Business Fit Magazine January 2019 Issue 1 | Page 27

For me, on the other hand, I didn't start a
company, I was already in the middle of
running my second successful company,
this time in the field of Architecture and
Urban design. However, I was questioning if
I was really doing what I set out to do. Was I
contributing to a better world, better health or
was I just using the business to make a living?
I hear many company leaders let their ‘why’
be compromised to fit the need of customers
and colleagues while losing their own purpose.
But in moments of doubt, how do you know
and make sure you are still contributing to
the fulfillment you need to feel to run your
business - to the capacity it needs to bloom
its fullest?
I decided to start from an empty sheet of paper
and evaluate where we were standing, heading
and how far that was from where I or we as
a team wanted to be. We needed new clear
measurable and true goals that anyone who
would join the company and the vision could
achieve. At the same time a new guideline
was released for Sustainable Development
Goals for businesses. I realised they correlated
a lot with our main reason for starting the
company. We decided to create our own
guidelines to make sure that we reached our
financial targets and also how we measured
our success in reaching the SDG:s for 2030
and that year, in every project. One of our
goals was to contribute with 1000 new green
and food producing areas around Europe by
2030 as well as enabling more than 10,000
people to co-create their own environment.
We also calculated how much we had already
contributed and noticed we had already
achieved more than 30% of the next year's
goals, which was very motivating. We knew this
way of measuring and monitoring social and
ecological impact instead of solely financial
goals was a very unusual one, even in the field
of architecture, but we saw it as necessary. We
also wanted to make sure they matched with
many of our more public customers' goals.
Today we are proud to use our environmental
goals in our marketing and believe it is something
to be proud of without Greenwashing. We get
a lot of positive attention from clients, partners
as well as students who want to join the team.
We use the goals as a support for ourselves
to know we are heading in the right direction
and that we are making meaningful change.
We want to be sure that the day we quit the
business we can with numbers, pictures and
quotes showing how many more people could
influence their own building environment and
green facades and how it can improve their
quality of life. Our proof of success will not only
be financial.
5 tips on how to profile your business
through sustainability goals.
1.
Start with looking deep into why you are
running or started your business, most often it
is something more than just earning money to
make a living.
2. Let your deeper meaning form a vision and
mission.
3. Look up and read the SDG goals and try to
understand the true meaning behind them.
4.
Formulate measurable goals which go
hand in hand with your vision, development
and financial goals. For instance put up goals
to inspire at least 200 women to take better
care of their health. This will also lead your
company toward your financial goals leading
to more lectures or followers.
5. Communicate your goals in your marketing,
to your colleagues and to your customers. We
all love to see people who have a strong why
to their business and if money is not carrot
enough for you, make the real carrot be clear
instead and be proud of how that leads you
forward.
Victoria Bengtsson, is the Co-founder of The Foodprint Lab, Architects and Food
System Designers. Victoria started her first business as a yoga teacher in Sweden
when she was 20, while studying to become an Urban Designer and Architect. Six
years later she put a team together and started The Foodprint Lab. Shaping the
architectural environment with a continued focus on physical and mental health.
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