B Corp Spotlight - Mike Wakeland, CEO at DialogueDirect

Mike Wakeland serves as the CEO of DialogueDirect, a leader of face to face fundraising acquisition in North America.  His focus is building strong partnerships with charity clients, while improving quality metrics within the industry. Mike and his team believe quality and quantity can be obtained with the right partnerships and coaching.

Mike hopes to create an environment of sharing ideas and strategies to ensure sustainable growth.  His commitment to the B Corp community’s values has driven DialogueDirect to align with the movement as the first B Corp Certified face to face company in the United States.

Mike joins Sustainable Nation to discuss:

• B Corp certification process and lessons learned
• Talent retention and recruitment after achieving B Corp status
• Importance of mission driven business
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders

Mike’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other mission-driven or B Corp business leaders?

I would say the one piece of advice is your team will rally behind you because it's the right thing to do. It is a big lift. The lift is necessary to complete the assessment. It will take time, it will take resources, it will show some kinks in your armor. However, those are the exact reason why you'd want to do it. Those are the opportunities to realign the culture, realign the vision, and ultimately game plan for the business for the next generation.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of business?

Well, obviously the last four to six weeks have been interesting to say the least, but I'm still very optimistic. I'm positive. They are different times as of today. However, the situation we're all facing has actually provided a lot of us time to reflect personally, professionally, and ultimately give us an opportunity to plan for the future and reevaluate who we are and what our business priorities are. I'm really motivated to see the next generation bring the change in the world and to really reach out and take care of one another in a time of need, but more importantly focusing more on the impact we're making on this planet every single day, rather than just a paycheck we look forward to on Friday.

I think there aren't many other companies to look at to really understand what that next generation of leaders looks like then Dialogue Direct. These are the people that we run into on the streets that are getting us to sign up for fundraising to support important nonprofits. These are passionate, dedicated people. I mean, it's not easy to walk up to a stranger and try to talk to them or, try to sell them on donating and these people are incredibly committed. A great group of people you guys have their at Dialogue Direct in a good, I think, glimpse into the generation that will be making some big changes in the coming years.

Mike, what is one book you would recommend business leaders or B Corp leaders read?

I'm actually in my office today looking at a whole stack of them. I've really been big into the Simon Sineck. I'm a big fan of his. I had the opportunity to see him speak a few times on a stage, but more importantly, I've had the opportunity to read his books, Start With Why. The one I'd recommend today would be The Infinite Game. It's something that I've shared with many people that I come into contact and back to my initial point, it's that we never really crossed the finish line. There's always more to do. The infinite game has really made the biggest impact on me that I would recommend to others.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

Well, Zoom has obviously been very important recently. With that said the best resources we have are our people. As you mentioned, and thank you for your kind words, they're passionate, they're remarkable human beings. They're committed to our mission, which is changing the way America gives every single day. Our recent partnership we've developed is with an organization called Verb. It's a online development software learning platform. Our focus is professional personal growth from soft skills to leadership, to managerial skills. We understand that effective leaders know that it's not just about themselves, but it's about the future generation. So that's a resource that we've really committed ourselves to and put a lot of time and effort into.

Where can people go to learn more about you and the work being done at Dialogue Direct?

Yeah. Thanks Josh. Dialoguedirect.com is our website or you can go to bcorporation.net and look for our profile or coming to a city near you. Hopefully you have the opportunity to meet one of our passionate Dialoguers so they have the opportunity to help explain a critical mission or an organization they're passionate about and you have the opportunity to jump on board and join the movement.

About Sustridge

Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.