When Norm and I started mapping out Terris back in 2018 we agreed on three core goals: we wanted to go big, scale fast, and be good.

We knew how to grow and scale thanks to our experience in the tech world and the wider business world but how, we wondered, could we track and measure being good.

How would we operationalize our purpose and principles?

We found our answer in two complementary programs: we monitor and measure our performance via BCorp certification, and we set our priorities and direction by consulting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

In 2015 the UN’s 193 member states adopted ‘Agenda 2030’, an ambitious plan to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and protect the planet. The SDGs are the roadmap, broken down into 17 specific goals.

At the start of 2020 Norm and I sat down and considered which of these 17 goals we could actively pursue and we selected the following three.

• SDG #8: Decent work and economic growth. This is all about creating value for our employees, interns, and suppliers. We do this by increasing overall productivity through technological innovation, and by using our purchasing power to practise sustainable consumption and production. We’re also actively working to increase the proportion of young people in the workforce or receiving training through our paid internships program for students from high school through to post-graduate.
• SDG #9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure. This SDG is about what we make and how our customers benefit from its use. Our technology platform can help customers determine where and how to upgrade existing infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them more sustainable and increase resource-use efficiency. Terris’s work enhances scientific resources, increases the number of R&D workers in our region and contributes to private sector R&D spending.
• SDG #11: Sustainable cities and communities. We live this value through our technology platform and in our relationships with local suppliers and educational institutions. Our platform can help our clients enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization, and support their ability to create sustainable, integrated and participatory planning and management in communities big and small. We can also help when disaster strikes. Terris’s technology can help reduce deaths, displacement and economic losses caused by disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations. This SDG is particularly close to my heart after a career spent working to serve and protect as a proud member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Here’s the secret: it’s not hard to operationalize the UN SDGs, once you make the commitment to live your values through your business leadership.

In fact, we see the benefits of living our values every day in increased employee retention, customer attraction, and overall business flow.

By making the conscious choice to be good we’re going big and scaling fast – and that’s something that benefits everyone.