Tears streamed down my face, in the darkened theater, as I sat watching the documentary “The Cove” at the Traverse City Film Festival. As Michael Moore says, “One great movie can change you” and this one did. The 2009 documentary by Louis Psihoyos, explored the dolphin and whale slaughter that happens secretly in Taiji Japan. 

As the movie ended and the credits rolled, I was crying, shaking, and nauseated. By my side, my best friend was equally as upset and disturbed by the film. This movie was deeply depressing and full of disturbing images that I now know changed me forever. So my story starts with sorrow, but it ends in awareness and vision.

Everything I read, every trip I took, and every google search was about dolphins and whales.  I have spent a lot of time researching and watching whales in their natural habitat. The mind and social culture of the orca fascinated me most.

Did you know they have a part of the brain that humans do not?

The lobe of the brain they have that we do not, scientist, Lori Marino believes, has something to do with processing emotions and something to do with thinking.

Orcas, the top predator in the ocean, hunted by nothing never takes more than it needs. It will eat less to feed others in the pod.

In fact, it is suspected that orcas sense of self includes all orcas in its pod, meaning their core identity is communal. This type of communal integrity fascinated and inspired me.

I couldn’t help but think humans and our planet would be better off if we learned and applied whale social norms to life on land.

It definitely couldn’t hurt, so I decided I was going to use my business degree to start a company that ran like an orca society/pod. A company that would use its earning potential for the greater social good.  I believe strongly it is time to create a business culture that is more about what profits can do to serve many and not just a few at the top.

Our business model will be accountable to the wellbeing of people and the planet and not just profits. What I know for sure is I am ready to prove this whale of a business model can work. Why are we doing this? Because in 2010 we walked into a theater and saw a movie that changed us forever. We can’t turn back now.