Jen Sharpe.
After a really successful B Corp month, I got to thinking how incredibly proud I am that Think HQ is a certified B Corp. But at the risk of saying the quiet bit out loud, it’s increasingly clear that we have a bit of a translation problem.
Ask ten people in our industry - sometimes even our own staff - what being a B Corp actually entails, and you will get a lot of what can best be described as enthusiastic vagueness. They know the vibes. They know it means we’re one of the "good guys" who care about our planet, and our society. But they can’t really articulate “where’s the beef?”.
It’s a striking lack of understanding masked often by an abundance of goodwill. And the more I’ve thought about this recently, the more I’ve realised that Think HQ often faces the exact same challenge as a brand. People like us, and know they like us. But sometimes, they can’t actually tell us why.
In some ways, this is something to be proud of - it means our PR is working. People know we are the "Positive Change" agency, and that this means we do "good" work. They look at our positioning and assume our days consist of seamless collaboration, shared progressive ideals, and campaigns that drive good behaviours for good brands. The trouble is, people can be so blinded by our halo that they miss the friction underneath it all. And it’s the friction that truly makes us who we are.
Because the truth is, running a genuinely inclusive agency that actually represents today’s Australia in today’s Australia is messy. Sometimes, really bloody messy.
When your workforce spans 37 languages, myriad cultural backgrounds, and deeply personal, intersectional lived experiences, you are not going to agree on everything. Especially when the work we do every day touches some of the most sensitive, socially charged societal triggers.
And operating in this space certainly isn’t about enforcing a corporate monoculture of niceness. It is about how you treat people amidst the friction. It’s about creating an environment where you hear people, understand their boundaries, respect their lived experiences and - crucially- learn how to disagree agreeably.
And ironically, this is exactly where the “beef" of our B Corp status actually sits.
For us, B Corp isn't simply an environmental audit or a set of values - important as those things undoubtedly are. The real engine room of the certification are the seven pillars that inform our work, amongst them the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) framework. This provides the structural rigour we need to navigate the human complexity of our agency, forcing us to stop relying on good intentions and start measuring the mechanics of respect.
We have been deep-diving into this important pillar, making use of the flexibility of approach B Corp affords to really understand our stakeholders - an out people. It helps ensures we have the operational systems in place to support them when a campaign triggers personal trauma, or when complex social issues inevitably blur the line between the personal and the professional.
People might not fully understand the mechanics of a B Corp, just like they might not see the hard yards behind Think HQ's culture. But I’m increasingly reconciled with this reality, and happy for those content to rest on good vibes to do that. We’ll keep getting messy, because you can't use a marketing slogan to run an agency that genuinely reflects today’s Australia. Being a B Corp shouldn’t just be a badge of honour, no more than it should be easy to explain. It should be hard - just like the messy, structural work of putting your people first, especially when it's difficult.
Everything else is just PR.
Jen Sharpe, Founder and Managing Director Think HQ