Sustainable Business Business models 3/8
When we bring our sustainability
narrative into the frame, there is a huge
clash. The problem is that so much about
the sustainability agenda raises serious
and fundamental challenges to our
current notions of business, including
our expectations of continuous growth
and consumption, along with our singular
focus on making profit.
Our response to these inconvenient
truths is not always robust, and we
can often end up diluting the agenda –
focusing on the easy stuff – or simply
accentuating the positive. We should not
be too surprised, therefore, by the recent
MIT Sloan Management Review/BCG
survey that demonstrates a very real
disconnect between thought and action –
with only 10% of companies tackling key
sustainability issues that, without proper
attention, can thwart the company's ability
to thrive – or even survive. Could it be,
that what we are trying to do simply goes
against the grain?
Clearly, we need to do something to
resolve this clash of ideals and develop a
compelling new narrative for sustainable
business and economy. But in developing
the right story, it is essential that we find
the right framing.
If we simply try and frame sustainability
within conventional business terms, not
only are we missing the point, we are
also likely to cause ourselves incalculable
stress and most likely deliver very little
real impact.
As we know, our established business
case tools do not adequately incorporate
sustainability factors and metrics, and
this makes sustainability projects and
strategies difficult to model. Without a
truly integrated business case, there is no
meaningful budget for investment and
– surprise, surprise – nothing changes.
But, even with the careful injection of
Environmental, Social and Governance
(ESG) metrics, the fundamental problem
is that our business case and tools are
configured for the wrong story.
So, let's start to explore what our new
story of sustainable business success might
look like.
We need to fundamentally challenge existing business
models including the singular focus on making profit
