10 Lessons from 10 Years of Leading Mangrove as a B Corp

November 9, 2026 marks ten years since we were officially certified as a B Corp.

Part of being a B Corp is reviewing how we make decisions and allocate resources, and sharing the outcomes of our choices publicly. Impact reporting is a time consuming activity, and some years, it’s honestly kind of a pain. But every time we finish, there’s a moment where I reflect and realize, “yes, we’re really doing the things we said were important, and we’re continuing to conduct ourselves with our values at the core.” It can sometimes be easy to lose sight of this during the day to day of running a business.

Ten years in, I have a meaningful list of things running a B Corp has taught me. Some surprising, some obvious, and some I learned the hard way.

1. Certification should validate who you already are, not reinvent your business

Being a B Corp is the most rewarding and valuable when the B Corp values are already embedded in how you operate. For us at Mangrove, certifying wasn’t a radical shift. It confirmed the way we already wanted to run things and deepened it. If you don’t already believe a business should be run with values at the core, the certification is a lot of work for a return you might not deeply benefit from.

2. Real investment is required, and it’s worth it

Certification and ongoing practices require time, money, policy work, and leadership attention. In a smaller organization, a lot of this work can land on the CEO and leadership team, whether it’s creating and maintaining policies or pulling together sensitive metrics across the organization. I wouldn’t call any of it a sacrifice, but there’s a decent level of commitment, and you have to make a choice about where your finite energy and resources go.

3. Accountability creates clarity

Annual impact reporting can feel demanding, but it provides a regular moment to assess progress, celebrate, align, and recommit. The broccoli is worth eating. The guardrails of impact reporting remind us what our goals as a B Corp are, and reinforce that this is how we want to continue to run our business.

4. Not every return on values-led business practices is easy to measure

Investing in people, transparency, and care may not create a clean, immediate ROI, but those choices certainly strengthen the business. If you treat your team well, that comes back to you, even when it isn’t something you can put a hard number on. A lot of the B Corp aligned business practices are really about being a thoughtful leader and treating people with intention, fairness and respect.

5. B Corp still needs advocates to create awareness and brand recognition

Recognition of the B Corp certification and brand varies widely, so building awareness often happens through individual conversations and storytelling. In some rooms people know exactly what B Corp certification means, and in others they’ve never heard of it. Talking to people about what B Corp is has been a great way to explain who we are and what we care about, but I often wish it wasn’t our job as business owners to educate and create brand awareness as much as we have. This has improved over time, but there’s still work to be done on all sides.

6. A values-aligned peer network is one of the greatest benefits of certification

Other B Corp leaders have been instrumental in providing practical ideas, shared perspective, and support, especially when difficult decisions arise. The trust between fellow B Corp business owners runs deep, even with peers you’ve just met. They can be a source of new ideas and act as a sounding board when the business decisions are challenging.

7. Hard decisions can always be made with humanity and care

Layoffs, restructuring, and other painful moments can, and should be handled with care, transparency, and intention. Some of the hardest stretches we’ve been through involved restructuring and figuring out how to communicate with the team through a difficult time. We worked hard to handle those moments thoughtfully, because you can’t make the right call for the business without caring for the people behind it.

8. Leadership means reckoning with your own power

As an employer, the way we show up shapes how safe people feel giving feedback or speaking candidly, and that influence can be easy to underestimate. I bootstrapped this organization and work closely with the team day to day, which can blur how much weight my role carries for people whose livelihoods depend on it. I’ve had to rework my relationship with that power.

9. Values become credible when the team can point to them in daily practice

Defining values together, clarifying what they mean, and mapping them to actual behaviors helps prevent “values washing.” When the team buys into the values, cultivates them, and carries them forward, that also builds culture. A couple of years ago we defined our values as a group and mapped them to things we do day to day. It helped us confirm that our values are more than just words on paper.

I’ve watched people step in and cover for a teammate who’s overwhelmed or dealing with something outside work, without being asked, knowing the same would be there for them. Not because of hustle culture or because anyone’s keeping score, but because they care about the work and about each other.

10. Community can expand your sense of what responsible business practices are possible

Ideas like employee microloans, early payment support, and values-aligned vendors can emerge through exposure to peers and the B Corp framework. I got the idea for employee microloans from the certification process itself. Once it was on my radar, I realized it was clearly something we could offer. We’ve since found other ways to support our team.

The next 10 years

If you ask me what I want to still be true about Mangrove ten years from now, it’s the way the team looks out for each other, and how passionate everyone is about the work we do. It’s also about the WAY they do it — always with intention, with care, and aligned with our values.

A lot of that was true about Mangrove before we were a B Corp. Being one has only reinforced it.