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Business Innovation Conversations
Business Innovation Conversations bring business owners, authors and other thought leaders together to identify and promote business employment practices that help employees build their careers, assets and self-sufficiency, while boosting business competitiveness and success. Co-produced with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Social Venture Network, Net Impact, Pacific Community Ventures and Sustainable Industries.
How to Support Your Workers - Even in an Economic Downturn
March 3, 2009
Panelists talked about the actions they are taking as business leaders to communicate with their staff and maintain their strong cultures during the economic downturn. Giving back to the community as a team, inspiring employees to serve as ambassadors to prospective clients, and encouraging employees to take advantage of skills training and business development opportunities opportunities were some of the ideas shared - all low-cost, and highly rewarding. Moderated by Sylvia Allegretto, a labor economist at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UC Berkeley, our panelists:
- Melanie Dulbecco of Torani, the famous flavored syrup maker, headquartered in South San Francisco and well known for its supportive workplace practices,
- Jo Licata of Hilton San Francisco, the city’s largest hotel, one of the city’s largest employers and an active partner in the Tenderloin community, and
- Scott Smith of Hanson Bridgett, a San Francisco legal firm and 2008 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area winner.
2009 Business Innovation Conversation Series presented by SF Works, with promotional support from
Sponsored by
with generous support from the United Way of the Bay Area
Building a Socially-Responsible Brand for Conscious Consumers
April 3, 2008
"Sustainability" is the new mantra for values-driven business. Panelists shared how to elevate your brand with employee- and environmentally-sustaining practices. The Conversation was moderated by BBMG, the branding and integrated marketing agency that helps socially-responsible businesses to build, motivate and succeed.
- Café Gratitude Founders Matthew & Terces Engelhart, who support local farmers and environmentally friendly products while serving raw food to 1,500 customers a day, will share how they work, and live and play by sustainable rules,
- Fetzer Vineyards Manager of Sustainability & Organic Development Ann Thrupp will talk about her role in earth-friendly packaging, water management, and energy conservation at one of the largest organic and socially responsible grape growers in the world,
- New Leaf Paper Founder & CEO Jeff Mendelsohn will describe how the business practices of this premier environmentally-friendly and socially-conscious paper products developer and distributor are driven by the company's commitment to sustainability.
Values-Driven Business
January 29, 2008
The first of our 2008 Business Innovation Conversations was moderated by Mal Warwick (Mal Warwick Associates), entrepreneur, author and promoter of socially- and environmentally-responsible business. The “Values-Driven Business” panel discussed ideas that highlight how values incorporation are a central component of a business plan. The panel featured San Francisco’s own:
- Method Products Inc. CFO, Andrea Freedman, who will discuss how the company’s internal practices around the collaboration of hip, clean and conscious created a home products business that has been doubling annually in size and revenue
- Wild Planet Toys COO, Jennifer Chapman, who will share innovations such as the “Inventor Invasion” program, pairing employees with kids from low-income after-school programs to help children develop their creativity through toy invention, and
- New Resource Bank founder and Vice Chairman, Peter Liu, who will discuss how bank employees are encouraged to “re-purpose” their careers, and how granting low-interest loans to green builders has garnered this community bank assets of $60M after just 6 months in operation.
2008 Business Innovation Conversation series presented by SF Works & SVN. Promotional support from Hanson Bridgett, the SF Chamber of Commerce, PCV & Net Impact. Sponsored by Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Fetzer Vineyard and Microsoft, with generous support from the United Way of the Bay Area.
Small Giants Reap Big Returns
November 5, 2007
Each innovator highlighted the importance of recognizing workers as their companies’ “internal clients” and primary “products”, emphasizing the link between invested employees and satisfied customers. The trust and loyalty generated between employer and employee motivates top level performance and big picture reward. Moderated by Bo Burlingham to a standing-room only crowd, themes from Bo's book Small Giants: Companies that Choose to Be Great Instead of Big were discussed, including how their employee-focused policies have helped build workplace cultures that boost their bottom lines.
- Chip Conley, founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, drew on many of the themes in his new book PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, including moving beyond compensation as the primary focus to developing a workplace culture that also recognizes and provides meaning for one’s employees
- Gary Erickson, Clif Bar & Co. founder and owner, and author of Raising the Bar: Integrity & Passion in Life and Business, talked about how caring for employees in the totality of their lives is one of Clif Bar’s 5 Bottom Lines, and why his pivotal decision not to sell the company ensured that Clif Bar continued its employer-supportive policies
- Bill Butler, founder and CEO of Butler Construction, discussed his unique business model in which employees’ family members are intentionally recruited, developed and promoted, enabling him to build a true “family business.”
Strategies of the Best & Brightest
September 20, 2007
Panelists touched on their companies best practices around maintaining high levels of employee satisfaction by providing work life balance, work supports, advancement opportunities and professional development, and driving home the point that the well-being of a company's workforce is crucial to maintaining a profitable, successful business.
Starbucks’ Director Jane Moyer, California Pacific Medical Center Human Resources VP Linda Isaacs and Orchard Hotel General Manager Stefan Mühle highlighted their companies’ innovative workforce practices. Moderated by Mark Dwight, former CEO of Timbuk2.
2007 Business Innovation Conversations presented by SF Works, SVN, PCV & Net Impact. Sponsored by Joie de Vivre Hospitality and Microsoft.
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