B Corp: or how to overcome capitalism and live happily

No, we are not talking about donating all one's earnings and retiring to a hermitage to look down on the world. Not least because that would not help the world to be better.Instead, we are talking about an alternative to the capitalist system as we are used to knowing it, that is, the one aimed at generating profit, distributing dividends to shareholders, and consuming.

But is that really the whole purpose of a business? Or can we perhaps go further, toward a different model where it is not just the company that gains and the environment that loses, where the profit generated is shared among all stakeholders? Such as shareholders and managers, but also employees, society and the environment, with one goal: that of happiness.A win-win model, where everyone gains and where profit is a means, not an end, to achieve the goal of a better world for all. Where value added has a positive impact on the world, instead of consuming its resources without giving anything back.

And these are not the visionary ideas of a small handful of enlightened utopian entrepreneurs. The need for a more sustainable capitalism is making its way around the world, from the latest World Economic Forum in Davos to the words of Larry Fink, chairman of Blackrock , a $6.5 trillion U.S. financial giant, more than Italy's $2 trillion GDP.Thus proclaims Fink in his annual letter to shareholders, "Profits and purpose are by no means contradictory; on the contrary, they are inextricably linked. Profits are essential if a company is to effectively serve all its stakeholders over time-not just shareholders, but also employees, customers and the community."

This is what B Corporations is all about, or a global movement of businesses that puts into practice this new idea of more sustainable and responsible capitalism.The idea is to use profit as a positive force for change, overcoming the extractive model that has driven entrepreneurs until now. And which, however, has produced the damage we all know, from the alarming climate change that undermines the future of the Planet and the new generations, to the increase in inequality.Worldwide, to date, more than 3,200 companies from a wide variety of sectors, from finance to energy, from trade to professional services, have made this choice in as many as 70 countries. To become a B Corp, it is necessary to obtain a certification issued by B Lab, a U.S.-based nonprofit, after a rigorous 300-question assessment and subsequent verification on corporate standards of social responsibility, environmental performance and transparency.

A recognition also obtained by Tirelli & Partners srl Società Benefit, the first among Italian real estate companies to obtain the B Corp. certificate. During the certification process, the company adopted the legal status of a Benefit Society, as indeed is stated in its new name.Its new bylaws declare that making a profit is not an end in itself, but a means to achieving the company's true goals: employee happiness and giving back to its community.Are there any tax breaks or exemptions for this type of company? No, by law there is no tax or economic benefit and therefore it is a choice that does not burden the community in any way.

"For us, being happy is a priority. The first line of our bylaws says it clearly: our ultimate goal is the pursuit of the well-being and happiness of all the people who are part of Tirelli & Partners through working in a supportive and motivating environment and participating in an economic activity with shared prosperity," explains Marco E. Tirelli, the company's founder, who with passion and enthusiasm led the complicated certification process."Our being is to be socially responsible, a formula that we decline by building every day a business model that shows and demonstrates the possibility of a responsible capitalism, where the exploitation of people, the creation of excessive inequality, waste and senseless pollution are banned." In this regard, the company's bylaws, for example, stipulate that the annual compensation of the highest paid person cannot exceed that of the lowest paid person by more than 7 times. If this happens, action is taken with a supplementary bonus to realign the ratio.

"It is clear to anyone willing to keep their eyes open that extractive economic models accelerate inequality and the degradation of social systems, as well as environmental ones," Marco E. Tirelli continues. "The economy based on profit at any cost has become the master of the world. For this reason, if we want the world to remain a welcoming place for all, companies must become a positive force for change, redefining the priorities that guide their actions. People's well-being, social cohesion and the regeneration of natural systems must become the core of future-proof economic paradigms."

"The idea of meritocracy according to which those who are judged to be the best (or who very often self-judge themselves as such due to their acquired position of power) are entitled to such a prevaricating share of the company's resources over others that they are left with only the crumbs is foreign to us and hurts us," Tirelli concludes. "So here we try to prove every day by our work and our success that another rule is possible. It is the rule that, even in business, rights and duties are not the same for everyone: rights are proportional to how much we lack; duties, on the other hand, to how much we have."

Is it time for everyone to overcome capitalism and live happily?