an organisation they make change simple and accessible, and drill down to five areas.
"First get your core sustainability (waste and energy usage) right, then look at people (staff or customers) to ask how you can leverage change," she says. "Next look at your products and services – could any drive change? Fourth use your voice – business leaders have a powerful voice. Finally, look at your supply chain and business opportunities. Is there a tweak you could make to your product that could have an impact? Then wrap all this together by figuring out how you get every employee to own this, come up with ideas and think they belong in your company."
Again, this is only the start. Oelwang smiles: "We by no means have all the ideas and no one has all the answers but we hope the book inspires CEOs and that they share their ideas."
My inspiration…
Who? The people, such as doctors, on the front line inspire me
every day; the amazingly humble Peter Gabriel, who taught us the importance of deep listening, and obviously Richard [Branson, above], who always thinks big.
Which media? The New York Times, The Economist and National Geographic. Nature gets me looking at things from a different direction.
How I relax? I scuba dive, climb and hike – the adventure side makes my thinking clearer.
Websites I get huge inspiration from listening to the TED talks online.
Books I love to read. Martin Sorrell recommended The Sprit Level – it's powerful from a business, leadership and moral perspective.
