Hope Initiatives exists "to help restore lives damaged by incarceration, addictions, and poverty, through employment, job skill training, spiritual guidance, encouragement and hope." Tune in to this episode to hear about how they integrate business and mission both in the customers that they serve and by the team members they hire, train and support towards sustainable employment.

Dale is an accomplished executive with 20+ years of experience in building high-performing sales and marketing organizations, defining and executing strategy, and forging key relationships to drive growth and competitive positioning across multiple industries and verticals. After retiring from Xerox Corporation Ms. Sedgwick assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer of Hope Initiatives CDC Inc.

When ESL Federal Credit Union defined its purpose "to help the community thrive and prosper," it was putting into words what had been there from its founding in 1920.

Despite countless investments in the community as well as their recognition as a Great Place to Work for 9 of the past 10 years, CEO Faheem Masood believes they will always be evolving to better align stakeholders and more fully live that purpose: "We wouldn't be here if we didn't have a thriving community...so we are now on a journey to better understand what that means and remove some contradictions that may not be consistent...All of us will prosper if the community prospers."

As they celebrate their 100th anniversary, their long-term mindset and community focus has also led to enduring value for the company, which was able to give their member owners their largest-ever dividend, proving that in the long run, purpose and profit are mutually reinforcing!

Faheem Masood has served as President & CEO of ESL Federal Credit Union since March 2016.ESL the largest locally led financial services institution in the Greater Rochester area and with assets of $6.8 billion, ESL is one of the largest credit unions in New York State And in the top 1% of more than 7,000 federally insured credit unions in the U.S. They’ve also been nationally recognized as a Great Place to Work Best Small and Medium Workplaces 9 times since 2010.

In 2009, Elinor Ostrom won a Nobel Prize in Economics for her work studying groups that effectively stewarded shared resources for long-term sustainability. After an already esteemed career applying evolutionary science to all aspects of life, David Sloan Wilson worked with Ostrom to generalize these principles for designing cooperative groups in any endeavor, including evolving more conscious businesses and a more equitable, sustainable Conscious Capitalism.

It is widely understood that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution completely revolutionized the study of biology. Yet, according to David Sloan Wilson, the Darwinian revolution won’t be truly complete until it is applied more broadly—to everything associated with the words “human,” “culture,” and “policy.”

David Sloan Wilson is SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University. He applies evolutionary theory to all aspects of humanity in addition to the rest of life, both in his own research and as director of EvoS, a unique campus-wide evolutionary studies program that recently received NSF funding to expand into a nationwide consortium. His books include "Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society," "Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives," "The Neighborhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time," "Does Altruism Exist? Culture, Genes, and the Welfare of Others" and in 2019 published both "This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution" alongside "PROSOCIAL: Using Evolutionary Science to Build Productive, Equitable and Collaborative Groups."

Not only does the YMCA build bridges across divides of geography, race and class in our community, but they're also leading by example to create an inclusive culture inside their own organization. Being "for all" is baked into their mission and into everything they do at the YMCA and there is also a business case for being intentional about diversity and inclusion. Tune in to this episode to hear James' inspiring personal story that led him to pay it forward at the YMCA, plus join Conscious Capitalism ROC for our 2/18 tour to see why being inclusive "for all" is the secret to why it's "fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!"

James earned a Bachelor’s degree in Development and Child Psychology from SUNY Brockport before joining the YMCA first as an intern, then as a Program Director, Center Director, Executive Director, and Urban District Executive, before taking on his current role as Director of Development and Community Engagement at the YMCA of Greater Rochester. He is also a 2015 honoree of the Rochester Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, recognizing his professional accomplishments as well as his leadership in the community. Although he's constantly on the go, he always makes family a number one priority. His wife and three children can often be seen at YMCA events, not only exuberantly cheering on James and his staff, but often participating and volunteering by his side.

Ever feel that your individual actions won't make a difference?

Your behaviors DO influence others, AND as they change, it will multiply to influence even more people. Plus, our own small behavior changes also commit us to transform our identities and can make us better advocates, allies and citizens. Inequality and climate change might be the two greatest challenges of our time and Professor Robert Frank believes that we can "put peer pressure to work" on both of these issues at the same time, harnessing behavioral contagion for a more equitable and sustainable future. Plus, in these divided times, don't miss his advice on how to use questions to engage in more productive conversations that might actually change minds.

In addition to teaching at Cornell, Robert Frank worked with Nobel Prize winner Richard Thaler in pioneering behavioral economics, is a former New York Times columnist and has written books translated into 23 languages. One of those books, The Darwin Economy, sparked my own interest in bringing evolutionary principles to business and I can trace countless ideas from my forthcoming book "For The EVOLution of Business" to seeds planted while reading Professor Frank's work. In this episode, we discuss his earlier work, especially "The Darwin Economy" and "Success & Luck" and in Part 2 of our conversation, we'll discuss his newly-released book "Under The Influence."

Professor Frank is the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos. For more than a decade, his "Economic View" column appeared monthly in The New York Times. He received his BS in mathematics from Georgia Tech, and then taught math and science for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Nepal. He holds an MA in statistics and a PhD in economics, both from the University of California at Berkeley. His papers have appeared in the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Journal of Political Economy, and other leading professional journals.

His books have been translated into 23 languages, including Choosing the Right Pond, Passions Within Reason, Microeconomics and Behavior, Principles of Economics (with Ben Bernanke), Luxury Fever, What Price the Moral High Ground?, Falling Behind, The Economic Naturalist, The Darwin Economy, and Success and Luck. The Winner-Take-All Society, co-authored with Philip Cook, received a Critic's Choice Award, was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times, and was included in Business Week's list of the ten best books of 1995. Frank is a co-recipient of the 2004 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. He was awarded the Johnson School's Stephen Russell Distinguished teaching award in 2004, 2010, and 2012, and its Apple Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005.

How can an evolutionary lens change the way we think about taxation, regulation and collective action? Is it possible to reduce inequality and increase public investment without making the rich any worse off...and maybe even happier?

In addition to teaching at Cornell, Robert Frank worked with Nobel Prize winner Richard Thaler in pioneering behavioral economics, is a former New York Times columnist and has written books translated into 23 languages. One of those books, The Darwin Economy, sparked my own interest in bringing evolutionary principles to business and I can trace countless ideas from my forthcoming book "For The EVOLution of Business" to seeds planted while reading Professor Frank's work. In this episode, we discuss his earlier work, especially "The Darwin Economy" and "Success & Luck" and in Part 2 of our conversation, we'll discuss his newly-released book "Under The Influence."

Professor Frank is the Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management and Professor of Economics at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos. For more than a decade, his "Economic View" column appeared monthly in The New York Times. He received his BS in mathematics from Georgia Tech, and then taught math and science for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Nepal. He holds an MA in statistics and a PhD in economics, both from the University of California at Berkeley. His papers have appeared in the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Journal of Political Economy, and other leading professional journals.

His books have been translated into 23 languages, including Choosing the Right Pond, Passions Within Reason, Microeconomics and Behavior, Principles of Economics (with Ben Bernanke), Luxury Fever, What Price the Moral High Ground?, Falling Behind, The Economic Naturalist, The Darwin Economy, and Success and Luck. The Winner-Take-All Society, co-authored with Philip Cook, received a Critic's Choice Award, was named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times, and was included in Business Week's list of the ten best books of 1995. Frank is a co-recipient of the 2004 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought. He was awarded the Johnson School's Stephen Russell Distinguished teaching award in 2004, 2010, and 2012, and its Apple Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005.

Professor Richard M Ryan is the co-developer of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and is among the most cited psychologists in the world. Although many employers have recognized the value of measuring employee engagement, focusing only on outcomes can be counterproductive, while instead measuring the factors of SDT that drive engagement can provide more actionable insights to create a culture that supports employee autonomy and maximizes both individual and collective potential. Tune in to this episode to learn how to EVOLve a culture with intrinsic motivation, how fulfilling psychological needs impacts health and vitality, and how the principles of SDT can apply to leadership, parenting and increasing civic engagement!

Richard M. Ryan, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and Professor at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education within the Australian Catholic University. He is also Professor Emeritus at Univ. of Rochester. He is co-developer of Self-Determination Theory, an internationally recognized theory of human motivation and author of over 450 papers and books including Self-determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation Development and Wellness. Ryan is among the most cited researchers in psychology and social sciences today, and has been recognized as one of the eminent psychologists of the modern era. He has also been honored with three lifetime achievement awards for his work on motivation, personal meaning, and self and identity, and received an honorary degree from the University of Thessaly and an honorary membership to the German Psychological Society, among other honors.

Tina Paradiso is Imprinting Lives for young people with barriers to employment by taking care of basic needs, creating an environment where they feel safe and flexing to their needs. Along the way, they learn job skills and financial literacy, giving them the foundations and the courage to pursue their dreams, whether at Imprintable Solutions, as entrepreneurs, or in other pursuits. When Tina evolved her purpose from "being a service" through branding, printing, promotional products and decorated apparel, to "being of service" to these young people, she was hoping to help these young people grow, but was surprised to discover that it also helped her business to grow along the way.

When Niraj Lama asked himself what he could "give to the community through tea," he applied the storytelling he honed as a journalist to weave a rich narrative acknowledging the journey from leaf to cup and celebrating the many layers of tradition that diverse cultures have imparted on this simple combination of leaf and water.

Along the way, these stories and his commitment to a "Happy Earth" fostered a devoted following and earned recognition for Leaf Tea Bar among CNN's World's Best Teahouses.

Happy Earth Tea was established in 2011 by Niraj Lama and his wife Mary Boland. Niraj hails from Darjeeling, India – a region that produces some of world’s finest black teas. Before Happy Earth Tea, the family owned and operated Darjeeling Tea Exclusive, a global purveyor of fine Darjeeling teas, based in Darjeeling. After the family resettled in the US, Darjeeling Tea Exclusive gave way to a Happy Earth Tea that is focused on a newer market with a more global selection of teas.

It's never too soon for an entrepreneur to focus on creating a culture that unlocks the potential in their team. Yet because business ideas never go exactly according to plan, entrepreneurs must pivot. For conscious entrepreneurs, even if the business model changes, they're still focused on their purpose and culture. Tune in to this episode with David Mammano to hear about his journey toward becoming a servant leader and creating a loving culture, plus how he's now coaching Avanti entrepreneurs to do the same.

For more than 20 years, David has been a serial entrepreneur. Having started seven businesses from scratch, he thrives on starting and growing businesses.

Today he thrives on helping others start or grow their businesses by infusing the latest entrepreneurial principles into their strategy.

Relevant experiences include being a three-time Inc. Magazine 5000 Growth Company, the host of The Avanti Entrepreneur podcast, a TEDx speaker, a Forbes.com contributing writer, an adjunct professor at the University of Rochester, and the author of business and college planning books.

In 2004, David published his first book, "101 Things You Can Do To Become an Outstanding Young Adult." His second book, "Make Love in the Workplace," a guide to awesome culture in the office, was published in 2014.

David’s community activities include being a local board member for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a local board member for Junior Achievement, and starting his local EO Chapter.

David is a prolific speaker — speaking at hundreds of business and education events.

David is most proud of his family in Victor, NY, including three young children, Gianluca, Melania and Alessio. His hobbies include family activities, reading, cooking, eating, exercise and repeated attempts at humor.