Walking the conscious business tightrope with Meghan French Dunbar

It’s over a week now since we got back from Alptitude, our retreat for leaders and professionals. Alptitude is for people who want to make space for themselves so that they can get clear on their next steps. It’s a time to get away from the noise of the everyday in order to hear that inner voice called our intuition. In this episode of the podcast I talk to Meghan French Dunbar, founder of Conscious Company Media. One of the things that we discuss towards the end of the episode is the need for leaders and team members to turn up as their best selves. This requires self knowledge and being more conscious about who we are. This is the work. And this kind of work requires time, space and safety. In the episode we also talk about what a conscious business is and discuss the extra challenges that come up when running one.

• How do we stay true to what we believe and the vision we want to create but also still make it sustainable and work within the current business paradigm
• The number one thing that founders of mission driven businesses have said that they wished they had done at the beginning was have a substantiated business model that would drive enough revenue to keep going
• There are many types of conscious business but fundamentally it is a business that has a higher purpose beyond profit and takes all stakeholders into account, not just shareholders
• Social impact investors that invest because of the purpose do exists but they’re hard to find and when push comes to shove they’re still strongly influenced by ROI and metrics
• When you’re a conscious business you’re not only trying to hit your financial metrics but also your impact metrics, which adds to the complexity
• Impact investors have wonderful intentions but they also put double the pressure on the entrepreneur because of the extra metrics they need to hit
• When it comes to impact there are some things that just can’t be measured
• When you have a gut feeling about an investor: listen, listen, listen. They need to walk the talk
• When you’re reactive in business it can feel like a pinball machine and you’re the pinball
• Be aware of your emotional state
• Are you above the line or below the line - receptive or closed down?
• As leaders we need to show up as the best versions of ourselves: being able to consciously respond rather than just react
• The one of the most common things that business leaders say is that you should listen to your intuition and your gut
• Give space for that inner voice to speak
• Meditate and journal regularly and look for patterns
• As a leader you get the organisation you deserve and your organisation can only grow as much as you do
• Leaders should model the behaviour that you expect in your organisation
• If your behaviour and actions don’t align with the values you espouse you break the trust with your employees and partners
• Top three bits of advice from business leaders: take care of yourself, take care of yourself, take care of yourself.
• Identify the things make you a thriving human and do them
• Your energy is your own responsibility
• The only thing that I would gift my younger entrepreneur self is to not hold it so heavily and bring levity, joy and fun to what you’re doing
• If it’s not going to matter in 5 years don’t spend more than 5 minutes worrying about it
• https://consciouscompanymedia.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanfrenchdunbar/
• https://stagen.com/
• https://ahappy.link/15commitments
•