Entries by Bob Willard

5 Reasons Why “Mother Nature” is a Key Stakeholder

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For years, companies have treated the environment as an externality. The environment is not on their radar screens of stakeholders to whom they need to pay attention. Stakeholders are defined as “anybody who can affect, or is affected by, an organisation, strategy or project.” The environment is not a body / person. Maybe calling it “Mother Nature” would personify it enough for it to qualify as an “anybody.” There are five reasons why it’s time to treat Mother Nature as a key stakeholder. Read More

The Business Case for Sustainability, Redux … Seven times

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Question: “What’s the business case for sustainability?”
Answer: “Compelling! Doing the right thing for the environment and society enables a company to capture new opportunities and avoid new risks.”

Next Question: “Okay, but what’s the business case for sustainability?”
Answer: “…?!?! …”

I was reminded of this frustrating dialogue when I read Andrew Winston’s recent blog, “Explaining the Business Case for Sustainability Again … and Again … and Again.” Andrew is a guru on the business case for sustainability. His book, Green to Gold, is a classic.  In his blog, he recalls five different Groundhog Day-like discussions he’s had on the business case for sustainability. I smiled when I read them. It was a trip down memory lane. Read More

Are Three Enoughs Enough? Part 3: Making enough difference

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Sustainability champions want to make a difference. We want to create a new paradigm of responsible businesses helping to create a just and resilient human society on a finite, healthy planet. How do we stay upbeat when we fear that we are not making enough difference to accomplish our lofty goals, quickly enough? Let’s look at three dimensions of the answer. Read More

Are Three Enoughs Enough? Part 2: Enough sustainability

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How much sustainability is enough? That question niggled at me for years. When have companies contributed enough to the wellbeing of the environment and society? There are four ways that companies express their answer to that question. Using a company’s reduction of its carbon footprint as an example of a sustainability goal, let’s explore them. Read More

Are Three Enoughs Enough? Part 1: Enough wealth

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“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness.
 Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

― Wilkins Micawber, clerk, in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield

 

Lately, I’ve found myself revisiting the concept of “enough.” Maybe it’s time we all did. Maybe we would benefit from being satisfied with enough wealth, achieving enough sustainability, and making enough difference. I will explore these three “enoughs” in three blogs, starting with enough wealth. Read More

Mapping the Three Justifications to the Five-Stage Sustainability Journey

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Let's suppose you've crafted a compelling business case to support a company undertaking a significant environmental or social initiative. Your proposal includes three justifications for the project: it helps the company do the right thing by causing less harm and doing more good for the environment, society and employees; it enables the company to capture opportunities such as new revenue streams and expense savings; and it helps the company mitigate risks that could arise if it did not do the project. Where the company is on its sustainability journey determines which of those three components in the business case will best grab the attention of the decision-makers and win their support. Mapping the three justifications to the five-stage sustainability journey helps us choose which justification to highlight. Read More

6 Reasons Why I’m Writing My First-Ever Integrated Report

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I’ve had a love-hate relationship with integrated reports. They are supposed to combine fragmented financial and sustainability reports into one report that explains how much financial and non-financial value a company created for all its stakeholders during the reporting period. That’s a good idea, but I’ve have been disappointed with the incoherence of most so-called integrated reports that I’ve seen so far. That disappointment leads me to the first of 6 reasons why I’m writing my first-ever integrated report for my sole proprietorship, Sustainability Advantage  Read More

How to Operationalize 6 CFO Recommendations for 21st Century Decision-Making

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In April 2016, Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) published “CAPEX: A practical guide to embedding sustainability into capital investment appraisal.” Written by the A4S Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Leadership Network, it is an essential and practical guide by CFOs, for CFOs. It strongly urges executives to operationalize its 6 recommendations for 21st century decision-making by enhancing their capital expenditure (CAPEX) appraisal processes. Read More

7 Hopeful “I-Think-I-Can” Signals for Sustainability Champions

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Sustainability champions are “Little Engines That Could.” We are hopeful optimists. We see what is possible and refuse to be discouraged by steep challenges impeding our progress. Our mantra is, “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can.” We are energized by reports like the annual State of Green Business 2018 that say an environmental, social and governance (ESG) mindset is moving from the margins into the mainstream. There are 7 hopeful “I think-I-can” signals for sustainability champions which back up this trend, especially on the existential climate change issue. Read More