> Why the name? <

We struggled to find a name. We experimented with everything from the literal (Social Impact Consultants) to the philosophical (Material Karma) to the whimsical (Beeswax) to the traditional (PinPoint), but nothing captured the spirit of what we are trying to accomplish (and frankly, some of the names were just plain terrible).

The one word that kept appearing in our description was “balance”, specifically as it applied to our desire to help bring balance to the activities of the organizations (Fortune 500 corporations, large government agencies, middle-tier nonprofit organizations, start-up entrepreneurial/intrepreneurial ventures) with whom we had worked in the past. Our concern was not that organizations failed to deliver. To the contrary, in our experience we had seen organizations deliver often soundly, sometimes exceptionally according to the needs of their stakeholders.

Our concern was with their definition of “stakeholder”.

What has been missing, and what we find is making its way into the greater conscience, is the need to extend beyond the traditional definition of stakeholder…

• Employee
• Customer/Client/Constituent
• Shareholder/Investor/Grantor

…and include two stakeholders that have, at the least, the right to demand inclusion in the consideration set for all of our activities going forward…

• Communities/People
• Environment/Planet

Success will not be achieved by focusing on the traditional stakeholders or the additional stakeholders alone. Focusing solely on either set of stakeholders inhibits the long-term sustainability of either. The real challenge is balancing the demands of an organization’s traditional stakeholders with the inherent responsibility an organization has to the world and environment within which it operates, and the people and communities who occupy that space.

Which explains the origin of the term “Social Symmetry”. A management consulting company that is dedicated to understanding your traditional stakeholders, identifying your additional stakeholders, and developing solutions that bring the two into balance, without compromising the needs of either.