I. Over the past three decades, loosened trade regulations, coupled with a growing global population, has moved millions of jobs overseas and ravaged the Earth’s resources.

II. The fallout of the 2008 recession especially has led many business leaders to operate with blinders on – without regards to what gest damaged or destroyed in their wake in the pursuit of profit.

By all indicators, the current standard of business isn’t working.

I. Wealth inequality has never been greater. The riches 1% of the American population now control 33% of the wealth, a disparity in wealth not seen since the 1920s.

II. The top 1% are finding new ways to hide their fortunes. The recent release of the Panama Papers, a 2.6-terabyte leak of confidential documents has linked the world’s business and political leaders to a web of offshore accounts. The Leak comes at a nearly unprecedented time in history, as wealth inequality, globally and in the US, is widening.

III. Analysts are calling the current economic situation “stagflation”, a metaphorical economic “purgatory” where job growth is slowing, wages are stagnating but costs for consumer goods continue to rise. Americans are struggling to keep up, working longer hours and moving family time to the backburner, all for what feels like, and ultimately is, less.

Businesses do not operate in silos. All of life is interconnected. Everything businesses do impacts people, the environment and the world around them.

I. Globalization and free trade agreements have done little to help this situation. Over the past twenty years, it’s estimated that more than five million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost to outsourcing and growing trade deficits. In addition to moving overseas, globalization has lowered wages for non-college educated workers in the U.S. by 5.5 percent, consisting workers on average $1,800. Globalization has also negatively impacted the environment by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, limiting biodiversity and putting a strain on natural resources. With all these factors at play, many have come to realize that the America Dream and its focus on bigger and better simply cannot be sustained. People are fed up and values are shifting.

II. A growing numbers of business leaders including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff Besos and more are teaming up to spur investment in sustainable energy. Other are thinking bigger, beyond sustainability, towards Oneness as a fundamental reality. With leaders like Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and more espousing the values of conscious lifestyle, Oneness is become a mainstream concept.

III. The 2016 presidential election illustrates the public’s discontent with the status quo. Donald Trump and Bernie Sander’s campaigns tap into this notion. Both campaigns promote lofty visions of “Making America Great Again” and building “A Future to Believe In.” These messages are resonating with Millennials – a generation known to be more altruistic than Generation X or Baby Boomer. The Millennial influence is growing; there are now the largest generation in the US labor force and are beginning to climb the corporate ranks.

While businesses are the biggest sources of some of the world’s most challenging problems, they can also offer the greatest hope and potential to help solve these problems. Therein lies amazing opportunities to break through and upend the status quo by adopting a new, conscious business model that creates prosperity and flourishing for all – by improving employee retention and productivity, attracting top employees, increasing customer satisfaction, driving revenue and profit, and ensuring community support.

There is money to be made on solving the world’s biggest problems. Customers want to buy from brands that stand for something greater than just quarterly earnings.

I. Socially conscious businesses like Kickstarter and Toms Shoes are proof that adopting an interconnected view of business does not hinder profits, it grows them. Kickstarter started as a platform for entrepreneurs and artists to fund their projects but the company’s founders didn’t want to stop there. They reincorporated as a Benefits Corporation in 2015 to double down on their commitment to business transparency and social impact. Toms Shoes, a brand known for donating a pair of shoes to a person in an impoverished country for every brand they sell, recently announced the launch of Toms Entrepreneurship Fund, a fund focused solely on “impact investing,” investing in companies addressing societal issues.

II. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has built a flourishing business by focusing on bringing sustainable transportation and energy to the people. Mush recently unveiled the Tesla Model 3, the company’s first mass-market car. The public’s response has been incredible – the Model 3 has received $14 billion in preorders in just one week. Musk is a great example of an entrepreneur who wants to be a leader not a laggard. Musk is not content with simply creating healthy profits, he wants to create a real difference in the world.

III. Consumers can tell the difference between businesses who want to make difference like Toms and Tesla, and businesses that just want good PR. Look at Volkswagen. In 2015, the EBP discovered the automaker had programmed its diesel engines to change their performance while being tested to produce better results. The FTC later charged Volkswagen for deceiving customers with its “Clean Diesel” advertising. Consumers have reacted en masse. Stock prices dipped 50% in the wake of the scandal and people took to social media to air their grievance.