We’re barely one month into 2019, but it certainly feels like more than that.
Between the U.S. government shutdown, a viral and controversial new Gillette
ad
challenging men to work on toxic masculinity, the EU passing a ban on a range of
single-use
plastics,
the mind-blowing and thought-provoking glimpses of the future at the annual
Consumer Electronics
Show,
a major new study finding that that oceans are warming 40 percent faster than
many scientists had previously estimated, the
once-brilliant-now-stuck-in-outdated-thinking dynamics in Davos,
never-ending Brexit drama, the Ocean
Cleanup
system breaking down, humanity sitting at “2 minutes to midnight” on the
proverbial Doomsday Clock, the 10-year challenge on social media, a series
of reports on breakthrough new biomaterials, and many other stories big and
small … A lot has happened in just a few short weeks. And a ton more
developments will no doubt unfold over the coming months, given the VUCA
(volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world we now live in.
In the midst of all the good, bad and ugly types of news, 2019 is also the year
the global Sustainable Brands community is entering the third
phase of our Good Life
initiative — the courageously
optimistic quest to understand how society defines the Good Life of tomorrow and
then pull together the best existing know-how and leadership carving the way
forward toward redesigning business practices, products and services to actually
deliver the Good Life in question. To that end, and given the context set above,
we are dissecting a number of big, open questions that could either speed up or
slow down this quest toward Delivering the Good Life.
Here are the 3 questions I would place at the top of that list:
1. Will companies move fast enough on climate and make the most of new partnership opportunities?
The most recent scientific studies on this have clearly indicated that the
next 12
years
will be critical in terms of getting our collective act together on climate.
Given the political gridlock in the U.S. and other government
ineffectiveness in many places around the world, business must lead on
climate. And while 515 companies have already joined the Science Based
Targets Initiative, and some have
committed to doing their part in other ways, thousands of businesses haven’t
yet stepped up to the appropriate level of action. This is why it’s critical
for all corporate sustainability leaders to clearly understand how to set
and reach science-based goals, and then share best practices with their
peers, suppliers and partners. In 2019, we expect to see increasing pressure
up and down the value chain in many industries — downstream brands
incentivizing or even pushing their suppliers to decarbonize faster, for
example — along with a variety of new opportunities to collaborate across
sectors toward the common goal. It’s encouraging to see the progress of
initiatives such as District 2030, in which
cities are taking bold steps, often in partnership with or financially
supported by big brands. We hope to see a lot more decisive action and
creative collaboration.
2. Will brand purpose continue to rise and thrive, in light of persistent challenges and misconceptions?
Positive brand purpose has been trending for a few years now, but lately
it’s reaching qualitatively new highs and tipping points. With a majority of
business leaders agreeing that purpose is an essential factor for business
success going forward,
Millennials
and Gen
Z
overwhelmingly naming it as a must-have for a meaningful job and life, and
some of the biggest investors demanding it, it is no longer seen as a
rebellious act, a privilege or an isolated phenomenon for a select few
‘Unilever
types.’
A number of Fortune 500 brands have gracefully defined or redefined a
positive-impact purpose and are now working to embed it properly within
their entire organizations and activate it through innovation and
storytelling. Others are scrambling to catch up and ‘bolt it on,’ often not
so gracefully, in need of appropriate
leadership
and partners to improve. And of course, there is an ever-growing wave of
next-generation social and environmental entrepreneurs, from B Corps to
craft brands of all sorts, boasting breakthrough business models and
leadership from day one. We’re also seeing growing connectedness and
collaboration between old and new, with the old guard increasingly
supporting their purpose journeys by acquiring, incubating and accelerating
the new generation.
All is not well and good for brand purpose, however, as there are certain
persistent challenges and misconceptions. This became particularly evident
through the backlash that Gillette’s toxic masculinity message is
experiencing — it’s surfacing a lot of cynicism and suspicion from consumers
and media pundits alike. At the center of this thread of criticism are
questions around the suspected conflict between purpose and profit, ‘gotcha’
attitudes using past or current company missteps as a predictor for future
behavior, as well as guilty-until-proven-innocent views based on historical
lack of trust. This brings us to …
3. Will business leaders improve current perceptions around authenticity, ethics and transparency?
It cannot be overstated how critical authenticity, ethics and
transparency are to purpose-driven leadership. New research studies on
this are finding a lot to be desired with respect to existing gaps in
transparency and companies’ perceived moral compass, which unsurprisingly
fuels some of the skepticism and lack of trust described above. For example,
new research by HIP Investor reveals that many major corporations are
not reporting on categories as basic as GHG emissions and gender equality —
only 53 percent of S&P 500 companies are currently fully disclosing GHG
emissions, and just 31 percent are reporting on the share of women in
managerial
positions.
A GlobeScan survey across 23 countries ranked honesty at the bottom of
the list for how companies perform, with just 14 percent approval of current
levels of corporate honesty.
Anyone who has experienced authentic, transparent and mindful, purpose-driven
leadership knows that there are excellent positive answers to any and every
bit of criticism against purpose … IF CONCEIVED RIGHT AND EXECUTED WELL.
When conceived right and executed well — across all parts of a company and
all of its innovation and activities, including operations, supply chain,
marketing, advertising and governance — purpose and profit do go hand in
hand brilliantly, ‘gotcha’ moments become rare or non-existent, and the
historical lack of trust is healed through a transformation in the
relationship.
There is clearly a lot at stake, and the list of critical issues goes on and on. However, win-win change is not only possible but continues to emerge — and we in the SB community will continue to highlight it and nurture it in 2019 by supplying new, top-notch thought leadership, tools, case studies and partnership connections on all of these issues and many more.
Join us for answers, pointers, debates and world-class networking at our annual flagship conference, SB’19 Detroit, taking place June 3-6 at the Cobo Center in Detroit, MI.**
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Advisor and Co-Lead, Global Content Strategy & Thought Leadership, Sustainable Brands
Dimitar is a senior sustainability and regeneration strategist, educator, executive advisor and mentor. He currently holds the following active roles: Advisor and Co-Lead, Global Content Strategy & Thought Leadership at Sustainable Brands; Senior Strategist, Content Development & Product Innovation at Sustainability Hub Norway; Executive Advisor at rePurpose Global; and Senior Content Advisor at Integrate2033. He co-led the creation of the SB Brand Transformation Roadmap, a comprehensive navigation tool mapping the whole journey from business-as-usual to a sustainable brand, and co-designed an accompanying assessment process that measures progress in five dimensions: purpose, brand influence, operations and supply chain, products and services, and governance.
Published Jan 29, 2019 1am EST / 10pm PST / 6am GMT / 7am CET