Changing the world is what drives California-based social networking company Zaadz.

Zaadz, which is headquartered in Topanga, California, began two years ago when CEO Brian Johnson and a friend came up with the idea to use their talents to help others reach their highest potential, explains the company’s synchronicity co-ordinator Siona van Dijk.

In an interview with Axiom News, van Dijk speaks about the philosophy of conscious capitalism and how Zaadz incorporates the idea into its corporate identity.

AN: What does your company do and how long has it been around?

SV: Our CEO and philosopher Brian Johnson sprouted Zaadz with a friend of his two years ago. As to what we do, well, that’s captured in the company name. Zaadz is from the Dutch “zaad,” which means “seed.” Think about how much potential there is in a tiny seed. It’s staggering. Zaadz is based in that potential: we’re founded on the idea that everyone on the planet holds that same sort of latent possibility within themselves. Our purpose, as a business, is to help others find and actualize their own seeds, discovering their greatest strengths so that they can give them in service to the world – and realize their highest potential.

AN: How many employees?

There are 15 of us now.

AN: What can you tell me about conscious capitalism?

SV: We see conscious capitalism as being directly connected to that idea of living at your highest potential. Once you’ve found what it is you’re meant to do—that constellation of talents and passions that make up your calling – the next step, obviously, is finding out how to get paid to do it. This – the idea of making a living doing what you love – is one of the easiest routes into the notion of conscious capitalism. Because doing what you love involves knowing yourself well enough to have a good understanding of your calling, and involves having the integrity to commit to that purpose. And conscious capitalism is about that very same insight and authenticity.

Conscious capitalism is pretty easy to define: it’s basically an increased awareness of how it is we make and spend our money. Are our values in alignment with how we earn a living, or with the products we buy? Conscious capitalism is merely the process of paying attention to our economic activity in the world, and making sure our financial actions are in accordance with our personal values.

Of course, this has far-ranging implications: conscious capitalism includes everything from the current interest of spirituality in business to the incredible shift toward environmentally-friendly products to the increasing emphasis on values like transparency, accountability, and integrity in the marketplace.

AN: Where did the idea of conscious capitalism come from? How long have you used conscious capitalism?

SV: It’s hard to say the idea came from anywhere. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who founded the Grameen Bank, used the term in the late 90s, but it’s a movement that’s not owned by anyone. Instead, it’s started emerging in organizations and businesses and individuals all over. As to how long we’ve used the term, well, it’s been at the core of Zaadz since the company began.

AN: What are some of the benefits that come with using a conscious capitalism model – both from the standpoint of the business and the community?

SV: Conscious capitalism is sometimes described as being based around the notion of “enlightened self interest.” It has been said before that globalization means that we can no longer afford to ignore the impact our actions have on the larger world; if we don’t have a healthy environment, we can’t possibly have a healthy economy; if we don’t have a healthy community, we can’t possibly have a healthy market. The conscious capitalism model understands how all these systems are interdependent, and how helping the larger good is not just a nice thing to do, but is essential to our collective survival.

Practically, though, it works at multiple levels. Most people would rather spend their money at a neighbourhood cafe in which they knew the owner and her family and knew that the endeavour was a labour of love; here’s a case in which conscious capitalism is serving the small business owner and the community of which she’s a part. At a higher level, large multinationals are listening to consumers – who are asking for environmental accountability and moral responsibility – and working hard to respond to those demands. They know that if they don’t, their customers will go elsewhere. So here, too, both the company and community wins. And of course, businesses who treat their employees well – who honour them as individuals and who provide them with a sense of purpose and the understanding that they work they’re doing is bettering the lives of others – are rewarded by happier, more productive, and more committed team members, who love their jobs and feel dedicated and fulfilled in their work. Again, it’s very win-win-win.

AN: Can you please describe some of the processes used in conscious capitalism?

SV: Conscious capitalism is less about processes and more about values and attitude. It’s more about intent than any particular set of guidelines or practices that can be put into place. It’s about living from a place of integrity, and finding, to use a Buddhist phrase, one’s right livelihood. It’s about making and spending one’s money in a way that feels right, knowing that your economic actions are making the world a better place, and not contributing to suffering or harm.

Of course, it’s easy to look at how this might work out in practice. Conscious capitalism tends to favor sustainable practices – both economic and environmental. It tends to place people first – without people, what good is any product or service? It tends to focus on the triple bottom line – that is, making sure that people, profits, and planet are all given equal consideration. It tends to appreciate that it’s impossible to compartmentalize – that our lives are deeply integrated and that how we behave in one area impacts the rest. It tends to recognize the spiritual element in people, that we do have a desire to grow, and to thrive, and to give, and that that deep potential for good should be honoured and recognized and allowed to flourish in everyone.

AN: Siona, you used the term “empowered workplace” to describe Zaadz. Please tell me a little bit about how Zaadz employs empowerment in the workplace. What are some examples and how does empowerment benefit Zaadz?

SV: For me, Zaadz is a brilliant example of a learning organization, in that we’re constantly growing and evolving and practicing what it means to be an example of a good business. We’re all very much involved and passionate about the company, and each understand that our ability to do our job well is what helps everyone else on the team succeed in doing their job well – as well as keeping the whole business alive. It’s a wonderful sense of collective and collaborative effort, and I think this is at the core of who we are. Empowerment depends on trust and accountability, and each of us can trust, absolutely, that the others can be held responsible to take care of their role in any given project.

We’re a relatively fluid company, too, in that different projects involve different constellations of team members, and we step in and out of roles as the situation demands and as our individual strengths are needed. There’s definitely a hierarchy – Brian, of course, is the one who sets the overall vision for Zaadz – but we all strive to embody the values of the business. These values, in so many ways, are the company, and we are each very aware of how our day-to-day behaviour affects the culture as a whole. It’s that sense of absolute responsibility that, to my mind, characterizes an empowered workplace.