Today I attended my second meeting of Conscious Capitalism Chicago. The organization’s mission is to advocate for the power of business to create prosperity, fulfillment and beauty in the world. Program Chair and Board Member Lee Capps kindly took a few minutes to explain some of the finer details such as the four pillars that work together to help businesses practice Conscious Capitalism. The pillars are: a higher purpose, not just making money (which by the way is a good thing); looking out for the benefit of all stakeholders, including workers, vendors and community,not only management and investors; a conscious culture that hires based on shared values and nurtures trust; and conscious leadership that demonstrates a top down commitment to conscious capitalism. The meeting was held at the Farmhouse at 228 W. Chicago Avenue in Chicago which is a business that practices conscious capitalism including the use of sustainable food products.
I met several interesting people the last time I attended a CC group meeting and this event was equally enlightening. I was happy to see my friend and CC advocate Mark Hurwich, who coaches individuals who have become “stuck” and feel as though they are not enjoying the success they should be having, or are just feeling powerless and having trouble getting past a difficult place in their life. Mark can help you get unstuck. He has an upcoming 3 hour seminar for people who want to reconnect with their core intention. You can learn more about it at Concentrated Coaching.
Here is a lineup and shout out to some of the folks I had a chance to talk with and learn more about.
Brad McCabe of Bridgeport Metals recycles scrap for industry both ferrous and non-ferrous.
Jane McKay and Meg Barnhart are co-creators at “Zen of Slow Cooking” providing spice assortments and plans that will help you create moderately priced, easy to make, delicious meals in your crockpot or slow cooker. The packages they sell are assembled by adults with disabilities in Des Plaines, Illinois. Look for their product online or at area grocers including Whole Foods.
Davy Kusta is a leadership consultant whose family is in the concrete business and owns Franklin Park Building Materials, Inc. Davey likes to connect with people and is looking for speaking and corporate coaching opportunities.
Ken Simon whose business card designates him as CCO – Chief Cheesecake Officer passed around awesome samples of his Simply Simon’s Cheesecake.
Andy Swindler of Astekweb.com provides web services and is in the midst of a book project I will be anxious to learn more about.
Paul Sippil of CommunityDining.com arranges dining events connecting people through shared meals that stimulate substantive dialogue about pressing community and global issues, and strengthen the social bonds in our neighborhoods. Contact him if you would like to host or attend an event.
I wound up the evening talking shop with Mark Skala who, like me, is also in the video production business, under the clever name Skalawag Productions. Always good to speak with others in the same industry and with the same interests whether that be video production, marketing or writing. There are always opportunities to learn from each other or to create alliances or joint ventures. It’s all about building trust and contributing what you can toward creating beauty in the world as you go about the business of business.
As of this meting I have met 48 people toward my challenge to meet 100 new people in 100 days, and I am only 33 days into it. Of course the great benefit of the challenge is meeting a lot of great people while expanding my network and sprinkling love dust. Check out where I have been and follow my future posts as I continue on this journey.
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Reno Lovison provides video production and other marketing services for growing businesses. You can learn more at RenoWeb.net
