What is Junxion?

Junxion is an international social impact consultancy based in Canada and the UK. Our mission is to help leaders build the success stories of the next economy, one that is fair, just and regenerative. We do this by helping organisations articulate their purpose, plan for positive impact, share their stories, and demonstrate a sense of accountability by measuring and reporting on the difference they've made against their stated purpose. ‍

You’ve been in the impact space your whole career. What are some stand out highlights that you're really proud of? ‍

I'm proud that I lobbied the government to improve the access to information, aspects of the contaminated land portion of the environment act 1995. As well, the UN environment programme finance initiative, established what is called the principles of responsible banking, a sister initiative to those for investment and insurance. They asked me to come up with a communications plan to take it beyond the initial 20 or 30 banks and get as many banks as possible involved in the initiative. Within a year, we didn't just have 30 banks involved and signed up, we had 130 banks signed up, and 40% of the global banking community agreed to align their business strategies with what the world needs in the shape of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. So I'm very proud of that. ‍

Junxions strapline is ‘let’s be audacious together.’ What does the idea of being audacious mean to you?‍

I genuinely believe that most people in businesses are not bad people trying to wreck the planet. I think they're good people trapped in a bad system. So we approach it with that mindset. We need to be audacious, and audacious for me is about boldness, but it's got a hint of irreverence to it and that's exactly what we need to scale social impact. If we’ve got nine years to reduce carbon emissions, then we need to spread social impact as vast as possible. These are radical changes that need to be realised through the way that business and society is organised. And that's where audacity comes in.‍

Can you give some examples of companies that you've worked with who have been audacious?‍

I'm very proud of having worked with Adidas. I first got involved in the year 2000, not long before there’d been massive challenges to the sporting goods industry around child labour. I helped to conceive and produce their first ever social-environmental report. And in that first report, we set out a grid of all of the issues in their social code of conduct that their suppliers sometimes fail to meet. If Turkey didn't meet the freedom of association, then that would be a tick in the box. We explained what this meant and the reasons that suppliers in these countries typically failed to meet the code of conduct. So for a massive global brand, to just put that out there in a comprehensive report in early 2001, and say that “this is our world, we're working at fixing it, but this is literally a table that shows you all the ways that our world isn't working.” That's bold. Fast forward 18 years, and they produce one report every year which is now considered the corporate human rights benchmark report. It's not perfect, and they'd be the first to say that it's not all fixed, but they work really hard to engage their suppliers, and they have been super ambitious and bold in the way they've communicated what they're trying to do and the initiatives they've undertaken. ‍

In your opinion, what are the steps required for organisations to action social impact?

‍It definitely takes top-level commitment. Whoever runs the business needs to say that it’s a strategic priority. But then, and this is crucial, following through on the governance changes. Usually, upper management says “this is what we want to achieve”, however middle managers shut the efforts down in favour of optimising towards profit. So governance is key, as well as an annual appraisal process, so that rigorous, detailed, and slightly dry kind of governance and policy changes will be driven into the business.‍

What advice would you give to a first or second-time impact entrepreneur, who is about to launch a venture with a small team, and is unsure of the best way to ensure social accountability whilst balancing commercial growth?‍

Firstly - no margin, no mission. If you're not in business, you're not making any positive impact, so stay in business. Secondly, there are models out there that give you a whole bunch of clues on how to run a business in the right way, like B-corp. You need to look at those models as kind of multiple-choice options, and choose the most appropriate ones for you that make the most sense for now. Do not bite off more than you can chew at once, that's the way to drive yourself out of business. ‍

What makes you optimistic about the future? 

What makes me optimistic about the future is young people. I think young people are often idealistic, I was more idealistic when I was younger. I don't think it's unique to millennials or Gen Z. On the other hand, I do think that this is greater than previous generations, and they have a lot of tools. There are more ways to collaborate, ways to innovate, quick production methods, and so on. All of these genuinely lower the barrier to entry for new initiatives and new entrepreneurs to come up with solutions. I think that gives me a lot of confidence for the future.