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SUSTAINABILITY WORKS:

RETHINKING BUSINESS AS USUAL

You are welcome to print a copy of the Sustainability Works: Rethinking Business As Usual discussion course for your personal use. However, our copyright permissions do not allow reproductions of this material for anyone other than the person who purchased this electronic copy of our course book.

NW Earth Institute is a small nonprofit, and we are primarily funded by member contributions and the sale of our course books. We sincerely appreciate your support of our work, and thank you for not distributing this course book beyond what our permissions allow.

Please email us at [email protected] if you have any questions. We’d love to hear from you!

Best regards,Lacy Cagle, Curriculum Director,and the Northwest Earth Institute Team

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D I S C U S S I O N C O U R S E O N

SUSTAINABILITY WORKS: RETHINKING

BUSINESS AS USUAL

Copyright 2016

By

Northwest Earth Institute 107 SE Washington St., Suite 240

Portland, OR 97214 (503) 227-2807

[email protected] nwei.org

Requests for permission to reproduce any materials in this course book should be directed to

Northwest Earth Institute.

See “Permissions” page for information on reading materials; these cannot be

reproduced without permission.

Layout and Typography: Margaret Parker Cover Design: Lee Benson, City Limit Design

Curriculum Development and Editing: Lacy Cagle

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S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y W O R K S : R E T H I N K I N G B U S I N E S S A S U S U A L Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s

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T A B L E O F

ABOUT NWEI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

ABOUT THIS CURRICULUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

GUIDELINES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

EVALUATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

SESSION 1: SUSTAINABILITY IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13“Seeing the Whole Picture” by Peter M. Senge, Joe Laur, Bryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz and Sara Schley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15Video: Systems Thinking: A Cautionary Tale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Preface of The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18Video: Business Case for Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19“Changing the Meme of Constant Growth” by Sandra Waddock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20“Accurately Valuing Sustainability” by Bruce Watson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22“The Extravagant Gesture” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23“Introducing the Intrapreneur!” by NWEI and The League of Intrapreneurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Mission Brief: Making the Business Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

SESSION 2: FRAMING SUSTAINABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28“Natural Capitalism:Creating the Next Industrial Revolution” by Paul Hawken, Armory Lovins and Hunter Lovins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Video: Rethinking Progress: The Circular Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30“Five Guiding Principles” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Video: Triple Bottom Line and Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33“B Corps: Being Beneficial” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34“Patagonia’s New, Decentralized Approach to Sustainability Management” by Maura Dilley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35“There Is No Catch: When Inclusive Business Works for Everyone” by Alex Mihm . . . . . . . . . . . 36“The Private Sector Needs to Come Clean about Doing Good” by Myriam Sidibe . . . . . . . . . . . 38Mission Brief: Negotiating the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

SESSION 3: THE POWER OF ONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41“5 Core Competencies of Sustainability Leadership” by Ellen Weinreb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43“10 Lessons for Future Sustainability Leaders” by Alex Duff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44“Bringing an Entrepreneurial Mindset to the World’s Failing Systems” by Charmian Love and Rachel Sinha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46“The Power of Sustainability-First Design” by Christine Bader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48“Diversity Makes Us Smarter” by Katherine W. Phillips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50“Insight on Diversity” by Alex Mihm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51Video: How Great Leaders Inspire Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52“The Power of One” by Ray Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Mission Brief: Building Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

CONTENTS

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SESSION 4: WORK FROM THE INSIDE OUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57“Six Strategies for Creating System Change for a Sustainable Future” by Anna Birney . . . . . 58Video: Got a Wicked Problem? First, Let Me Tell You How to Make Toast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Action Plan: Step One: Brainstorm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Action Plan: Step Two: Smart Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Action Plan: Step Three: Outline Actionable Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Action Plan: Step Four: Implement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Mission Brief: Unlocking Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

CONNECT, REFLECT, ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

PERMISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

BECOME A MEMBER OF NWEI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

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ABOUT NWEIWe believe every person has the power to create positive action.

There’s no shortage of information about the serious challenges facing our planet – and although most people say they would like to do more, they don’t know where to start.

That’s where we come in.

We believe change should be fun.For over 20 years, Northwest Earth Institute has helped make

change more possible, more social, and yes, more fun by helping people connect with their communities and take action, together.

We believe the little things make a big difference.

NWEI was founded in 1993 with a simple objective: to give people a framework to talk about our relationship with the planet and to share in discovering new ways to live, work, create and consume.

And (as more than 170,000 NWEI participants worldwide have discovered since then) it turns out that within that simple objective is a recipe for powerful change.

When you break big issues into bite-sized pieces, and talk through them with the people who matter to you, you discover insights and inspiration. You learn, together. You build a personal network of shared stories and support that makes it easy to take action. In short, you become part of a community for change.

We believe in change that works for you.From the beginning, we have been committed to meeting people

where they are. We don’t tell you what to think, or buy, or do. And we believe no change is too small — in fact, those tiny choices we make every day, by rote or by habit (paper or plastic? take or toss? borrow or buy?) are exactly where change is most possible and powerful.

Through our discussion courses and the EcoChallenge, we help people discover shared learning, shared stories and shared action.

We discover change, together.“The key to NWEI is the deep conversation, the networks and the

friendships that continue to occur beyond the circle. The discussion circle is the initial spark that sets things aflame, and things continue happening after that. You do not put out the fire.”

—Lena Rotenberg, NWEI course participant

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ABOUT THIS CURRICULUM

Lacy Cagle (Editor) is the Director of Learning at NW Earth Institute, where she designs and edits NWEI’s discussion courses and other educational programs. She holds a MS in Educational Leadership and Policy with a focus on Leadership in Sustainability Education from Portland State University and a BA in Contextual Environments from Greenville College. When not developing curriculum, Lacy also enjoys urban exploring, gardening, and playing trivia in St. Louis, Missouri.

CURRICULUM COMMITTEE This discussion course would not exist without the

expertise and time volunteered by the people on our curriculum committee. NWEI would like to offer sincere and deep appreciation for the many hours of time they collectively invested in this project.

Kelly Northcutt (Curriculum Intern) is a Colorado native with a passion for trails, fresh air and tall trees. She studied Environmental Ethics and Policy at University of Portland and earned a Masters in Environmental Management from Portland State University. She is committed to bike commuting, eating mindfully and cultivating a deep appreciation for the natural world.

Margaret Parker (Layout Editor) is a freelance graphic artist in Portland, Oregon. She says that after taking several NWEI courses that were “life-changing,” she jumped at the opportunity to be involved in the creation of NWEI course books. Margaret is a native of the Pacific Northwest, spent a year in Poland, and has lived in Portland for the past 11 years.

Lee Benson (Cover Designer) is a freelance graphic designer living in Portland, Oregon. After obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Film & Digital Media, he moved to Portland to study design, earning an AAS at Portland Community College. Since graduating, he has been sole proprietor of City Limit Design. He enjoys working with local nonprofits that work to improve quality of life. In his spare time, he enjoys crafting cocktails, riding his bike and watching classic movies.

Veronica Hotton is a Fellow at Northwest Earth Institute and teaches Geography classes at Portland State University. She recently completed her PhD in Education at Simon Fraser University and has an MA in Geography from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Veronica also has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies.

Dr. Linda Gerber, retired president of Portland Community College’s Sylvania Campus, led planning efforts that successfully reduced the college’s greenhouse emissions and now serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations charged with creating and preserving a healthy environment. She and her husband also manage a Clackamas valley farm that has been in her family since the 1860s.

Ashley Johns is the Administrative Assistant for the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. She received her Master’s degree in Global Sustainability at Webster University, during which she served as the Curriculum Intern for NWEI. Ashley also works for the Recycling on the Go team with St. Louis Earth Day where she is a site supervisor and gets dirty and gross to keep waste out of landfills. During her free time she volunteers as Outreach Coordinator on the board for the Bi-State Pet Food Pantry, cooks vegan food, and studies Buddhism.

Mark Lyles is a Project Manager at New Buildings Institute. Mark earned his Master of Architecture degree, with a focus on Sustainability, in 2008. As a Project Manager he provides technical support, research assistance, and data analysis on emerging design strategies and leading technologies that result in high performing commercial buildings.

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Bill Mains is the Director of Sustainability and Leadership in the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University and also serves as the Leadership Coordinator for SCU’s Johnson Scholars Program. Outside of his work at SCU, Bill sits on the Board of Directors for Bountiful Churchyards, is an Energy Ambassador for PG&E through Net Impact, and serves on committees for his local school district and church communities. Bill earned a BA in Psychology from Carthage College, an MEd in Community Counseling from Kent State University, an MA in Ethics and Social Theory from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and is a Certified Sustainability Associate by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals.

Alex Mihm is the Program Coordinator with Northwest Earth Institute and a writer in the greater Portland area. He has a professional background in cooperative-based green renovation, weatherization, and hands-on education. Alex volunteers with a number of local sustainability-focused organizations and is the current chair of the West Linn Sustainability Advisory Board. He is a graduate of Marylhurst University, where he earned his degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a concentration in sustainability and writing.

Bridget Venne is a Strategic Advisor at Ecova who designs and implements resource management, corporate responsibility, and carbon target setting strategies for Ecova’s large, multi-site commercial clients. She is a LEED AP and registered architect and holds an MBA/MCRP with a concentration in Sustainable Enterprise from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She graduated Cum Laude with an Honor’s Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Oregon.

Kim White is lead sustainability advisor for Sustainability at Work in the City of Portland. She has a passion for Portland and uses her own experience working for private and nonprofit organizations to guide her work with Portland’s business community. When she’s not helping businesses broaden their sustainability efforts, she’s supporting her colleagues behind the scenes.

Liz Zavodsky is the Director of Membership & Engagement at NWEI. She oversees program engagement with businesses nationwide in addition to managing donor relationships and records, and volunteer coordination. Before joining NWEI, Liz worked in higher education and residence life. She received her BA from University of Northern Colorado, and her MA in Human Development from University of Denver.

G u i d e l i n e s N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

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GUIDELINESFOR THE FACILITATOR, OPENER AND NOTETAKER

This discussion course is designed to be much more than a reader; it is designed to be a guide for transformative learning.

When you break big issues into bite-sized pieces, and talk through them with people you trust, you discover insights and inspiration that are hard to find on your own. You learn, together. You build a personal network of shared stories and support that makes it easy to take action. In short, you become part of a community for change.

Below you will find guidelines for three of the roles participants will play in this course: the facilitator, the opener and the notetaker. For each session of this course, one participant brings an “opening,” a second participant facilitates the discussion, and a third participant takes notes on each person’s commitment to action. The roles rotate each week with a different group member doing the opening, facilitating and notetaking. This process is at the core ofNorthwest Earth Institute culture — it assumes we gain our greatest insights through self-discovery, promoting discussion among equals with no teacher. Learn more about organizing a Northwest Earth Institute discussion course at nwei.org/get-started.

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FOR THE SESSION FACILITATORAs facilitator, your role is to stimulate and moderate the

discussion. You do not need to be an expert or the most knowledgeable person about the topic.Your role is to:

• Remind the opener ahead of time to bring their opening.

• Begin and end on time.

• Ask the questions included in each chapter, or your own. The circle question is designed to get everyone’s voice in the room — be sure to start the discussion with it and that everyone answers it briefly without interruption or comment from other participants.

• Make sure your group has time to talk about their commitments to action — it is a positive way to end each gathering.

• Keep discussion focused on the session’s topic. A deli cate balance is best — don’t force the group into the questions, but don’t allow the discussion to drift too far.

• Manage the group process, using the guidelines below:

A primary goal is for everyone to participate and to learn from themselves and each other. Draw out quiet participants by creating an opportunity for each person to contribute. Don’t let one or two people dominate the discussion. Thank them for their opinions and then ask another person to share.

Be an active listener. You need to hear and understand what people say if you are to guide the discussion effectively. Model this for others.

The focus should be on personal reactions to the readings — on personal values, feelings, and experiences.

The course is not for judging others’ responses. Consensus is not a goal.

http://www.nwei.org/get-started

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The facilitator should ensure that the action plan discussion:• allows each person’s action to be discussed for

1-2 minutes;• remains non-judgmental and non-prescriptive;• focuses on encouraging fellow group members in their

commitments and actions.

FOR THE SESSION OPENERBring a short opening, not more than a couple of minutes.

It should be something meaningful to you, or that expresses your personal ap pre ciation for the natural world. Examples: a short personal story, an object or photograph that has special meaning, a poem, a visualization, etc. We encourage you to have fun and be creative.

The purpose of the opening is twofold. First, it pro vides a transition from other activities of the day into the group

discussion. Second, since the opening is personal, it allows the group to get better acquainted with you. This aspect of the course can be very rewarding.

FOR THE NOTETAKERAt the end of each session, each participant will commit

to one action they will complete before the next meeting. They will share their actions with the group, and it is your responsibility as notetaker to record each person’s commitment to action.

Each week the notetaker role will rotate. During the portion of discussion focused on actions, the notetaker from the previous meeting will read aloud each person’s action item, and group members will have the opportunity to share their successes and struggles. The new notetaker for that week will then record each person’s commitment for the next meeting.

COURSE SCHEDULE FOR SUSTAINABILITY WORKS: RETHINKING BUSINESS AS USUAL

This course schedule may be useful to keep track of meeting dates and of when you will be facilitating or providing the opening.

Course Organizer : ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Contact Info :________________________________________

Location for Future Meetings : ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SESSION DATE OPENER FACILITATOR NOTETAKER

Sustainability Is Everyone’s Business ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Framing Sustainability ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Power of One ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work from the Inside Out ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect, Reflect, Act ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y W O R K S : R E T H I N K I N G B U S I N E S S A S U S U A L

EVALUATIONYou can chooseto print out this evaluation or complete it online at nwei.org/evaluations

PART 1: Please fill out from your weekly notes. Rate each session.

1. Sustainability Is Everyone’s Business Not at all Very much

How informative was this session? (Did you learn anything new?) 1 2 3 4 5

How much did this session help you in changing your behavior or committing to action? 1 2 3 4 5

Did you complete the Mission Brief for this session? YES NO

Additional thoughts or comments:

2. Framing Sustainability Not at all Very much





3. The Power of One Not at all Very much





(continued)

http://www.nwei.org/evaluations

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4. Work from the Inside Out Not at all Very much




Did you use the resources in this session to create a plan of action? YES NO


Part 2: Please complete at the end of the course.

Has this course made a difference in your life (i.e. your attitudes, beliefs, perspectives, goals, habits)?

Please describe what actions you are taking or you plan to take in response to this course.

What has been the most valuable aspect of this course?

Are there other resources you would like to see included in this course?

Do you have any additional thoughts or comments to share?

Complete your evaluation online at nwei.org/evaluations, or send your completed evaluation via email to [email protected] via snail mail to NWEI, 107 SE Washington St., Suite 240, Portland, OR 97214. Thank you for your participation!

Become a member of NWEI today at nwei.org/membership/

Follow us at:

http://www.nwei.org/blog/

http://www.facebook.com/NorthwestEarthInstitute

http://twitter.com/nwearth

http://www.nwei.org/evaluations

http://www.nwei.org/membership/

www.nwei.org/e-newsletter-subscription/

I n t r o d u c t i o n N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

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INTRODUCTIONCan what’s good for business, and the bottom-line, be

good for the planet too? How can we find the ‘sweet spot’ where they intersect?

Research shows that being a good corporate citizen can also increase revenue and productivity. Research also shows that potential employees and consumers alike are seeking out companies that are socially responsible. Creating a sustainable business — one that uses the “triple bottom line” of people, planet and profit to measure success — is not only possible (and “the right thing to do”), it’s an imperative for the 21st century.

Sustainability Works: Rethinking Business as Usual is designed to help you and your organization respond to the need for systems-level change that benefits both people and the planet. Sustainability Works provides the information and inspiration you need to engage your team, and contains tools to help you create a plan to advance sustainability in your business. If your sustainability efforts are already underway, this discussion course will offer an opportunity to fine-tune your goals and engage new stakeholders.

NWEI discussion courses are unique in that they provide an opportunity for individuals and teams to reflect and discuss important issues together, building support and momentum for change. By dedicating time to a process of inquiry and discussion, employees begin owning the issue of sustainability and become champions for its integration.

Sustainability Works is also unique in another way. We’ve partnered with the League of Intrapreneurs to offer you a customized version of their Cubicle Warriors Toolkit. Their toolkit will support your efforts to transform your business from the inside out. Through each session of this course, you will use the Cubicle Warriors Toolkit to start putting sustainability change into action.

Let’s get started!

For over 20 years, NW Earth Institute has helped make sustainable change more possible, more social, and yes, more fun by helping people connect with their communities and take action, together.

We believe the solution to many of Earth’s biggest challenges lies in the power of collective change: by taking action in our own lives and inspiring the people around us, each of us contributes to a world of impact. NW Earth Institute’s discussion courses and EcoChallenge platform give participants the tools to create their own communities of change through shared learning, shared stories and shared action.

Social intrapreneurs are becoming key actors in the race towards a new economy. These corporate and institutional changemakers are developing scalable solutions to some of our most intractable problems from health to education to environment. But unlike social entrepreneurs, they are innovating from within business, governments and nonprofits everywhere.

The League of Intrapreneurs is a global action learning community that supports institutional innovators. We work to unlock the human potential and organizational assets inside our most powerful institutions to create positive impact in the world.

www.leagueofintrapreneurs.com

www.nwei.org

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S E S S I O N 1

LEARNING OBJECTIVES• Describe the business case for sustainability from

environmental, economic and social perspectives.

• Develop and practice systems thinking skills.

• Assess actions your organization is currently taking.

• Identify strategic actions your organization could take toward more sustainable practices.

• Apply both rational and emotion-appealing arguments to articulate your own case for sustainability action in your organization.

ABOUT THIS SESSION

Many people today still see maximizing profit and taking care of the planet as two completely separate paths. But research shows that being a good corporate citizen can actually increase revenue and productivity. In this session, we will discuss the business case for sustainability from a variety of perspectives. We will also consider how to best communicate that business case to others — by combining both rational and emotional arguments to effectively persuade others that sustainability is a worthwhile endeavor.

SUSTAINABILITY IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS

If we don’t change our direction, we’re likely to end up where we’re headed.

— CHINESE PROVERB

S e s s i o n 1 / S u s t a i n a b i l i t y I s E v e r y o n e ’ s B u s i n e s s N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

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SUGGESTED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Do the people you know feel more or less connected to larger systems in today’s global world? Why?

2. What is an example of a default decision you’ve seen made (without considering larger systems) that caused additional problems? What is an example of a decision you’ve seen made with consideration to larger systems?

3. Do you believe that the level of change Paul Hawken describes in “The Ecology of Commerce” is possible within your organization? Which proposed design objective do you believe is most attainable? How might your organization take steps towards this change?

4. How might looking at sustainability first as an economic benefit open the door to thinking of it as an environmental and social benefit as well?

5. What kinds of memes do you think would spur serious conversation about having goals for our economy other than growth?

6. In your company, would an 11% increase in value justify adopting sustainable practices? If your company has adopted sustainable practices, how do you think that change has affected its value?

7. Discuss the reasons that employee recruitment and retention would be impacted by a company’s sustainable practices. How does a company’s environmental/sustainability record and vision play into your choices about employment?

8. Have you ever used nature to inspire your work? If so, please share. If not, how could you?

The authors of “Seeing the Whole Picture” say, “Life creates the conditions for life.” What is one way our Industrial Age behaviors do not create the conditions for life?

Reminder to the facilitator: The circle question should move quickly. Elicit an answer from each participant without questions or comments from others. The facilitator’s guidelines are on page 8.

Circle Question

9. Think ahead to a world in which products are continually upcycled, recirculated, and so on. How might such a system keep pace with a rising population? Could such an approach sustain society’s ever-growing demand for possessions, or should reducing demand still be a focus?

10. What is a “nutritious” product? How would you redesign a product that you currently use or sell to be nutritious?

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICEConsider how you can apply what you learned in this session in your own organization. Putting

one thing into practice each week helps you feel empowered to make larger change and inspires new ideas for ongoing action. Here are some categories and suggestions to get you started.

❏❏ Transportation. Start a carpool with co-workers who live close to you, or create a carpool program for work events and meetings.

❏❏ Water. Provide reusable water glasses and pitchers for use during meetings.

❏❏ Energy. Install LEDs where possible, and check with your local waste management department to determine how to dispose of them properly after use.

❏❏ Waste. Take your reusable water bottle and/or coffee cup with you wherever you go this week — and remember to use it!

❏❏ Food. Support local and organic growers, caterers, or food suppliers who practice environmentally responsible operations.

❏❏ Connection. Consider implementing a “recess” program for your employees. KEEN’s campaign to bring recess back offers a toolkit and ideas for getting started: keenfootwear.com/recess/

http://www.keenfootwear.com/recess/


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SEEING THE WHOLE PICTURE

By Peter M. Senge, Joe Laur, Bryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz and Sara Schley

For most of us, the endless litany of environmental and societal crises is overwhelming, both emotionally and cognitively. It is no wonder that so many simply “turn off” when confronted with another story of climate-change-related severe weather, water shortages, or toxic waste. The first problem to deal with is simply “How do I take all of this in without frying my circuits?”

“Systems thinking” has long been a cornerstone in our work [Society for Organizational Learning] on organizational learning, but the term often seems more daunting (it can easily sound like an intellectual task reserved for Ph.D.’s) than helpful. In fact, systems thinking is not about fighting complexity with more complexity. It simply means stepping back and seeing patterns that are, when seen clearly, intuitive and easy to grasp.

Several years ago, working with the Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy and resource research and consultancy group, we developed a simple “systems picture” to help people make sense of the situation in which we find ourselves today. The gist of the picture centers on six basic ideas.

If you had to explain our predicament to a ten-year-old, this would be a good way to start:1. The industrial system — what we make, buy, and use

(from cars and TV’s to buildings and power plants) —

sits within the larger systems of nature.

2. This larger natural world includes living, regenerative resources, such as forests, croplands, and fisheries, and other resources that, from a human time perspective, do not regenerate, such as oil and minerals.

3. The regenerative resources can sustain human activities indefinitely, so long as we do not “harvest” them more rapidly than they replenish themselves.

4. The non-regenerative resources can only be depleted or “extracted.” (That is why mining, oil production, and other similar industries are called “extractive industries.”) And not surprisingly, since they cannot be replenished, sooner or later — as is happening right now — many start to run out.

Because modern societies are set up to focus on the benefits and output of industry, we tend to either not see or pay less attention to the fifth and sixth features:

5. In the process of extracting and harvesting resources in order to produce and use goods, the industrial system also generates waste — waste from extracting and harvesting resources, and from how we produce, use, and eventually discard goods. This waste damages the ability of nature to replenish resources.

6. The industrial system also sits within a larger social system of communities, families, schools, and culture. Just as overproduction and waste damage natural systems, they also cause anxiety, inequity, and stresses in our societies. …

Put differently, we have gotten into our predicament today because of a way of thinking that focuses on parts and neglects the whole. We have become masterful at focusing on immediate goals — such as short-term profits — and neglecting the larger systems of which quarterly profits are but one small part. But this is changing because the larger reality can no longer be ignored.

Which brings us to the question of how, the answer to which is relatively simple — although far from easy. Up until now, we have been shifting the burden to nature to handle the side effects of our fragmented short-term take-make-waste solutions.

Either we continue on this path, perhaps making the occasional incremental adjustment (the equivalent of choosing between paper and plastic bags), or we invest seriously and immediately in building a regenerative economy and society that mimics nature as fully as possible.

LIFE BEYOND THE BUBBLERecall the exchanges between those inside and outside

the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. Those inside the bubble were living in a “new economy” with new rules, and


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its success spoke for itself. What mattered was technology, hits to your website, “stickiness” (how long people stayed on your website once they arrived), and frequently a cool, anti-corporate image. Profit — that old-economy word — would come in time, the new-economy zealots argued. And many investors agreed — so much so that profitable old-economy business often saw their market value decline in comparison to their dot-com counterparts, despite the fact that the dot-coms had little or no profits.

But there was a larger reality outside the bubble where profits actually did matter. Eventually this larger reality asserted itself and the bubble burst, wiping out a great many paper millionaires and a few billionaires in the process.

As [historian Jared] Diamond shows, societal bubbles can last decades or even centuries. In the meantime, the longer the bubble grows, the more people and resources get drawn into it, the more people may benefit from it, and the more its beliefs become deeply entrenched.

After generations, it becomes hard to even imagine an alternative, a way of living outside the bubble. But at some point the tensions and inconsistencies between life inside the bubble and the larger reality outside of it must be resolved. The bubble cannot continue expanding indefinitely.

We believe the Industrial Age constitutes an extended bubble of just this sort. Its expansion has continued for several centuries, so it is easy to assume that it will

continue forever. But there is a world outside the bubble, what biologist E.O. Wilson calls “the real real world,” and, as we are beginning to witness, signs that the Industrial Age Bubble has run its course are already out in plain sight.

THE CHOICE BEHIND OUR CHOICESA core principle of a regenerative society is that life

creates conditions for life.When it comes to deciding how we deal with key issues

such as energy, water, and other resources, we can either adopt that principle or resign ourselves to the fact that our time here will be short. Why? Because the more we opt for the old Industrial Age model, the more we compromise the conditions that support and generate life. And the more severe our sustainability problems become, the more difficult it becomes to invest in alternatives, because the increasingly stressed ecosystems will demand immediate, reactive efforts that limit our ability to truly innovate the future.

Obviously, the Industrial Age Bubble is a metaphor, but it is a useful way of looking at the current situation and can help guide our choices going forward. The Bubble is sustained by the choices we make every day — what we buy, what we make and how we make it, how we interact with one another. Choices that reinforce the extractive “take-make-waste” economy are based on a set of assumptions, beliefs, and ways of seeing the world that we have developed over

WATCH THIS VIDEO! Systems Thinking: A Cautionary Taleyoutube.com/watch?v=17BP9n6g1F0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17BP9n6g1F0


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societies. It is about reconnecting with ourselves, one another, and our fellow non-human inhabitants on earth.

Over twenty years ago, the tiny country of Bhutan embarked on a project of devising a new set of indicators for national progress. What became known as the gross national happiness, or GNH, index included forest cover, child nutrition, education levels, and health of the elderly. Interestingly, in the years since it began using the GNH index, Bhutan has consistently been rated at the top of the performance index maintained by the World Bank for all countries that receive financing from its International Development Assistance arm, an index that takes into account both governance and social and economic indicators.

Life beyond the Bubble will require suspending “either/or” thinking. Assuming that we must choose either a better standard of living or healthy ecosystems and cannot have both is a by-product of the Industrial Age. This is not to assume that a regenerative society will not involve changes that will be difficult, such as adjusting to high energy prices, having fewer material acquisitions, or taking greater responsibility for our impact on the world. But to assume that this is automatically a step backward in terms of overall quality of living is to assume that our answers from the past are automatically the answers for the future.

THE WAY IN IS ALSO THE WAY OUTJust as our way of thinking got us into the situation

we are in today, so, too, will our thinking — differently — help us find our way out. We can’t attack the problems piecemeal. Solving isolated social and environmental problems will not get us very far; at best it will provide short-term relief. Neither will preserving the status quo while imagining naively that new technologies alone will somehow save the day.

We need to ask, “What would a way of thinking, a way of living, and ultimately an economic system look like that worked based on the principles of the larger natural world? And how do we create such a way of living in our organizations and societies, one step at a time?”

This excerpt is from The Necessary Revolution (2008) by Peter M. Senge, Joe Laur, Bryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz, and Sara Schley. Senge is a scientist and director of the Center for Organizational Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is also the author of The Fifth Discipline (1990) and The Dance of Change (1999). Smith is coauthor with Senge of The Dance of Change and two other Fifth Discipline fieldbooks, is a member of the faculty at York University, and president of Broad Reach Innovations, Inc. Laur and Schley co-founded the SoL Sustainability Consortium in 1998; Laur is vice president of content for Greenopolis.com and Schley is a mentor for the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. Kruschwitz is an author and the Director of Publications at SoL.

time and that have by now become deeply embedded in modern society. For example:

• Energy is infinite and cheap.

• There will always be enough room to dispose of all our waste.

• Humans can’t possibly alter the global environment. For instance, weather patterns will remain relatively stable no matter how we act.

• Humans are the primary species on earth; others are less important, and many are irrelevant.

• Basic resources such as water and topsoil are unlimited. If limits or problems are encountered, markets and new technologies will reallocate financial resources so we can continue with our current ways of living and working.

• Productivity and standardization are keys to economic progress.

• Economic growth and rising GDP are the best way to “lift all boats” and reduce social inequities.

By contrast, life beyond the Bubble will be based on choices reflecting very different beliefs, assumptions, and guiding principles, such as:

• Surf the flux. Live within our energy income by relying on forms of energy that come from renewable sources such as solar, wind, tidal, and bio-based inputs.

• Zero to landfill. Everything, from cars and iPods to office buildings and machine tools, is 100 percent recyclable, remanufacturable, or compostable.

• We are borrowing the future from our children: we have to pay it back. Our first responsibility is to leave a healthy global biosphere for our children, their children, their children’s children and so on.

• We are only one of nature’s wonders. We are just one of the species that matter, and we all depend on each other in ways we cannot even imagine.

• Value the earth’s services; they come free of charge to those who treasure them. Healthy ecosystems are precious and must be treated as such.

• Embrace variety; build community. Harmony amid diversity is a feature of healthy ecosystems and societies.

• In the global village, there is only one boat, and a hole sinks us all. Our mutual security and well-being depend on respect and concern for all. If any of us is insecure, then we all are.

Lastly, a regenerative society is a flourishing society. The revolution is not about giving up; it’s about rediscovering what we most value. It is about making quality of living central in our communities, businesses, schools, and


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THE ECOLOGY OF COMMERCE

By Paul Hawken

Books originate in strange moments and places. This one began in the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom in 1991. A company I founded had been nominated for the Council on Economic Priorities’ Environmental Stewardship Award. Although there were many environmental awards being handed out at that time, some of which were ersatz, CEP’s tough stance on social and environmental responsibility gave the award some weight. The list of initiatives our company had taken was long, and we weren’t surprised to have been nominated, but when George Plimpton announced we’d won, I walked to the podium, looked out at the sea of pearls and black ties, and fell mute. Instead of thanking everyone, I stood there in silence, suddenly realizing that my company did not deserve the award and that no one else did, either.

What we had done was scratch the surface of the problem, taken a few risks, put a fair amount of money where our mouths were, but in the end the impact on the environment was only marginally different than if we had done nothing at all. The recycled toner cartridges, the sustainably harvested woods, the replanted trees, the soy-based inks, and the monetary gifts to nonprofits were all well and good, but basically we were in the junk-mail business, selling products by catalog. All the recycling in the world would not change the fact that doing business today is an energy-intensive endeavor that gulps down resources.

I don’t mean to decry the efforts made by companies to reduce their negative impact on the environment. I applaud them greatly. But it was clear to me in that moment that there was no way to “there” from here, that all companies

were essentially proscribed from becoming ecologically sound, and that awards to institutions that had ventured to the environmental margins only underlined the fact that commerce and sustainability were antithetical by default, not intention. Management is being told that if it wakes up and genuflects, pronouncing its amendes honorables, substituting biopolymers for polystyrene, we will be on the path to an environmentally sound world. Nothing could be further from the truth. The problem isn’t the half measures but the illusion they foster that subtle course corrections can guide us to a good life that will include a conserved nature and expansive shopping malls. The companies that are changing their ways, reducing pollution, redesigning their products and methods of manufacture, have many different motives. In some cases, they would like to escape regulatory liabilities; some want to change their reputations with consumers; others would like to avoid perceived or future liabilities; and then there are those companies, mostly small, which are trying to fundamentally change the nature of business and move toward socially responsible commerce.

The problems we face are vast and complex, but they come down to this: we are [over 7.4] billion living together on one planet. The process of fulfilling our wants and needs is stripping the earth of its biotic capacity to produce life; a climactic burst of consumption by a single species is overwhelming the skies, earth, waters, and fauna. Every living system on Earth is in decline. Making matters worse, we are in the middle of a once-in-a-billion-years’ blowout sale of hydrocarbons. They are being combusted into the atmosphere at a rate that will effectively double-glaze the planet in the twenty-first century, with disastrous climatic results predicted by scientists. The cornucopia of resources that are being extracted, mined, and harvested is so poorly distributed that 20 percent of the earth’s people are chronically hungry, while another 20 percent, largely in the North, control and consume nearly 80 percent of the world’s wealth. Since business in its myriad forms is primarily responsible for this plunder, it is appropriate that a growing number of companies ask themselves, how do we conduct business honorably in the latter days of industrialism and the beginning of an ecological age? Companies are coming to realize that they may succeed according to conventional standards and still be violating profoundly important biological systems. The question is, can we create profitable companies that do not destroy, directly or indirectly, the world around them?

Many companies today no longer accept the maxim that the business of business is business. Their new premise is simple: Corporations, because they are the dominant institution on the planet, must squarely address social justice and environmental issues that afflict humankind. Nonprofit organizations such as Business Alliance for Local


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Living Economies (BALLE) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), consultants such as SustainAbility, Ltd., and Natural Logic, socially responsible investment companies like Portfolio 21, and thousands of family-owned companies are drawing up a new code of conduct for corporate life that integrates social, ethical, and environmental principles.

To create an enduring society we will need a system of commerce and production where each and every act is inherently sustainable and restorative. Business will need to integrate economic, biologic, and human systems to create a sustainable method of commerce. As hard as we may try to become sustainable on a company-by-company level, we cannot fully succeed until the institutions surrounding commerce are redesigned. Just as every act in an industrial society leads to environmental degradation, regardless of intention, we must design a system where the opposite is true, where doing good is like falling off a log, where the natural, everyday acts of work and life accumulate into a better world as a matter of course, not a matter of conscious altruism.

To transform commerce, we need to define honestly and forthrightly the array of problems we face. . . Although I think the problems we face are more severe than we realize, embedded in each problem is a realizable and crucial design solution. In order to achieve those solutions, we must begin with a set of objectives. I would start with these:

1. Reduce carbon emissions of energy 80 percent by 2030 and total natural resource usage 80 percent by 2050. This is not as difficult as it sounds. In material terms, it amounts to making things last twice as long using half

the resources. We already have the technology to do this in every economic sector, including energy.

2. Provide secure, stable, and meaningful employment for people everywhere. The concept that moving toward environmental restoration is economically hazardous is upside down. It is the present take-make-waste system that has over 1 billion people who want a job unemployed. Creating a restored, safe, secure world is the greatest job-creation program there is.

3. Be self-organizing rather than regulated or morally mandated. Humans want to flourish and prosper, and they resist systems that interfere with those deep impulses. Our instinct for survival coupled with our desire to protect our families is at the root of our destructive impulses, and our creative. What kind of political-economic system will harness humanity’s timeless needs and cumulate them into a world that heals the future?

4. Honor market principles. No plan to reverse environmental degradation can be enacted if it requires a wholesale change in the basic dynamics of the market. We have to recognize and respect who we are; this includes a strong instinct to shop the market and buy products of comparable quality at the lowest price. We ask people to pay more to save the planet. They won’t do it in most cases because they can’t. This does not propose unregulated markets. It means getting the true cost of production integrated into market prices so that purchasing choices lead to optimum outcomes.

5. Be more rewarding than our present way of life. We need to invite people into a world that delivers the

WATCH THIS VIDEO! Business Case for Sustainabilityyoutube.com/watch?v=KlW8-WW0k3g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlW8-WW0k3g


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CHANGING THE MEME OF CONSTANT GROWTH

By Sandra Waddock

It’s easy to take for granted our society’s core principles. It can be difficult to imagine alternatives: even when the status quo threatens our survival.

MEMES: THE GENES OF CULTUREMemes, a word coined by biologist Richard Dawkins, are

ideas, behaviors, and styles that spread within cultures. Dawkins wanted a word that sounded like gene to reflect something that reproduced ideas or other aspects of culture, much the way that genes reproduce biological traits. Memes affect how we think about the world around us.

Memes can, in fact, shape whole social or economic systems. In complex social systems like our economic and business systems, this glue of memes links individuals, organizations, and societies. To effect change we need to tap into — and change — fundamental memes: the core ideas, values and operating norms of these systems.

THE MEME OF GROWTHIn Western society, the notion that constant growth

is essential to a successful economic system is such

goods (and goodness), not subtracts them, that intrigues without threatening, a new way of life in which they can participate, enjoy, and create. Present-day limits need to become tomorrow’s opportunities.

6. Restore habitats, ecosystems, and societies to their optimum. The unspoken secret of environmentalism is that there is no such thing as sustainability. Habitats can endure over millennia, but it’s practically impossible to calculate the sustainability of specific fisheries, tracts of land, and actual forests. We passed the point where present planetary resources can be relied on to support the population for the next fifty years. A viable transformation must turn back the resource clock and devote itself to restoring damaged and deteriorating living and social systems. Restoration is far more compelling than the algebra of sustainability.

7. Rely on current income. The accumulated trust fund of worldwide resources is petering out. Human communities need to act like natural ones, living within a natural ebb and flow of energy from the sun and plants. This means redesigning all industrial, residential, and transportation processes so that whatever we use springs easily from the earth (and sun) and gracefully cycles back to it.

8. Be fun and engaging, and strive for an aesthetic outcome. Restoration comes about through the accumulated daily acts of billions of participants. Some think humans are predatory by nature. I cast my vote with those who feel humans take the shape of their culture, and that shifts in culture can occur in rare moments with remarkable speed and vigor. Good design can release humankind from its neurotic acts of destruction, and aim it toward a destiny that is far more enduring. The urge to create beauty and justice is an untapped power, and it exists in all levels of society.

As you read [the following pages], imagine yourself a designer, remaking a world where commerce and environmental restoration are synonymous. What would such a system look like? How would it feel to work in it? What are the obstacles preventing us from doing the right thing? How do we change or remove those barriers?

As you seek your own answers to these questions, keep this critical point in mind: Our human destiny is inextricably linked to the actions of all other living things. Respecting this principle is the fundamental challenge in changing the nature of business.

This excerpt is from the Preface of The Ecology of Commerce (2010) by Paul Hawken. Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist and author. He founded and directed the Natural Capital Institute, and his most recent publication Blessed Unrest (2007) is a New York Times bestseller that examines the worldwide movement for social and environmental change.


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a meme. Most people believe that without growth, our economy and companies could not survive or prosper.

The growth meme may have served a purpose in the heady days following World War II, when it became prominent. Leaders in that era saw a need to foster growth because the war had destroyed companies’ ability to produce and peoples’ ability to get goods and services. Whole countries, including Japan and Germany, needed to rebuild their manufacturing infrastructure, so the emphasis was on regenerating productive capacity — and consumption.

But the growth meme no longer serves humanity well; indeed, it is driving humanity off an ecological cliff.

QUESTIONING CONSTANT GROWTHEconomic growth is measured using gross national (or

domestic) product: GNP and GDP. But these measures, and the goal they represent, are fundamentally flawed: They only assess activity that can be priced. As a result, GDP and GNP don’t consider possible negative consequences of economic activity, such as environmental degradation and social costs.

GDP and GNP also fail to capture vital elements of the economy. They don’t consider human wellbeing and other important values. And they leave out activities with no monetary value but important economic consequences: like, for instance, childrearing in the home.

Numerous studies (e.g., from the Club of Rome) conclude that continued economic growth, as currently measured, is not physically possible over the longer run. As climate change heats up, the need for systems change becomes even clearer.

Nonetheless, the meme of constant economic “growth” powerfully shapes our views about how an economy or society is doing. Just listen to any news broadcast or read any economic report to confirm the bias towards constant growth.

FINDING A NEW MEMEMemes can evolve as the culture around them changes.

What new memes can reflect the realities of our resource constraints — and human beings’ place in that world?

We need a meme that allows businesses, societies, and, importantly, human beings and other creatures, to thrive without destructive growth and the emphasis on material consumption — the relentless pursuit of “more” — that we find with the current meme of growth.

By thinking carefully about possible new memes and talking about them with others, we can all play crucial roles in changing the growth meme to something that works better for the long term.

What might this new meme be? Here are some suggestions:

• Flourishing. Management scholars John Ehrenfeld and Andy Hoffman urge a focus on “the fullness of life, not some material metric,” and specifically on caring for oneself and others. “Corporations’ basic strategies would move from satisfying needs (or wants) to enabling care,” Ehrenfeld writes.

• Wellbeing. In our recent book SEE Change, Malcolm McIntosh and I argue that humans crave community, balance, connection and artistic and spiritual development for wellbeing, not just material goods and money. A focus on wellbeing could create a saner, more interpersonally connected, and more sustainable world.

• Plenitude. Sociologist Juliet Schor urges households to diversify income sources and explore small-scale enterprises. She calls for appreciation of “undervalued sources of wealth”: time, creativity and social relationships.

• Enough. Writing from a religious perspective, Will Davis also emphasizes caring for others.

• Thriving or thrivability. This is my personal favorite. It incorporates sustainability without that word’s connotation of status quo, recognizing that we cannot “sustain” the meme of growth.

We need a new core meme for our economic, productive, and social systems that connotes thriving in a context of using fewer ecological resources while still supporting the world’s living beings. I call this new meme thrivability.* What do you call it?

*The idea of thrivability was generated by a group I participated in at the Business as an Agent of World Benefit Conference in 2006.

Dr. Sandra Waddock is the Galligan Chair of Strategy, Carroll School Scholar of Corporate Responsibility, and Professor of Management in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College (BC). She was a co-founder of the Initiative for Responsible Investing. Dr. Waddock’s research interests are in the area of macro-system change, corporate responsibility, management education and multi-sector collaboration.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCESInterested in finding out more about the topics presented in this session?

Please visit nwei.org/resources for suggested resources.

http://www.nwei.org/resources


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ACCURATELY VALUING SUSTAINABILITY

By Bruce Watson

How much is a good reputation worth? Volkswagen recently demonstrated the cost of a bad one: in the two days after its emissions scandal broke, its share price plummeted, wiping out almost $28bn in market value. [In October 2015], the broader cost of that scandal became clear when the carmaker announced a loss of $3.86bn, its first quarterly loss in 15 years. But, while VW’s crisis was a striking demonstration of the high price of a tainted reputation, it didn’t speak to the value of a good reputation.

At [the 2015] Commit Forum, held in New York, the authors of a recent study, Project ROI, claimed that a top level corporate reputation for responsibility and sustainability can account for 11% of a firm’s value. “The majority of the academic research finds that an average of 33% of a company’s value can be attributed to its name,” Steve Rochlin, CEO of advisory firm IO Sustainability and one of the study’s co-authors, told the Guardian. “Up to one third of that name value can come from good corporate citizenship.”

The result of a partnership between Babson College and IO Sustainability, Project ROI drew its conclusions from a survey of over 300 studies and reports, supported by interviews with corporate executives and corporate responsibility practitioners. It primarily focused on large, publicly-traded companies, whose financials are more transparent. However, its authors said, its lessons are transferable to smaller, privately held companies.

The study said that the effect of a strong reputation for corporate responsibility and sustainability is perhaps most noticeable in the market. On average, Project ROI found a company with a reputation as a sustainability leader can expect up to a 20% increase in revenue and can ask customers to pay up to a 20% premium for its products.

A strong reputation for corporate social responsibility also yields dividends to companies when it comes time for hiring. According to Project ROI, these companies can expect up to 13% greater worker productivity, a reduction of up to 50% in their turnover rate and up to a 3.5% reduction in the annual quit rate.

The Cost of a Bad Reputation, another study released at the [2015] Commit Forum by sponsor CR Magazine, explored the link between CSR and worker productivity. Its findings — derived from 1,012 phone interviews conducted in 2015 — suggest that companies with good corporate reputations can often attract the best talent, for less money, than their competitors.

Their survey found that, while 67% of workers would leave their current jobs to go to companies with poor corporate reputations, they would require — on average — a 57% raise. By comparison, 92% would leave their current job to work for a company with a strong corporate reputation. And they would do so for less: men, on average, would require a 34% raise, while women would require a 28% salary increase.

Speaking at the conference, Elliot Clark, CEO of SharedXpertise, which publishes CR Magazine, pointed out that this has a major effect on the bottom line. “The salary differential that you’d have to pay to get someone to go to work for a company with a bad reputation dwarfs the millions in recruiting costs to literally billions in salary,” he said.

Among the unemployed, these numbers are even more stark: 77% of respondents said that, if they were unemployed, they would be “unlikely” or “not at all likely” to accept a job with a company that had a bad reputation. Those statistics have been consistent since 2012, the first year the survey was conducted. “What this tells you is that they will take any other job opportunity that is available to them to avoid taking one with a company with a bad reputation,” Clark said.

One roadblock, Rochlin said at the conference, is the fear that some companies have of being ostracized for an excessive commitment to corporate social responsibility. He recounted a conversation with a CEO from a Fortune 10 company, who said that, ideally, he’d like to be ranked number 26 on a list of the 100 best corporate businesses, because “that puts me near the top, but not so far up that I’ll be noticed.”

The trouble with that strategy, Rochlin said, is that the benefits from a strong corporate social responsibility reputation largely accrue to leading companies that are truly committed to being a sustainable enterprise. “This is one of those cases when the tallest poppy not only doesn’t get cut, but actually gets the majority of the water,” he told the Guardian.

Companies that dabble in sustainability, he said, get the worst of both worlds. “Externally, they’re criticized by their stakeholders for not doing enough,” he added. “Internally, they’re criticized by their shareholders who don’t understand the value of their sustainability efforts.”

This article was originally featured in The Guardian, October 2015. Bruce Watson is a New York-based writer who reports on finance, food and culture for the Guardian, Esquire, and DailyFinance.


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THE EXTRAVAGANT GESTURE

By William McDonough and Michael Braungart

NATURE’S ABUNDANCEHow is it possible for industry and nature to fruitfully

coexist? Well, consider the cherry tree: each spring it produces thousands of blossoms, only a few of which germinate, take root, and grow. Who could see cherry blossoms piling up on the ground and think, “How inefficient and wasteful?” The tree’s abundance is useful and safe. After falling to the ground, the blossoms return to the soil and become nutrients for the surrounding environment. Every last particle contributes in some way to the health of a thriving ecosystem. Waste that stays waste does not exist. Instead, waste nourishes; waste equals food.

As a cherry tree grows, it enriches far more than the soil. Through photosynthesis it makes food from the sun, providing nourishment for animals, birds and microorganisms. It sequesters carbon, produces oxygen and filters water. The tree’s limbs and leaves harbor a great diversity of microbes and insects, all of which play a role within a local system of natural cycles. Even in

death the tree provides nourishment as it decomposes and releases minerals that fuel new life. From blossom to sapling to magnificent old age, the cherry tree’s growth is regenerative. We could say its life cycle is cradle to cradle — after each useful life it provides nourishment for something new. In a cradle to cradle world — a world of natural cycles powered by the sun — growth is good, waste nutritious, and nature’s diverse responses to place are the source of intelligent design.

Industrial life cycles, on the other hand, tend to be cradle to grave. Typically, the production and consumption of goods follows a one-way, linear path from the factory to the household to the landfill or incinerator. Wasted materials and harmful emissions trail products from the cradle to the industrial plant to the grave of the local dump, where products themselves are thrown “away” or burned for energy. Recycling and regulation are often employed to minimize the negative impacts of industry and they do help ease the conflict between nature and commerce. But why not set out, right from the start, to create products and industrial systems that have only positive, regenerative impacts on the world? Why fine-tune a damaging system when we can create a world of commerce that we can


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celebrate and unabashedly applaud?Commerce worth applauding applies nature’s cycles

to the making of things. It generates safe, ecologically intelligent products that, like the cherry tree, provide nourishment for something new after each useful life. From a design perspective, this means creating products that work within cradle to cradle life cycles rather than cradle to grave ones. It means rather than designing products to be used and thrown away, we begin to imitate nature’s highly effective systems and design every product as a nutrient.

What is a nutritious product? It’s not simply an all-natural product; it’s not a recycled product, either. Instead it’s a product designed to provide nutrients to what we have conceived as the Earth’s two discrete metabolisms, the biosphere — the cycles of nature — and the technosphere — the cycles of industry. Lightweight food packaging, for example, can be designed to be a nutritious part of the biological metabolism; if it is made of organic compounds it can be safely returned to the soil to be consumed by microorganisms. Synthetic materials, chemicals, metals, and durable goods are part of the technical metabolism; they can be designed to circulate within closed-loop industrial cycles, in effect, providing “food” for the technosphere.

Cars, computer cases, washing machines, televisions — in fact, all industrial products — can be designed to retain value as they flow between producer and consumer. Instead of being recycled, or downcycled, into lower-quality materials, products created and used within closed technical cycles — what we call products of service — can continually circulate as high-quality products. Customers will soon be able to buy the service of such goods, and manufacturers will take them back at the customer’s request, using their complex materials in the product’s next high-value iteration.

When products from either the biosphere or the technosphere take a one-way trip to the landfill, a great wealth of nutrients is squandered. Trapped in a plastic lined dump, organic waste cannot renew the soil and valuable technical materials are lost forever. Worse, the two discrete metabolisms are mixed, contaminating both spheres: Nature, by design, cannot safely absorb the materials of industry and the technosphere has little or no use for organic nutrients. But if the things people make are channeled into one or the other of these metabolisms, then products can be safely manufactured and consumed without straining the environment. They can be considered either biological nutrients or technical nutrients, both of which provide nourishment within their respective spheres of nature and industry...

We’d like to see a true transformation of commerce, in which design goes beyond using nature efficiently and instead creates value and opportunity with products that nourish rather than deplete the world...Efficiently managing a toxic system is not the “right thing.” Efficient innovations within an affirming design protocol, however, suggest a dynamic path to a cradle to cradle world.

FROM MAINTENANCE TO RENEWAL TO INHERENT CREATIVITY

The conceptual, and actual, shift to cradle to cradle products transforms the impact of industry. When all manufactured products and materials are designed as nutrients, the production and consumption of goods enriches the natural world. And when those nutrients flow within coherent cycles, human industry and human desires can become the cherry tree, writ large.

Fanciful? Not at all. Many notable larders of companies all over the world have begun to move from the maintenance of the old industrial system to a renewal of commerce. They have decided to recognize the far-reaching influence of their creative acts and celebrate their impact of the world rather than disguise it. They have launched the next Industrial Revolution.

In fact it’s already well under way...Companies such as Milliken and Interface — major

commercial carpet companies — are putting forward their products as materials designed for reclamation. They are telling their customers they want to replace used carpets with new ones and retrieve their technical nutrients. In effect, the companies continue to own the carpet material but lease and maintain it while a customer uses the carpet in their building. Eventually the carpet will wear out like any other, and the manufacturer will reuse its materials in new carpets.

It’s important to note, however, that many carpets on the market contain such questionable, potentially toxic materials such as PVC and heavy metals, which cannot be truly “recycled,” and are instead shredded and blended into what we call a downcycled material of lower quality — a nylon reinforced PVC mush, for example. Our strategy would imply a design of the industry so that carpet materials would maintain their high quality over many useful lives in the technical metabolism.

The chemical company, BASF, for example, [created a] fiber called Savant, which is made from an infinitely recyclable nylon 6 fiber. Savant is inherently stain resistant, inherently colorfast — no need for Scotchgard — and designed to be taken back to its constituent resins to become new material for new products. In fact BASF can

Find Cradle to Cradle certified products at c2ccertified.org/

http://www.c2ccertified.org/


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retrieve old nylon 6 and transform it into an improved fiber, upcycling, rather than downcycling, an industrial material. The nylon is rematerialized, not dematerialized — a true cradle to cradle product. On the heels of BASF, manufacturers of everything from running shoes to automobiles are designing and implementing new ways to retrieve and circulate valuable materials.

Designtex, on the other hand, created an upholstery fabric that flows in the biological metabolism. The company set out to create a product that was beautiful, durable, and ecologically intelligent. After an assiduous design process with the Swiss textile mill Rohner, they decided on a wool-ramie blend that could be removed from the frame of the chair after its useful life and tossed onto the ground to naturally decompose. To ensure that the fabric would safely biodegrade, the design team considered more than eight thousand chemicals used in the textile industry to finish and dye natural fabrics. Most contained some form of mutagen, carcinogen, heavy metal, endocrine disruptor, or bio-accumulative substance, but thirty eight were found to be suitable for a material destined to be food for the soil.

It was a pleasing outcome: a gorgeous, affordable fabric that would one day be mulch for the local garden club. But the design process also yielded another very positive, if unintended, effect. When regulators tested the effluent from the Swiss mill that produced Designtex fabric, they thought their instruments were broken. They tested the influent to check their equipment and found that it was working fine — the water coming out of the factory was as clean as the water going in. The manufacturing process itself was filtering the water.

THE CREATION OF COMMUNITY WEALTHA textile mill that purifies water begins to suggest

the profound impact intelligent design can have on communities. Just as a product designed as a biological nutrient nourishes a community of microorganisms in the soil, a factory and its manufacturing processes can be designed to address a broad range of local concerns, from the desire for a convivial, productive workplace to the health of the environment to the creation of community wealth...

Herman Miller, the furniture manufacturer, took that principle to heart when it commissioned the design of a 295,000-square-foot factory and office near its headquarters in western Michigan. The company’s goals for the new plant were to foster a spirit of collaboration

between office and factory workers and create a workplace with a restorative impact on the local environment. Working with a design team that paid close attention to local conditions, Herman Miller built a plant that serves the needs of all its factory workers and administrative employees by celebrating an array of natural and cultural delights.

The low-lying, curved building follows the natural contour of the Michigan grassland. Storm water spilling off the building moves off the site through an extended series of wetlands that purify the water while providing habitat for hundreds of species of birds, plants, and insects. Plantings of native grasses and trees provided additional habitat for local creatures and further enhance the beauty of the site. Inside the building, offices face the manufacturing plant across a sunlit, urbane promenade, where workers meet and lunch and drink coffee among whimsical sculptures and thriving plants. The entire building — the gyms, the bathrooms, the factory floor — is so pleasantly bright and airy, it is now known as “the greenhouse.”

Does this enhance the well-being of workers? Create productivity and wealth? Well, yes. When Herman Miller

Would you like to take immediate action on the waste your company produces? Download a checklist for taking action on waste and materials use in your company at nwei.org/assets/Taking-Action-Materials-and-Waste.pdf

http://www.nwei.org/assets/Taking-Action-Materials-and-Waste.pdf


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moved into the building the company was producing $250 million worth of furniture each year. Within a single year it increased production by nearly $50 million with the same number of employees, a gain of 24 percent. At the same time, both office and manufacturing staff reported a significantly higher degree of job satisfaction than they had at their previous workplace...

While it’s impossible to measure the influence of delight, it’s easy to imagine the pleasure of working in a place where you can always see the beauty of the surrounding landscape, where copious fresh air and light actually blur the boundary between indoors and out. Workers in such a place feel as if they have spent the entire day outdoors. They see the comings and goings of birds and the passing of the seasons. They come to know the place where they live during their days at work...

When a company decides to create a workplace where employees can develop an appreciation for local natural beauty, it has given itself the opportunity to rethink everything under the sun; it is making a decision that will ripple through all its endeavors and through the life of the community it inhabits. It is, in effect, making a profound declaration: We are native to this place. For Herman Miller, that meant building a workplace that embodied a new way of thinking about its role in the world. For other companies, for the giants of the Industrial Age, it means staying put, reinventing themselves, and restoring the sites where they have done business for years...

Innovations in architecture and community design are being employed all over the world. The revolution in product design is well under way. And as we begin to realize the fruits of our efforts, today’s laments will become celebrations of a world in which people and nature thrive together — abundantly, delightfully, extravagantly hopefully.

This essay originally appeared in the collection Sustainable Planet (2002) by Juliet Schor and Betsy Taylor (eds). William McDonough is the founding principal of William McDonough & Partners architectural design firm. Michael Braungart is German chemist who advocates that humans can make a positive environmental impact by redesigning industrial production. They co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002).

INTRODUCING THE INTRAPRENEUR!Intrapreneurs act like entrepreneurs — taking

risks and trying out innovative approaches — but do so while working inside of an organization, instead of outside of one.

Social intrapreneurs are becoming key actors in the race towards a new kind of economy. These corporate and institutional changemakers are developing scalable solutions to some of the world’s most intractable problems ranging from health to education to environment. But contrary to social entrepreneurs, they are innovating from within business, governments and nonprofits everywhere.

Delivering game-changing innovation inside an organization is never easy, but it’s even more challenging when the problems you’re tackling — such as climate change or poverty — are not always well understood or overtly connected to the business strategy. Successful intrapreneurs learn how to communicate, collaborate, and maximize resources to bring their ideas to life.

Throughout this discussion course, we will focus on intrapreneurial actions that will help you achieve your goals for sustainability in your own organization. These actions are part of the Cubicle Warriors Toolkit designed by the League of Intrapreneurs. The League of Intrapreneurs helps support and strengthen the growing movement of corporate change agents transforming organizations from the inside out.

Now, let’s get to work!Learn more about the League of Intrapreneurs at

leagueofintrapreneurs.com.

Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument. — DESMOND TUTU

http://www.leagueofintrapreneurs.com

www.leagueofintrapreneurs.com


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Today, you are THE CORPORATE CATALYST: the charismatic indispensable activist in your board room, department, or team!

YOUR MISSION: To generate buy-in around your idea by captivating attention and breaking through corporate jargon.

YOUR CHALLENGES: Connecting transformational ideas to a workplace wrought with short-term objectives and hackneyed language.

Measuring and demonstrating financial, social and environmental value.

YOUR SUPER POWER: Undeniable charm and ability to persuade even the most ardent of naysayers. A keen ability to look over the horizon — to see the next wave of the corporate business model — and connect it with today’s priorities.

Mission Brief

Making the Business Case

Using what you learned in this week’s session, practice making the business case for your sustainability initiative by choosing one of the following actions and trying it out. For more background, additional suggested actions and tips for success, consult the League of Intrapreneur’s Cubicle Warriors Toolkit. (You can find the Toolkit at nwei.org/sustainability-works-resources/)

SMALL STEPS

➠Draft a HeadlineThis is a simple way to help others envision the future.

What would the feature article be about your work on the cover of Harvard Business Review, Time Magazine or Wall Street Journal? Mock it up and share it with others.

➠Introduce a Protagonist Identify a stakeholder in your project and use their

journey to tell the story. For example, rather than doing a data dump about the health benefits of a new medicine, tell the story of Raji, a young mother without access to this medicine, and what life will be like if the medicine becomes available and what will happen if it doesn’t.

BIGGER STEPS

➠Create BridgesWe’re addicted to founding stories. Show how your

vision connects to deep values buried in the origin of your organization.

Couch your pitch in a story from the past — what inspired you when your company did X and relate what you’re trying to do now to that moment from history.

➠Detail the business caseClearly define the value you are generating. List all the

ways your idea will create value for the company by either

a. increasing revenue

b. lowering costs

c. improving quality or

d. enhancing reputation.

And don’t forget the societal business case. Make sure there is clear value that can be legitimated by third-party societal stakeholders (communities, nonprofits or public institutions).

http://www.nwei.org/assets/Cubicle-Warriors-Toolkit-NWEI-2016.pdf

http://www.nwei.org/assets/Cubicle-Warriors-Toolkit-NWEI-2016.pdf

http://www.nwei.org/sustainability-works-resources/

sustainability - northwest earth institute · sustainability works: ... air and tall trees. ......

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