Independent Collectivism
Okay, so the title is a bit of a joke. I’m not someone who makes up grand theories, but the past week and a bit in Bologna has really got me thinking about history, culture and the way we run businesses.
In part one, I wrote about why I, the Web Director at Vancity, am in Bologna. I’m here in the middle of a place full of cooperatives, working together to do business successfully and profitably, and with a strong social impact.
And it’s led me to invent something called Independent Collectivism. The history of Emilia Romagna, the area around Bologna in Northern Italy, is rich with different cultures taking over this region, and the people of this region fighting for independence. Fighting for freedom and liberation created a culture here where people’s rights are paramount. There is a strong sense of independence, of standing up for themselves, but also of recognizing the critical importance of thinking about each other, of reciprocity, of dignity. Of standing up for themselves while standing up for each other.
At home, we have to go out of our way to run ethical businesses. We have to explain why we need to focus on corporate social responsibility. It is seen as an add-on, something to be scaled back or perhaps cut in difficult economic times. It has nothing to do with the core operations of the company, which merely exists to make a profit.
But here in Bologna, the overall social fabric is woven into the business plan. People were attracted to starting cooperatives as the method of creating businesses, because people can have an ownership stake in the company and direct its future. They can ensure that the company retains and fully lives up to its values. And people here talk about values and business almost interchangeably, to the point where they sometimes don’t understand our questions around this fusion because it so fundamental they don’t see why we’d be asking such a basic, obvious question.
And so when I think about Vancity as a financial cooperative and our new vision of Redefining Wealth, this trip to Bologna has been critical to more fully appreciate that intersection where being a part of the community and making decisions that have a positive social and environmental impact also drive profitable business.
And some of these cooperatives are incredibly profitable. But because many of them are worker cooperatives, where the janitors own shares in the property management cooperative, for example, they can share in the profits, have an equal vote in the future of the company and increase their own income and dignity.
As we look to the future of British Columbia, I wonder if our history and culture is one where cooperatives can play a greater role to create businesses that are profitable and add strength to our civil society. It seems to me to be a model where business can play a role in generating wealth for more of our fellow citizens in a way that is equitable and sustainable.
