There's been a buzz of activity around the fact that we at Investment Impact are a social business lately.
And that doesn't just mean that I enjoy flirting over several large glasses of Chardonnay (it would be Bourgogne, but stained blue teeth doesn't make for great connections).
A social business is basically one where profit is not the only motivator (as well as encompassing a myriad of other characteristics) but even this simple sentence is enough to turn traditional economics on its head.
The new wave of social business represents a shift from delegation and hierarchy to empowerment of the workforce and respect for the individual. And it's no coincidence that Investment Impact which represents freedom of choice for the part-time workforce is at the forefront of this movement. Even more so, that the founder (er, that would be me then) is a woman who demands a more flexible structure for those of us who work to live not live to work. But the high profile is not only due to my efforts. In the true spirit of a social business which leverages the passion of its community, it is acclaimed author and expert Stuart Boardman (who describes himself as a Jazz Musician who only ever fights dictators by accident ) who has started to raise eyebrows across several channels.
As well as being published in The Urban Times (Love in the Time of Cholera or How to do Business in a Recession), he's now been printed in CMS Wire (How Social Business turns Enterprise Inside Out) and got himself noticed in Dion Hinchcliffe's blog on ZD.net (Social Business in Germany)....inside one short week. I am thrilled for him and for us since all those pages give great backlinks ;-) And even more than backlinks (could there be anything more important for a web-based consultancy, I hear you ask?).
I am starting to recognise that we are but one social business among many who will eventually turn to one another thus emulating their own internal structures...externally. And enjoyably, that means there's a whole lot more connecting (and maybe even flirting) to be done.