The Roman philosopher Seneca once said, “Every new beginning
comes from some other beginning’s end.” Leonardo de Vinci said that, “it is
easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”
I wonder if these sentiments help explain why sustainability
has been so difficult for human beings to embrace. Is it because it requires us
to admit that the way we are doing things today no longer works? Does
recognition of the flaws in our behavior causes us to become defensive and to
hold on to the validity of our previous positions? Could it be because that admission means we
are going to have to change, and change is inherently difficult for human
beings?
Perhaps is it simply because sustainability requires us to
let go of the way things have always been done and try something completely
new, something that we cannot even imagine today. If true, then that is not
really change, or evolution, or even revolution. If true, it means starting
from scratch, recognizing that the facts and assumptions upon which decisions
are made today are completely different from what they were 50, 100, 200 years
ago. So different, in fact, that the old
foundation is no longer relevant.
Businesses have thrived on the creation of solutions through
ideas and technology previously beyond conception, often to problems we did not
even know existed. Yet so many see sustainability as a threat rather than an opportunity
to grow both creatively and financially.
Harvard Business School recently published a working paper
that shares the results of a study comparing corporations that long ago adopted
sustainability policies, called “High Sustainability” companies, to
corporations that had not adopted sustainability policies, called “Low
Sustainability” companies. This longitudinal study that looked at data from
1993-2010 found that the characteristics of the two types of companies are
fundamentally different in significant ways. In addition, they found evidence
that the “High Sustainability” companies
significantly outperformed their “Low Sustainability” counterparts in the
long-term, in terms of both stock market and accounting performance.
“High Sustainability” companies showed some significant
differences from the “Low Sustainability” companies, particularly in areas that
organizational scholars typically deem “culture” – the inherent norms,
artifacts, beliefs and practices that govern corporate behavior as well as the
behavior of individuals working within the corporation. Some of the most
distinguishing differences include:
- Board of Director responsibility for sustainability;
- Executive compensation tied to sustainability metrics;
- Written policies and procedures guiding stakeholder interactions and engagement;
- Long-term orientation;
- Measurement and disclosure of non-financial information.
What is most noticeable to me about these differences is the
simple fact that they ARE different. In other words, these corporations recognized long ago that they could not continue to
engage in the same behavior and expect different outcomes, and they created a
new normal.
As business leaders, can we view sustainability as an
opportunity for innovation and creativity and use these voices as guides to
create a culture of possibility?
Perhaps we can let go of the idea that doing something new
means we have failed or were wrong, and instead create organizational cultures
that embrace the unknown and view it as an opportunity to innovate with
solutions that will allow all life on the planet to flourish indefinitely. As
the Nobel Prize winner, John Galsworthy, once said, “Beginnings are always
messy.” Perhaps it’s time we get messy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Shannon Brown is a Ph.D. student at Benedictine University’s Center for Values-Driven Leadership (CVDL) and a VP for Exemplify. She has served in leadership positions with Thomson Reuters and Tata Consultancy Services. In addition, she is an adjunct faculty member at Dominican University where she teaches courses in leadership studies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eccles, R.G., Ioannou,
I., Serafein, G., 2011. The Impact of a Corporate Culture of Sustainability on
Corporate Behavior and Performance. Harvard Business School Working Paper.
No comments:
Post a Comment