There’s nothing wrong with consumption of basic goods and services. It’s when consumption takes on a life of its own that we risk overshooting the carrying capacity of the planet, as illustrated in Our Ecological Footprint, by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees. We don’t really “consume” most goods. We just use them and throw them away. The resulting build-up of hazardous and non-hazardous waste is not sustainable. That’s why green packaging, green supply chains, and green products are receiving so much attention.
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In today’s business model, growth is a given—an imperative. “Grow or die” is the undisputed maxim of business leaders. The stock market punishes companies that do not meet growth expectations. Growth is good. However, continuous growth appears to be at odds with sustainability principles. Growth is the ‘un-discussable’ elephant in the board rooms of companies aspiring to a sustainable business model.
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As sustainability champions, we are sometimes confronted by frustrated people who ask what we mean by “sustainability.” What they really want to know is sustainability’s relevance to them, their organization, or their community. Is it a threatening concept, or a friendly one? Or maybe it’s just a fancy, multiple-syllable word for something to which they are already paying attention, at least partially?
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As sustainability champions, we need to respect executives’ current priorities and help them save face if they “have no time right now” for sustainability. We need to find out what executives do have time for. Then, reframe our proposals as enabling strategies to help them address their urgent, pressing challenges— rather than as one more goal to worry about. Agree with their priorities. Meet them where they are. Honor their terminology and mindset; and suggest how sustainability-based strategies will help to achieve their current goals.
In my June 22, 2010 blog, I outlined how sustainability-related strategies address five long-term challenges which are anticipated by CEOs within the next five to ten years. There is a misperception though: that sustainability strategies only apply to long-term goals and aren’t much help with short-term, recession-driven pressures on the bottom line. That’s wrong. Here are three, near-term challenges faced by CEOs, and the accompanying sustainability-based strategies that can help each one:
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Sustainability language is often the Achilles heel of passionate sustainability advocates. We need to be smarter about borrowing C-suite (as in CEO, CFO, Chief-anything) language to adeptly reframe the “so-what” of our sustainability strategies and visions. We need to connect with senior executives’ language, context, and priorities. We need to build commitment when addressing tough, long-term business issues with sustainability-related strategies, often without ever using the S-word.
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