Over the last few months, one of the topics that I have been speaking on has been the need for firms to go beyond "Business as Usual," and last week Interface Flooring once again provided an excellent example for how a firm can do just that. Their announcement, Interface To Recycle Discarded Fishing Nets Into Carpet provides an overview of the program: Global carpet tile manufacturer Inter…
For many organizations, profit and non, one of the hardest parts about growing as an organization is maintaining focus. But, even for those that do there is another problem. Maintaining the culture of the organization. Something that I have seen over and over again in many of the organizations that I have worked with, and more personally, some of the organizations that I have founded. Called "T…
Last week was "boot camp". 200 MBA students engaged in a week of sustainability. Lectures, panels, movies, workshops, and case studies. It was an intense period that precedes their projects (we launched 34 student projects at the same time), and is meant to give students an understanding of the issues faced (environmental, social, and economic), the role of the firm, and the responsibility t…
When speaking about sustainability, I often revert to a patter of addressing the what, why, who, and the how much. What are the problems. Why these problems are important Who will is responsible for addressing them How much it will cost And without exception, I can carry a crowd of MBAs, EMBS, EVPs, or CEOs, through the first two because with a couple of tweaks to my pitch I can c…
Tweaking the graphics that I have come to rely on for many of my presentations, I decided it was time to take a crack at developing a visual representation of what I feel has become the gap between economic performance and social and environmental sustainability. And the above was what I have come up with. For me, where this simple visual I believe does the job is that the sustainability gap…
Last week, I returned to speak for the fourth time at the China Supply Chain Council on an issue I have spent a lot of time on, recalibrating supply chains. Focused on the impact that local issues and stakeholders are going to have on the supply chain’s of many operating in China,the overarching goal of the presentation was to highlight opportunities for firms to strengthen current systems as wel…
When occupying as dynamic of an ecosystem as we do now, there are bound to be a few questions about the latest programming that everyone is talking about. CSR, sustainability, social entrepreneurship, and public and private impact investment have in one form or another been held up at the model of the future. Only to find the term overused to the point where cynics are allowed to enter and questio…
Last week, we held the second in the Beyond Business As Usual events, Social Innovation as a Sustainable Business Model. Hosted by HK Polytech University, roughly 220 people showed up to learn about what social innovation was and how it is rolling out through organizations large and small. For my part, I focused on the fact that as "Business as Usual" moves from a model where profit maximiz…
For me there are few speakers more interesting to me that Gary Vaynerchuk, Social Media's poster child and author of The Thank You Economy, and at a recent keynote he said the following: Imagine if business, because of the way the world is going, had to actually for the first time in about a hundred years started really caring about the people they sold their products to? It was a statement was…
When looking to develop CSR programs that engage their employee base and the community at the same time, fewer programs are of interest than a day out volunteering at a school, elderly center, or school. It is an event that should have clear exceptions for the volunteer and the community partner, is more often than not meant to be fun (as a primarily channel for impact), and afterwards everyone…
Speak the words "Corporate Social Responsibility" and more often than not the perception of what is CSR is related to the philanthropic and volunteer initiatives of the firm. With some still only focused on philanthropy alone (particularly in China). It is a stereotype that I see reinforced time and time again by organizations as their CSR managers are asked only to manage those activities as…
When I first saw this map on a Google+ posting I was awed struck by the sheer size of the brand portfolios exist. Of course, I knew for years that these groups were actively consolidating a number pf brands (including the "green" ones), but when it is put onto a map like this ... well, wow. Interestingly enough, over the last 2 weeks I have had three discussions with firms represented in th…
While doing a bit of research on externalities and trade-offs this afternoon, I came across this graphic representation of sustainable development, and the forces that are in play. For me, it was a nice and clean graphic about how one can think about / present the forces that are occurring in today's market, environment, and society, and offers a starting place for framing the recalibration tha…
CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) is seeking projects and partners for its innovative MBA course on Business, Society and Environment (BSE). This mandatory course has teams of full-time CEIBS MBA students working with external partners to tackle an important sustainability or CSR challenge. We invite you and your organization to join us as a project sponsor and mentor. Since la…
Last week while debating the NEED for government action in the US on car efficiency as part of their energy policy, a good friend of mine wrote the following: You are worried about externalities? The consequences of using fossils fuels is an almost unimaginable improvement in the quality life for the average person. The average American today lives a better than the richest Medieval Kings of Euro…
