Golden Rule Leader: Bart Houlahan, B-Lab Co-Founder, Irrational Capital Partner
This continues the Enterprise Engagement Alliance’s series highlighting CEOs, companies, educators, and others who have led the way to the implementation of stakeholder capitalism. The purpose is to help people visualize what the principles look like in actual practice. Click here to see the list of people and organizations designated so far. Click here to subscribe to the ESM weekly e-newsletter.
Bart Houlahan is not currently active on Linkedin or on the speaking circuit, nor does he appear to be a headline seeker. Yet, he has done than most people to advance a bi-partisan approach to reforming capitalism based on proving that the pursuit of purpose can actually produce superior financial returns and more resilient organizations.
Not only did Houlahan as president and CEO, help scale a basketball apparel company AND 1 into a brand with $250 million in sales before selling the company in 2005, he went on to co-found B-Lab, “a global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Unlike other certifications for businesses, B Lab is unique in our ability to measure a company’s entire social and environmental impact.” Today, the organization says it has nearly 10,000 certified companies in 103 countries with over 1 million employees.
One of B-Lab’s co-founders, Andrew Kassoy, recently passed away after a struggle with cancer.
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While at B-Lab, Houlahan and his partners helped lead a movement to create benefits corporation statutes designed to legally support for-profit corporations seeking to prioritize a social, environmental, or other purpose. A bi-partisan effort, these statutes now exist in 37 states, almost equally divided between Blue and Red. These laws allow for-profit companies to write their pursuit social and environmental missions their corporate charters, so that shareholders cannot sue them for having non-financial priorities.Because most B Corps are privately held, it’s difficult to determine the financial impact of this business strategy. During the pandemic, B Corps reportedly had a lower failure rate than the general business population.
After leaving B-Lab and a short stint at the Aspen Institute think tank, Houlahan joined Irrational.Capital in Conshohocken,
PA. The company has developed the Human Capital Factor, an analytics tool that has identified the human capital factors that can lead to enhanced future equity value creation. The company has licensed the platform to Harbor Capital to power the HAPI ETF (Exchange Traded Fund), which has exceeded the S&P 500 since its inception in 2022.There is probably no better way to get the attention of CEOs about stakeholder capitalism, especially at public companies, than to demonstrate that strategic and systematic investments in people can produce superior financial returns as well as happier customers, employees, and other stakeholders.
Click here for a YouTube interview with Houlahan for the Enterprise Engagement Alliance’s Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder Management channel.
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services
Celebrating our 15th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:
- ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
- RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
- EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards since 2020
Management Academy to enhance future equity value for your organization.3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.
4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.
5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.
Contact: Bruce Bolger at TheICEE.org; 914-591-7600, ext. 230.
