21st Century Sustainable Enterprise Force Field

“How’s it going?”

I expect you also get that question a lot these days, especially with the pandemic still dominating our daily lives. For those of us in the sustainability arena, the question is often about our efforts to transform companies to more sustainable enterprises. I’m an optimist. I think the seven helping forces in the 21st century sustainable enterprise force field are overcoming the six hindering forces. Why?

I had an opportunity to organize my thoughts on this when I was asked last summer to contribute a chapter to the Routledge Companion to Corporate Sustainability, forthcoming in 2022. Force Field Analysis is a useful way to inventory forces that drive change toward a desired state, as well as forces that resist such change. The desired state for a company is being a truly sustainable enterprise that partners with other organizations to lead us toward a just, safe, healthy and resilient future. Last fall, I decided to use a force field to frame my chapter. I sent my final draft to the book’s editor last month. The just-released “21^st Century Sustainable Enterprise Force Field” white paper is based on that chapter.

The above figure shows the superset of forces in the sustainable enterprise force field. The figure provides the topical outline for the paper. Seven helping forces drive a business to be more sustainable, while six other hindering forces push back and protect the status quo. Each hindering force is offset by its countervailing helping force. Because it amplifies all the other helping forces, the significance of the new “Pressure from primary stakeholders” helping force is highlighted. It wasn’t there ten years ago. It is now and it makes a difference.

So, we’re making progress. Now the question is, “Are we making progress fast enough?” We can’t afford to take our foot off the accelerator. We must foster all the helping forces. Check out the paper and see whether you can support any. The next few years are critical. Let’s build the momentum together.