Evan Carmichael and a business leader discuss why entrepreneurs should give back. Speaker B shares how 1,000 Atlanta employees logged 40,000 volunteer hours annually, and argues that pledging a fixed percentage of profits to charity creates real impact. The conversation challenges the perception that business is greedy by highlighting leaders modeling corporate responsibility.
Here we go, J-Rise, you can always expect an interesting one from J-Rise. He's asking, isn't doing good a simple, basic, natural thing for humans to do? Do you have an idea why a how-to is needed?
Yeah, I think it is. I think actually you guys get it, you know, we're sort of probably preaching to the converted on this, but the practical thing is we need to bring it to life. And I just think if you're building successful businesses and entrepreneurs and covering all the other stuff like getting growth capital and stuff we've covered on other labs, then wouldn't it be amazing to share that engine for prosperity in a wider community and do good? I think everybody's got humanity at their heart and everybody's got a strong moral compass, and particularly entrepreneurs, and the data suggests that is really the case. So yeah, it's kind of a no-brainer to me, and I think it's something that you're absolutely right, you kind of could build it from the get-go, and as you scale your company, you have more impact. We're very lucky, so, you know, if I look at areas like Atlanta, we've got 1,000 folks there, colleagues, and that means that I think it's about 40,000 hours of volunteering every year goes into community. So it makes a big difference. So even if you have 5 people though, you can make a difference. And it's kind of pretty cool when you have your monthly meetings or go down to the pub or you have some wins to connect that to why I'm here. And the more successful you are, to Evan's point, you can give back more. The more successful you are. And I know a lot of companies who have When they grow profits, they give a percentage. I know a lot of startup companies and companies I've invested in who from the get-go, they said 10% of our profits we'll give to charities that really matter to us and make a difference.
I think there's still a stigma that business is just greedy and bad and evil and ripping people off. I don't know about the culture in Britain, but I know in North America there's still that that image. And so when people are thinking about giving back, they may not, they may not see it through a corporate eye, where that's the point of this session too, and trying to spread awareness. And even, you know, Stephen leading by example with all the things that he's doing with SAGE Foundation, his own personal time and stories. I think it's just to try to raise the awareness that that you can do good in a business context. And really, business is about— like, really, a business about providing value. If you're providing value, you're in business. And so you're providing value by helping customers do something, you know. So you're doing good through your product or service. But then if you're fortunate enough to make a good profit off of that, then also use some of that to contribute back and build the community, because then everybody wins.
Yeah, Evan, I'd say also you don't do these blabs, you don't do what you're doing to be the next Bill Gates. You do it because you're passionate, you believe. And I'm looking at that book behind you, you wrote that book because you're passionate. And I know you get a kick out of mentoring people, coaching people, and enjoying seeing their success. And yeah, it's a really— there is a massive stigma particularly since like 2008 and the banking crisis with all this kind of concept of fat cats and a few other things. I think, you know, we and the community of entrepreneurs on this blab, we need to— we do create a big shadow. What you guys say to your colleagues creates massive impact. And it's little things. You know, Evan, when I joined this company, for whatever reason, the previous chief executive had a private jet or access to a private jet. When I'm in Toronto, I walk down the street, I jump in a cab, or in this city, great city of London, I walk 20 minutes to a meeting today, I've got the tube. In New York, I get on the metro, you know, I just kind of think at the end of the day, we don't realize we're very privileged to serve, and the responsibility we feel for our customers, our stakeholders, our colleagues is immense. And when I wake up every morning, I do think about Wow, what, 14,000 colleagues where their mortgages are dependent on our success. Our customers, their whole financial systems are dependent on our success, their collection of cash from their customers, and it's a massive responsibility. And all we're talking about here is just extending that responsibility to the community. And it could be little things. If any of you guys, if you're in downtown Montreal Actually, Vancouver, you mentioned that's a beautiful city. I love that city. It's got some of the best restaurants in the world. You got the water, you look up at the mountains. Oh my God, I love Vancouver. But what a problem around homeless people. You can walk down the street and, and there, I said at the beginning, there but for the grace of God go probably any of us. If we've got in the wrong peer group, you know, hit the bottle, whatever, there's something in everybody's that no one's perfect and we could have been there. So as entrepreneurs, I think we cast a massive shadow. And I think you're right, Evan. And I think over one of the missions we'd have as a community is to actually explain to the rest of the population about the humanity of what we're trying to do. It's not about greed. It's about really making a difference, about creating a legacy. It's about being proud of the business businesses that you've run, uh, and creating something— I use this phrase a lot, really— it's great, you know, what my mission for Sage is: create something special, unique, and magical for everybody involved.
