From the Social Justice Co-ordinator, Geraldine Cullen
Shared Value Model of Business
In my job I often ask myself “What experiences can we give our students that will make them better global citizens?”. Introducing the Shared Value model to students in their Business courses may be such an experience.
A Waverley parent invited me to a lunch last week which introduced me to this model. I was left feeling very positive about the business world. The lunch was hosted by Dius, a tech company that strives “to leave their part of the world better than they found it”.
Dius follows the Shared Value model which looks at “solving society’s problems in a profitable, sustainable and scalable way”. The model can be adopted by the corporate and the NFP sectors.
If all business leaders were to “change the lens they look through” and tweak the way they do business, we could move past our current structures which no longer fit our post-industrialised world. This has been labelled as “Conscious Capitalism”. No one suggests that companies shouldn’t make money. A company can still be profitable but embed ethical work practices into their core business model.
I will look at introducing the Shared Value model to our students through their Business Studies course.
Global Warming
Last week, representatives from O’Connor House attended a Youth Against Climate Change Symposium sponsored by Waverley Council. I think the students left with the message that this issue is the most important issue of our time. They learnt that we need to lobby our government to take action on carbon emissions. Australia has per capita one the largest carbon footprints on the planet. We need to follow Europe and start to produce our energy in a more sustainable way. The House group plans to run an awareness campaign this year.
