5 ways a business can work for justice

 Yes, business can work for justice.

What’s that look like? Let’s list possibilities.

There could be dozens, hundreds of ways on this list. Some so wildly specific that only one business could do it, and some so general that every business could try.

Listing 5 ways will barely scratch the surface.

That’s ok! Let’s scratch it.

But first – what do we mean by “working for justice,” anyway?

JUSTICE IS WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE IN PUBLIC

That’s how Dr. Cornel West has famously described it.

That word “public” is what interests us. When we say business can do justice, we’re talking about a business impact that is social. Wide. Communal. Shared. Repeatable.

We’re talking about systems, habits, norms.

The things many people do, over and over, every day.

The world is facing problems – lots of them! – that individuals didn’t cause alone and cannot solve alone. Systemic problems. Problems that aren’t caused by one person making one destructive choice, but by many people choosing many small destructive things repeatedly.

Because we are incentivized to do so.

For example: You can get rich ruining the planet. You can get popular by humiliating your detractors online. You can get ahead by leaving the poor behind.

And as long as those incentives exist, it’s a lot harder to ask people not to chase them.

Justice is about creating a world where crime doesn’t pay, where doing good also means you do well, and where things that help the many thrive long-term are also things the few want in the short term.

We don’t live in that world now, so we have to change it.

We must change how things work.

Sometimes, only business can do that.

TO CHANGE WHAT’S POSSIBLE, CHANGE WHAT’S PROFITABLE

It used to be impractical to buy a car that doesn’t pollute – because electric cars were bad cars, because they cost too much, and because there was nowhere to charge them.

So we kept buying vehicles that pollute.

And even Elon Musk, who’s now the most obscenely wealthy person on the planet, couldn’t change that.

Tesla could.

Tesla changed the system, which changed our incentives. Tesla committed to a strategy (make electric cars fun; sell them to people who don’t care about the cost) and that strategy helped them win. And Tesla winning actually changed the market.

Now I drive a Nissan Leaf.

I love the planet, ok, sure. But also – it costs less than pumping gas.

It didn’t used to; now it does. A business changed the system.

Sometimes business can’t affect that sort of change. But sometimes business can!

And sometimes, that change also makes the world more just.

That’s what we’re aiming for.

And how, specifically? Millions of ideas exist. There are a zillion places where the world needs justice, where a business might help bring the answer.

Here are five to get us cooking.

1. HELP EMPLOYEES THRIVE.

Let’s start with something anyone in any industry can aspire to: Pursue the flourishing of the people you see every day.

➡️ Pay living wages.

➡️ Offer health and family leave.

➡️ Foster a culture of mutual support.

Don’t be fooled; these three seem basic but they’re DIFFICULT. In some industries, competing while you pay a living wage sounds downright crazy.

Aspire nonetheless.

Tick these boxes – or pursue the change required to tick them – and you’re doing justice work.

2. HELP THE POOR ACCESS GOVERNMENT BENEFITS AS EASILY AS THE RICH DO.

Yeas ago, my friend Josh Turner built a business helping people apply for SNAP.

They’d pay him a flat fee; he’d submit food-stamp applications and navigate a complex government system for them.

This is what tax accountants do. But instead of helping wealthy people claim government benefits, Josh was helping hungry people claim them.

Our government spends far more on subsidies for the wealthy than the needy. But even the aid that does exist for needy families often goes unused because it’s hard to claim.

A business can make money fixing that.

Propel does. Their app helps millions monitor food-stamp benefits, hunt deals and generate income. Advertising partners pay, which keeps the app free.

As for my pal Josh – he closed his business years ago when his state literally passed a law to make his work illegal.

I don’t know the details. I do know that justice often meets resistance.

3. MAKE HOUSING AFFORDABLE.

The more some of us accumulate wealth by owning homes, the more others of us can’t afford a home at all.

This is a complex problem with a lot of issues. And a lot of creativity going into fixes: 

➡️ ICON is a fintech startup literally 3D-printing homes to lower construction costs.

➡️ PadSplit converts existing family homes into co-living spaces, letting teachers, restaurant workers and the like live communally and affordably.

➡️ Here in my backyard, Harborlight Homes mixes property management with community advocacy. If you’re north of Boston, you can see how they turned an abandoned middle school into artists’ apartments next month.

➡️ My former client The Neighbor Project’s Breakthrough Rental model lets families recoup rent as savings for a home down payment.

Homes are more than housing – in the U.S., they’re about who holds the wealth. If you want more families to flourish, you already care.

4. GIVE THE POOR BETTER FINANCIAL OPTIONS.

One of the best ways to get rich is to find someone with no choice except to buy from you… and bleed them dry.

This is why you don’t see payday-lending programs in rich neighborhoods; people don’t put up with their predatory practices if there’s a better deal available.

A just business can create that better deal.

Payactiv is a for-profit company using factoring – a financial method that lets companies take advances out on money customers owe them – to let hourly workers draw advances on the wages they’ve already earned.

Payactiv’s work has brought about regulatory change, getting its model – which is called earned wage access (EWA) – classified as legally distinct from payday lending in several states. 

That has the potential to shift norms across the industry.

5: TELL THE TRUTH.

At the heart of most persistent injustice is one idea: Some people deserve to thrive, but other people don’t.

This is a lie.

An individual can call out the lie, but businesses have ways to fight the truth war individuals don’t:

➡️ Through data. Up for Growth produces data used to fight economic segregation. NatureServe sells ecological data to developers who want (or are required) to protect biodiversity. PolicyMap sells demographic data to banks, to government agencies – and to the advocacy groups who scrutinize them.

➡️ By hiring equitably and diversely. It’s a lot harder to imagine “those people” don’t deserve respect or opportunity when you work side by side with them. Integration of all sorts decreases inequality.

➡️ In marketing and communications. Us marketers aren’t just storytellers; we’re the authors of the stories you hear more than any others.

Marketing can tell the truth – or something else.

I did say we would only scratch the surface.

There’s a lot of work to do – but lots is being done, too. Call me crazy, but this list inspires me. It gives me hope, and it makes me want to help.

Helping companies like this is why I’m here.

If this list inspires you, I’m glad you’re here too.