Entries by Bob Willard

5 Reasons I Low-Ball Employee Productivity in the Business Case for Sustainability

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As explained in The New Sustainability Advantage, sustainability strategies and programs result in higher levels of employee engagement. Engaged employees are more productive. They want their company to succeed so that it can continue to add value to the community and ecosystems which the employees care about. Engaged employees are the secret sauce in the business case for sustainability. When employees are engaged, magic happens.
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Sustainability Business Case # 3: Share Price

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In previous posts, I identified three ways to frame the business case for sustainability: improved profit; high return on investment (ROI); and higher share price/market valuation. I've already illustrated that the profit-based business case and the ROI-based business cases are very strong.

Now let’s discuss that final rung: whether a case can be made that sustainability initiatives will have a positive effect on market value/share price. Read More

Sustainability Business Case #2: ROI

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In my last post, I identified three ways to frame the business case for sustainability, including through improved profit. The profit-based business case is robust and smart sustainability initiatives can improve profit by at least 51 percent to 81 percent within three to five years while avoiding a potential 16 percent to 36 percent erosion of profits if they did nothing.

Now let's consider the ROI perspective. Read More

Sustainability Business Case #1: More Profit

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How would we know a business case for sustainability if we saw one?

The strength of any business case depends on agreement on what we mean by “business case”—how we’d know one if we saw one.

These headlines have caught my eye in the last few months [and these are just five of many more with similar wording]: Read More

New Sustainability Advantage DVD Increases my Ripple Effect

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How many talks can I give in a year without killing myself?I asked myself that question a few years ago on a strategic planning retreat – being a sole proprietor, I can hold those in the shower. I had settled into a pattern of doing 80-100 talks a year on the compelling business case for sustainability-related strategies, yet I was concerned that the momentum on the sustainability journey in the business community was not building fast enough.

Wouldn’t it be great if I could spread the word faster and wider by doing 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, or even 1,000,000 talks a year all over the world without increasing my carbon footprint … even if I got hit by a truck on day one? Read More

Four New Resources for Sustainability Champions

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I love it when a plan comes together.

—Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith, A-Team leader—

March was a great month. I’ve been counting backward from that date for two years. I wanted to co-release four new interrelated business case resources for sustainability champions. It worked. Read More

Seven Business Case Benefits of a Triple Bottom Line – Tenth Anniversary Edition

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The New Sustainability Advantage

Pre-Publication Discount Valid Until March 1st 2012

The New Sustainability Advantage has a recalibrated, and more compelling business case for sustainability strategies than described in its 2002 version. Based on recent case studies, it shows that if a typical company were to use best-practice sustainability approaches already being used by real companies, it could improve its profit by at least 51% to 81% within three to five years, while avoiding a potential 16% to 36% erosion of profits if it does nothing.

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The fully revised business case is organized around seven easy-to-grasp bottom-line benefits that align with current evidence about the most significant sustainability-related contributors to profit. Read More

End of Bob Willard’s Blog – Exciting New Projects On the Horizon

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After much reflection, this will be my last blog post. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for following my posts and for their insightful comments. I am now refocusing my efforts on enhancing my resources for sustainability champions.

As context, as a certified B Corp, my vision is a sustainable world in which individuals, communities, and businesses thrive within nature’s limits. My two-fold mission is to inspire business leaders to integrate sustainability strategies into company strategies, and to provide useful resources for an army of sustainability champions so that they have the competence and confidence to accelerate the transformation toward a sustainable global society. I want to spend more effort on that last part. Read More

Further on the Robin Hood Tax

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In my December 13 blog, 3 Punchy Videos on How to Span the Wealth Chasm, I used three videos to highlight excellent reform proposals to help address the underlying causes of unjust and risky wealth inequities. In a wonderful example of synchronicity, other commentators made similar points that same week. On December 15, Hazel Henderson reinforced the wisdom of a Robin Hood Tax which was the subject of the Bill Nighy clever video that I referenced in my blog.

In her insightful December 15, 2011, CSRwire Talkback article, “Transforming Finance 2.0,” Hazel Henderson makes several points about a “Robin Hood tax,” which she prefers to call a “financial transaction tax (FTT). Read More

3 Punchy Videos on How to Span the Wealth Chasm

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The Occupy / We Are the 99% movements have awakened many people to unsustainable economic inequities. There has always been a gap between the haves and the have-nots. It’s the widening of that wealth chasm during a recession and the co-opting of the political process by corporations that has aroused recent global protests.

Protestors are accused of being heavy on criticism and light on solutions. However, when they put forward well-thought-out proposals, they are ridiculed for being naïve and out of touch with “reality.” That is, they don’t have any good ideas.  Oh, really? These three videos cleverly capture concrete proposals that would help address the underlying causes of unjust and dangerous wealth inequities.

1. Bill Nighy video backing a Robin Hood tax on banks Read More