The B Lab team’s 2019 highlights!

In a year that has flown right past us, it is important to take a break to not just recognise, but also celebrate our collective wins.

The B Lab team shares some of our highlights from 2019, along with a book/music/article recommendation to fill your holidays with!

Andrew Davies

CEO

My highlight was starting this job, what a ride! An amazing few months with so much to learn and such a great team to work with. A close second has been meeting so many B Corp leaders doing amazing things with their businesses. The Not Business As Usual campaign was a great illustration of the collective power of the community.

Recommendation: I’d recommend Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism for all those people heading into summer thinking life is too busy and looking for ways to create time in 2020!

Anna Crabb

Head of Strategy & Partnerships

My highlight was putting together the Better Business for a Better World guide! Diving deep into the challenges faced by our nation in CSIRO’s Australian National Outlook and outlining the role that business can play for us to be on the path to inclusive communities, globally competitive industries, and sustainable foundations in our natural resources, environment and social capital was super rewarding. The guide to ensuring your business thrives is a perfect summer read!

Recommendation: Watch The Australian Dream with all your friends and family! It is an invitation to think about Australia in a different way. To appreciate what has come before and how we can

move forward together.

Mindy Leow

Head of Community Building

My highlight this year is being part of the Climate Taskforce and seeing 534 B Corps commit to net zero carbon by 2030 – you guys rock! And I hope we get to 100% of B Corps by this time next year!

Recommendation: After reading an interview with Terry Patten published in issue 59 of Dumbo Feather, I had to pick up his book “A New Republic of the Heart” which has been essential in helping me grapple with what it means to be human during these times of global and societal crises.

Gayertree Subramaniam Community Manager

Working with the B Corp community on the B Corp Month campaign was a huge highlight for me. Together we reached more than half a million people who wouldn’t be exposed to the ‘good business’ movement otherwise. Truly a milestone moment.

Recommendation: Every morning for the last few months, I’ve found myself tuning into Rough Translation, an NPR podcast. At a time when the world seems small but it’s as hard as ever to escape our echo chambers, Rough Translation takes you places.

Sanaya Khisty

Legal Policy & Governance ManagerMy highlight of the year was joining B Lab and getting to know the B Corp community. Thinking back to January there’s no way I could have predicted what the year had in store. I’m so grateful for having had the chance to learn about all of the wildly impressive work being done by B Corps.

Recommendation: Over the holidays I recommend reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. It’s about to be released as a film and I’d encourage you all to dive into the depths and inequity of the US justice system through Bryan Stevenson’s masterful prose, before seeing Jamie Foxx on the big screen.

Lauren Diggle

Community Building Associate Attending our GPA in Singapore last month was a definite highlight for me! I loved getting to know all the B Labbers from around the world and learning about all the incredible initiatives and programs they are developing in their respective regions. I can’t wait to continue to learn and collaborate with our global counterparts in the new year! Recommendation: Curing Affluenza by Paul Mason. This book is forcing me to reflect on my everyday consumption and looks into the dark side of consumerism. I am enjoying learning about new ways of thinking that protect rather than exploit our limited resources.

Shalini Samuel

Standards Analyst

My highlight of the year was Stone and Wood Brewing Company’s review – kudos for memorable leadership in environmentally innovative manufacturing impact business model!Recommendation: I’m really excited by The Frontiers of Impact Tech report – a 220 page exploration of moonshots worth taking to reverse climate change while ensuring people and nature thrive.

Jamie Hodgson

Standards Analyst

The highlight for me has been working with some amazing companies from all over the globe – Australia, New Zealand, US, South Korea, Taiwan, and Italy, to name but a few! Recommendation: I’m currently reading Dignity in a Teacup: True stories of courage and sacrifice from Christmas Island by Christine Cummins. Not an easy nor lighthearted read, but very insightful.

Makie Fuse

Marketing intern

Just being part of this amazing team is a highlight for me, but doing some important work cleaning up our databases was certainly a good step towards greater resource-efficiency which means less work for Gaya and Lauren!

Recommendation: Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life by Beth Kempton. Also recommend watching this Ted Talk by Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya who shares his vision for a new, “anti-CEO playbook” that prioritises people over profits.