PRESS RELEASE -
Part of United Way’s Alternative Spring Break Program Allowing Students Opportunities to Give Back
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
In his recent book, Making Sustainability Stick, Kevin Wilhelm offers a wealth of insight, experience and tools to help individuals and organizations deliver more business value by adding environmental and social parameters to their business strategy. By taking a look from the inside at the work of pioneering companies such as Starbucks and REI, the book shares some of the key things that have contributed to
NEW METRICS -
If ever there was an auspicious moment in performance measurement and reporting, this is surely it. Multicapitalism has arrived! Listen to how author Jane Gleeson-White puts it in her terrific new book, Six Capitals, or Can Accountants Save the Planet? (2015):
WASTE NOT -
Two years ago at Davos, the sharing economy was a foreign concept. Whenever I asked anyone I met if they had heard of the phrase, I would receive blank stares. Perhaps 5% of people had heard of Airbnb (though they rarely used it). Quite a few more had heard of Zipcar – maybe around 20% of the people I spoke to – but most of them admitted that their familiarity was due to the company’s acquisition by Avis earlier that month.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
You may not immediately see the similarities between the recent measles outbreak in the U.S., and the ever-contentious hydra-headed problem of global warming. But on closer scrutiny, both come from what may seem like an insane refusal to accept facts and act in the best interests of everyone concerned. Of course, to those who militate against vaccinating their children and attack the idea of global warming as a human-induced phenomenon, their actions don’t seem insane at all. It should be clear from these two examples that we are controlled by irrational forces that have successfully created the illusion that we are not controlled by irrational forces.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
"Business and social innovation live in separate worlds, and speak different languages. As the need to make humans more creative and society more resilient becomes central to corporations' ability to grow, it's time to change that. This is an invitation to learn how. Cheryl Heller, Chair, MFA Design for Social Innovation, SVATo put you at ease, if you are a good business person, this is about profit, not nonprofit. It's about creating markets, not philanthropy or charity or cause marketing. It's about using design to benefit people, both inside companies and in society, and in the process, strengthening business.
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In 11 earlier parts of this series, Claire Sommer and I developed 22 pitfalls in the field of sustainable business metrics, based on the experiences of many mostly non-business fields. (Find them here.)What to make of five anecdotes from the author’s attendance at over a dozen sustainable business metrics conferences, and leading an interagency indicators initiative of New Jersey State Government in 2000-2002 that don’t fit the numbers narrative.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
“The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. Its province is to assist us in making available what we are already acquainted with.”— Ada LovelaceAt the leading edge of sustainability best practice some leading companies are already developing meaningful pathways towards truly sustainable business models. For the followers, there is perhaps a perceptible acceptance that sustainability is an important aspect of good corporate management. However, there still remains a need to demonstrate, within the current modes of capitalism, how sustainability impacts financial performance.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
For 25 years, I’ve developed CSR strategies. And now I see that CSR is becoming business as usual.You’d think I’d be celebrating. But I’m not — because CSR has stalled.This struck me in 2012 when I developed the Qualities of a Transformational Company for Canadian Business for Social Responsibility and started tracking corporate innovation in CSR (see 38 case studies of transformation in action at CBSR’s website). That’s when I saw where we needed to be.
COLLABORATION -
How do companies deal with mushrooming sustainability data requests coming in from all directions – raters, investors, B2B customers? In Part 1 of this dialogue, Bridgestone Americas’ Director of Environmental Affairs, Tim Bent, discussed the company’s Sustainability Hub, developed with the help of PivotGoals project manager Jeff Gowdy to interface Bridgestone’s environmental, social, governance and economic data with incoming questionnaires.
COLLABORATION -
This is the second of five questions from a roundtable discussion with the directors of sustainability research centers at six top business schools. See part one here.When we think about relationships with industry, we think of three key success factors.
COLLABORATION -
I held a roundtable discussion with the directors of sustainability centers and institutes at six top business schools to learn more about how they engage with industry.The first question was: Do you view industry more as a partner or client?I may get us off to a bad start, because I want to say “both.” I would say as a partner, because we rely on industry to give us insights into what knowledge and skills our students need to learn. But then as a client, when we’re doing consulting projects for companies.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Sir Ian Cheshire | Image credit: The TimesFirst, let’s quash the rumours that have been circling ever since Sir Ian Cheshire announced he would step down as group chief executive of Kingfisher, Europe’s largest home improvement retailer.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Every day, women in developing countries spend a combined 200 million hours collecting clean water for their families. To raise awareness of this issue as part of the global water crisis and to help provide solutions, Belgian beer maker Stella Artois has launched its first global social impact campaign, “Buy a Lady a Drink.” With the support of Water.org and its co-founders Matt Damon and Gary White, “Buy a Lady a Drink” aims to help put a stop to these water-collecting journeys. The campaign formally launched on Friday at the Sundance Film Festival, of which Stella Artois is an annual sponsor.
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“Price is what you pay, value is what you get”Warren BuffettMoving beyond one-dimensional capitalism“All capitals are unequal, but some are more unequal than others.”This was a thought that popped into my mind after a number of real-life and online conversations about the concept of multiple capitals. This notion proposes that there is a range of sources of value (capitals) that give rise to economic and social benefits, but that current accounting and economic approaches recognise only one — financial capital.
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As we have entered a new year, I’d like to take a closer look at the concept of backcasting for coming up with strategies that marry ‘transformational change’ (as sustainability practitioners like to call those meaningful sustainability outcomes that leap beyond ‘making things less bad’) with viability and desirability.Backcasting? Am I casting my eyes on what lies behind us? No, in fact backcasting looks far ahead in order to create bridges towards desirable outcomes for the future.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Mark Clifford’s forthcoming book, The Greening of Asia: The Business Case for Solving Asia’s Environmental Emergency (Columbia Business School Publishing, March 2015), offers a hopeful take on major trends in the region, such as entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies working together to generate solutions in energy, land and water conservation that are efficient and sustainable.
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In the first two parts of this series, we explored the motivations behind creating a sustainability index, and the steps to take when creating an index. In this final part of the series, we will explore how organizations can deploy an index to make consistent decisions to support a sustainability strategy.After the index has been designed and created, the next task is to deploy it into the decisions-making structure. Let’s explore some examples of how other organizations have deployed this approach to make more sustainable products.
PRESS RELEASE -
I have worked at AT&T for over 18 years. Most of that time has been spent in various sales and operations roles and I’ve really enjoyed my time with this company. But I’ve particularly enjoyed the past three years leading our community engagement programs. Why? Because I get to see firsthand how community investment and volunteer service impacts people and their communities. Because I get to see how corporations and small businesses across the country who participate in this work are so much more than product or service providers. This visibility has changed my life. It’s caused me to rethink my personal priorities and increased my awareness of how simple acts of giving and service can lead to positive changes in society.
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Think of a company, any company. Got one? OK. Now ask yourself this: Is the company truly sustainable, in everything it does and sells? If not, then how must the company change before it is?