B Corp Integrated Work Brings a People-First and Purpose-Driven Approach to Impact
With a commitment to building a just and flourishing future in partnership with mission-driven clients, Integrated Work helps leaders and organizations amplify their impact with a people-first approach. The Certified B Corporation incorporates justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion in its work that includes building high-performing teams, providing retreat planning and facilitation, offering purpose-driven strategic planning, and empowering the next generation of diverse leaders to succeed.
While B Corp Certification is a recent achievement for Integrated Work, Owner and CEO Dr. Jennifer Simpson says the Boulder, Colorado-based business was established nearly 25 years ago with people and purpose at its core. Joining the B Corp community reinforces that original mission and positions Integrated Work to build on its work for more inclusive and resilient organizations, she says. “While there are all sorts of mission-driven organizations out there doing amazing things, we especially appreciate the collective power of the growing global B Corp community,” Simpson says.
This March, in recognition of B Corp Month and Women’s History Month, Simpson shares how Integrated Work is celebrating its history as a woman-owned business and envisioning its future as a newly certified B Corp.
Why did Integrated Work decide to pursue B Corp Certification and join a larger, impact-oriented business community?
Integrated Work will be 25 years old on April 28. We have been woman-owned and woman-led since the beginning. In 1998 that was still a relatively novel and lonely choice, but our founder, Jessica Hartung, believed there had to be a better way for women to live conscious, professional lives that were more whole and integrated than the choices that tended to be available at the time.
Almost a decade before the B Corp movement was born, we were planting our own roots around the belief that business could be human-first, whole-hearted, and serve as a force for good. When I stepped in to lead the company in 2018, Jessica told me she’d had her eye on becoming a B Corp, but as a small company with a lean staff, official certification had always been just a bit out of reach. Over the next several years, I set about making small updates to policies and documents that formalized things that had been in our DNA all along, and after I took ownership of the firm in 2020, we completed our B Impact Assessment and became “official” last year.
I’ve been working to build better models of leading and organizing for decades and firmly believe that when we’re forging a new way, without a map, having fellow travelers is important. We’re excited to be a part of a global community of trailblazers who believe there is a better way and are brave enough to be building it, together.
How do B Corp Certification and a stakeholder-driven business perspective align with Integrated Work’s products and practices?
Our vision is to be catalyst for a more just world and to serve as an innovation hub for mission-driven leaders working hard to build a better way of solving the world’s most pressing problems. B Lab, the nonprofit that oversees B Corp Certification and the B Corp community, is the epitome of that.
The challenges we are out to address are not solvable by individuals or solitary organizations. The problems need to be seen from different vantage points and will benefit from diverse ways of thinking and understanding them. We’ve got decades of experience working with leaders and their teams to chart a clear direction and build the bridge to that desired future. We especially love doing that work with associations, consortia, or with collaboratives composed of different types of stakeholder groups. There is power in working with not-for-profits that are focused deeply on a particular piece of the puzzle, and in partnering with for-profits that may be looking to leverage or deploy their resources in more impactful ways. Being a part of the B Corp community is helping us to forge even stronger partnerships and see the possibility for synergy even more acutely.
What lessons or takeaways do you have from the B Impact Assessment? Did that process shape your impact goals or prompt you to re-examine/rework practices, policies, or services?
From our perspective, becoming a B Corp signals to the world that we’re serious about living our values in practice. It doesn’t fundamentally change who we are, but it shows that we’re willing to hold ourselves to these standards publicly and makes it easier for other like-minded companies to find us. We really believe in this work and are grateful to be connected to a broader network of organizations and leaders who share our values and commitments.
Truly, we hope that “making it official” will help us be even more fully ourselves every day. We’re also really excited to connect with other leaders committed to harnessing the power of business as a force for good.
How do the products and services that Integrated Work provides help advance a more inclusive economy?
As a firm, we are deeply devoted to building a just and flourishing future in partnership with our clients. Integrated Work’s expertise includes building high-performing teams, retreat planning and facilitation, purpose-driven strategic planning, and empowering the next generation of diverse leaders to succeed. A key factor that sets Integrated Work apart is our commitment to bringing a JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) lens to everything we do. With a talented team of diverse consultants all across the country, Integrated Work pairs local and regional expertise with national reach to help mission-driven leaders and organizations amplify their impact.
We have provided leadership and organizational development services designed to help teams set clear direction and meet their mission in a human-first way. Now, we are also exploring the shift to employee ownership and enjoy being at the forefront of building new ways of leading and organizing.
B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
